Resistance and repression: Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, Sigurd Hoel’s Møte ved milepelen and Kirsten Thorup’s Mørket bag dig

The article examines the relationship between members of the British aristocracy and German Nazism in the 1920's,1930’s and 1940’s. The examination is extended into an analysis of the resistance movements in Norway and Denmark during the occupation 1940-1945. A significant issue is the infiltration of democratic, non-repressive societies perpetrated by German Nazis during World War II and the decades leading up to it. The article is not historical. It is a literary interpretation of the socially, politically and psychologically complex conditions making up the crisis of World War II, based on the three novels. The analysis of Kirsten Thorup's novel Mørket bag dig includes an account of the rescue of the Danish Jews. The rescue operation was undertaken for the sake not only of the Jewish people but also for the sake of the preservation of democracy as an ethical and humanistic institution.