Individual forms of subtle resistance to Nazi hegemony: Portrayals in modern books and film available to American consumers

This study investigates portrayals of ethnic German resistance to Nazism in literature and films as read and seen by Americans. At the heart of this study is the question: what do Americans know about German resistance efforts to Nazi hegemony? To investigate this, an interdisciplinary lens was used to chronicle how popular books and films available to American consumers frame German resistance. This study categorizes the types of resistance portrayed and illuminates the characters motivations behind each action providing a typology of resistance. This typology provides more context for understanding the circumstances in which individuals under a totalitarian regime are constrained when making choices about resistance. The study follows the Reader-response theory which recognizes the reader as an active agent who imparts real existence to the work and completes its meaning through interpretation. In this vein, three types of source material are important to learn what people know of the subtle nonconformist, dissenting strands of opinion and unorganized individual resistance efforts of Germans: historical fiction, memoirs and films