Women in the Resistance. From statisticians to heroines on the screen

Serious Topics

The lecture series Film & Politics – Résistance! Resistance! Resistenz! explores the multifaceted idea of resistance from a cinematic perspective. This lecture focuses on women in the resistance against the Nazi regime and the question of how cinema has portrayed their role throughout film history. For a long time, women resistance fighters were relegated to supporting roles – as nurses, helpers or messengers, for example. The lecture traces their journey from films such as La Bataille du rail (France, 1946) and Le Terroriste (Italy, 1963) to works such as Lucie Aubrac (France, 1997), in which women increasingly become visible as independent actors in the resistance. With Inglourious Basterds (USA, 2009), a radical break finally occurs: women become heroines and central figures of the resistance. But how much historical truth is contained in these cinematic portrayals? Does cinema preserve the memory of real women resistance fighters – or does it create new myths? The lecture invites audiences to critically question the representation of resistance, heroism and female agency. Lecture with film excerpts and collegial exchange.