Czech Story Part One

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Description: A film history of Czechoslovakia: Part One covers the period from the 1920s to the outbreak of World War Two and the country's occupation by Nazi Germany, presented as the story of the country's betrayal, not only by Germany, but also by her Western Allies and by capitalism.
Duration: 87 mins 54 secs
Producer: Czechoslovak Army Films
Year: 1961
Subjects: Occupied territories, Youth unrest, Fascism, Economic recession, Revolutions, History, Communism, Nazism, Czechoslovakia, War
Segment 1: ETV leader. Montage of Nazi march and Hilter Youth and rally in present-day post-war Germany and other European countries. Footage of Czechoslovakia in the early 1960's. Narrator warns of the threat to the stability of Czech youth due to Nazi militants elsewhere in Europe. The narrator reminds the Czech youth of the Nazi treatment of Czechoslovakia. Shots of older Czechs who have experienced the Sudetenland and Nazi occupation. Footage of Prague in 1929: rooftops, street scenes, shop fronts, market scenes, residential areas, schoolchildren playing, football match. Prague at night-time: cinema (including scenes from unknown films), bike racing, construction work, industrial growth and development of Czech economy. 1927 Wall Street Crash. The Great Depression. Homelessness, milk and grain crisis leads to destruction of surplus goods and restriction of production, cuts in labour forces. Burning mountains of grain in America. Severe poverty and hunger across America and Europe. In the slums of Prague, poverty deepens. Footage form Czech unidentified feature film with actors performing social poem. Shots of Prague slums with children and elderly. Factories remain closed with one million people out of work. Pits are closed but family men dig deeply in old pits to find coal. Monopolisation of situation by businessmen and the rich.
Segment 2: The life of the rich. Black jazz band performing. Woman modelling fur coat. Extreme sports. Cabaret. Fashion show. Boxing match. Contrast of the culture of the super-rich and poor. Newspaper headlines both pro and anti communist. A rally of people at which the Soviet Union is declared as the only country where poverty is not rife. The narrator describes his journey via train with four other workers and one journalist to the Soviet Union. Parties of Russians greet them at a train station. Mass construction work, including dams and factories, new towns. Mass education policy and scientific advancements. Workers receiving honours for their work. Parade. Strikes begin in Czechoslovakia. Newspaper headlines call for revolution in the footsteps of the Soviet Union. Pro-Communist marches. The General Secretary of the Czech Communist party Klement Gottwald challenges the Czech government and calls for the overthrow of the government through the fight of the Proletariat. Emerging leaders of the Czech Communist movement. Strikes and marches continue and grow. The one million unemployed and five million starving fight the might of banks, shares, estates and leading capitalists. The bourgeoisie attend a dance held by Prime Minister. Police are given great powers by the government to combat the growing social unrest. Police receive training in firearms for the street. Photos of demonstrations and a murdered protester. The Prime Minister justifies the shootings. 29 protesters were killed in the demonstrations. Photographs of the bodies and those attending the funerals. The might of the proletariat gets bigger to a point that the police can no longer contain the demonstrators. Massive crowds in Prague.
Segment 3: Homes of the leading capitalists as they plan the crushing of the Communist uprising. Still: Adolf Hitler - seen as an influential rising figure in Europe. Massive royalties are paid out for Mein Kampf, the sales of which rise dramatically in the light of Nazi success and economic despair in Germanic Europe. Scenes in Nazi Germany: Kristallnacht, the burning of the books. Hitler gives speech on 30 January 1934, forming new National Socialist Government. Hitler speaks of his fight against Communism. Damaged Communist party signs and posters. A leading Czech industrialist visits Germany and praises the changes being instigated by the Nazis. Government issues a warrant for the arrest of the Communist leader Gottwald and other leading Communists in the region. Government brings in legislation to ban the distribution of pro-Communist literature. Large numbers of Communists placed in prison. Youth parades of German Hitler Youth parade, Italian fascists rally, Japanese army parade. Military parades of Nazis, Italian fascists and Japanese Imperial army. Rise in export of Czech steel and coal to Nazi Germany. Factories process steel and weaponry. Fascist Italy receives hundreds of aircraft engines. Nazi military march. Troops pass Hitler who gives a Nazi salute. The Seventh Congress of the Communist International hears Dimitrov during the Leipzig trial. Dimitrov denounces the ruling bourgeois and the fascists, a coalition, which suppresses the working classes. The Kremlin. Dimitrov warns that the fascist regimes of Europe are planning attacks on the Soviet Union and China. In reply to Dimitrov, Gottwald argues that Czechoslovakia must have a broad left-wing front to challenge the advances of fascism. Factory sirens over Prague. Photographs taken at anti-fascist marches. Pro-Soviet sympathy amongst marchers. On 16 May 1935, the Czech foreign affairs minister Eduard Benes arrives in Moscow to sign the Czech-Soviet Agreement for Mutual Assistance. Hope in Czechoslovakia. Montage of blossoms and joyous Hitler Youth. Czech political cartoons of Hitler people dancing in street. Shots of Prague.
Segment 4: 4 October 1935, Italian fascists attack Ethiopia. Aerial shots of bombs being dropped from plane. Bombs landing on ground. Devastation on ground. Civilian wounded being cared for by Red Cross. 17 July 1936, Fascist Putsch begins in Spain. Civilians run for shelter, bombing raids on urban areas, victims of bombing raid. 8 July 1937, Japanese Imperialists invade China. Japanese warplanes drop bombs. Exploding houses. Civilian deaths and casualties and orphaned children. Barefooted Ethiopians armed with spears and knives gather around Haile Selassie. Comparison of Ethiopian resistance to the might of the Italian military machine. Japanese atrocities in China including footage of mass execution. Evacuation of Spanish children to the countryside. Military parade of Franco's military, Franco salutes the army. Mussolini and Hitler provide military assistance to Franco, including a German airforce unit. Murdered children and civilians. League of Nations gathers to discuss Spanish crisis. Delegates of Britain and France pass non-intervention resolution that the League should not be involved with the internal affairs of a democratic nation. Soviet Union declares it shall assist the Spanish people and sends in humanitarian aid. Soviet ships carrying aid arrive in Spanish ports. Thousands of Spanish civilians line the ports and cheer the arrival of Soviet assistance. Civilian and military forces from across the world unite to fight the fascists in Spain: monies, clothing and food aid is gathered to assist the people of Spain. Hundreds of French civilians illegally cross the border to fight the fascist advance in Spain. German rebels join under the leadership of Ernst Thaelmann to fight in Spain. Doctors and workers arrive from the United States. In Czechoslovakia, the Clement Gottwald Artillery Brigade is formed. Battle scenes. A graveyard for the fallen anti-fascist soldiers includes Poles, Americans, Czechs. Men of 54 nations gather to defend Madrid. Submarines from an unknown country begin to attack all ships approaching Spain. Footage of firing missiles and exploding ships. The submarines have been sent by Hitler. Spanish refugees. Czech newspapers call for assistance for the Spanish people against the fascists. Leader of one of Czechoslovakia's major banks calls for non-intervention. In a small house in Prague, five Czech children gather and write a letter of support and send clothes to help Spanish children. Spanish freedom fighters call for assistance. The bourgeoisie in Prague. 13 March 1938, German troops march into Austria, and the people celebrate Anschluss with Nazi Germany. In the Sudetenland, a pro-Nazi rally attended by members of the region's German population. Konrad Henlein and Karl Hermann Frank, Hitler's agents in the Sudetenland and Josef Tiso Hitler's agent in Slovakia. Pro-Nazi leaders call for Sudetenland to be joined with Germany. Evidence of damage and destruction caused by pro-Nazi supporters. Lord Halifax and British delegation visit Germany and meets with Hitler. Minutes of the meeting sees Hitler as a leading figure in preventing the spread of communism to Western Europe. Pro-Nazi sympathisers in Czechoslovakia smuggle in weapons and undertake acts of violence and sabotage. Communist newspapers warn of Nazi threat to stability of Czechoslovakia. President Benes delivers message to parliament claiming that there is no threat to Czech stability.
Segment 5: Hitler orders Wehrmacht to the Czechoslovak border. Czech Communist party calls workers to the defence of the Sudetenland. Thousands of men join the anti-Nazi force. Czech borders are sealed. Czechs prepare for war: air raid siren rehearsals, children learn to wear gasworks. Civilians donate blood and money, and receive military training. Children partake in anti-fascist games. Women's groups on cultural marches in summer 1938. Hitler is disturbed by the sense of nationalism and self-defence expressed by the Czechs and plans a more formulated assault on the country. British government sends Lord Runciman to Czechoslovakia to attend discussions with Henlein. 3 million Sudeten Germans receive order to begin civil action against the Czech government. Ammunition provided to men to begin fascist putsch in the Sudetenland. Co-ordination with Nazi soldiers. First victims of Sudetenland. Communists demand declaration of Marshall law and banning of Nazis and arrest of Henlein. The Czechs defeat forces within 48 hours quashing Hitler's plans for a quick victory. 15 September - The Munich Betrayal - Hitler receives Neville Chamberlain at Berchtesgaden. Minutes from the meeting declare agreement in principle by both parties to hand over Sudetenland to Germany. Czechs prepare for war. German bankers refuse to assist any action against Germany. Prime Minister Hacha asks the British ambassador, Mr Newton, in Prague to cable the British government and lobbies for President Benes to be given an ultimatum to meet the requirements of the handing over of the Sudetenland. Workers rebel at the threat to the republic and call for the overthrow of the traitors. 22 September, Hacha is recalled from the office of Prime Minister. A new government is declared to be run by Sirovy, who is declared Prime Minister under the Presidency of Hacha. Massive mobilisation of Czech military within 24 hours. The Soviet Union declares its military support for the Czechs and 130 Soviet divisions are mobilised including 5000 tanks and aircraft, 5000 tanks. Military planes fly overhead. Dr Benes delivers speech-declaring confidence in the nation. Reading of letter from Czech soldier to mother. Czech soldiers prepare for war.
Segment 6: Munich. Nazi Insignia. 29 September 1938. Hitler receives Mussolini, Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier. 30 September 1938. Soviet and Czech airforce wait for action. Men at the front wait for war. Radio broadcast from army command, states the Czech government's acceptance of the Munich Agreement and declares that as of 1 October, German forces will begin occupation of the Sudetenland. German population gathers to hail the arrival of German forces in to the region. Hitler follows. A Czech soldier writes to his father of the dishonour of the Czech military and the refugee crisis arising from the occupation. Dr Benes had previously signed the Czech-Soviet mutual assistance agreement. The treaty included the clause that the governments of the countries would only help each other if the country that is a victim received the sympathy of France. A year later, Benes claimed that the treaty would only be adhered to if France did the same and that the role of Czechoslovakia would always be in favour of the West as opposed to the East. In minutes from a meeting between Benes and the German ambassador in Prague, Haushofer, Haushofer proposes close relations between the Czech and German Interior Ministries to repel the Communist influence in both countries. During the period of Czech military mobilisation in 1938, a cable is sent from Haushofer to Hitler claiming the Benes government was prepared to accept any movement by the Germans into the Sudetenland. An attack on the supposed allies of Czechoslovakia and the traitors within the government. Nazis examine the abandoned military barracks of Czech soldiers.
Segment 7: Church bells toll over Prague in autumn 1938. Sirovy and other leaders in the government are seen as traitors. Government and civil legislation calls for the outlawing of the Communist party and communist influence in cultural circles. Hounding of the poet Capek. The funeral of Capek. Mourners gather and praise Capek for the sense of hope he had given the Czech people. The Nazi leader Josef Tiso moves to tear Slovakia away from the Czech republic and join forces with Germany. Slovak government orders the departure of Czech soldiers from Slovakia. Thousands of Communists are imprisoned in concentration camps in Slovakia, Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakian newsreel from the period. Children receiving military style training in youth camps. Emphasis on work camps in Bohemia and Moravia to build roads to link to Germany. German clowns perform in Prague Variety theatre. Prime Minster Rudolf Beran, calls for non-intervention with other countries and greater co-operation with Germany. Berlin, March 1939, Josef Tiso arrives in Berlin on a state visit from Slovakia and is met by Hitler. An independent Slovakia is inaugurated and receives the protection of the Reich. President Hacha arrives in Berlin to ask for the furthering of the Reich's protection. End of newsreel.
Segment 8: 15 March 1939, Nazi troops occupy Czechoslovakia. Nazi newsreel footage: Nazi soldiers on motor vehicles and on foot enter Prague. Raising of Nazi flag. Photograph of Hitler shaking hands with Sirovy. Czech lands become part of the German drive for lebensraum. Sirovy and Henlein and Beran watch Nazi soldiers. Beran welcomes the new Reich's Protector of the region. Decree by Henlein declaring that the Czechs must never again be allowed to declare a sense of national revival and that all threats of such an occurrence should be rooted out. German tanks. Karl Hermann Frank declares that Czech languages should be forbidden. A girl is heard learning to speak about herself in German. Czech monuments covered in Nazi flags. Nazi soldiers marching. The headquarters of the first underground Central Committee of the Communist movement in occupied Czechoslovakia. Pictures of the leading members of the party. Communist leaflet denouncing Nazi occupation. Nazi soldiers swear oath of loyalty and allegiance to Hitler. Scenes of aerial and sea warfare as Nazis invade Poland on 1 September 1939. Effects of war on people: burning crops, homelessness, refugees, mourning civilians. 3 September 1939 Britain and France declare war on Germany. Troops from these countries move towards battle. Occupied Poland; SS begin rein of terror on the streets. Aerial shots of damaged city of Warsaw. 28 October 1939, Independence Day of the Czech republic. Thousands of protesters gather in demonstrations organised by the Communist Party. The SS is immediately mobilised. Secret footage taken from rooftops shows protesters marching. Czech universities are closed and students executed. German legislation calls for a total deportation of Czechs from Bohemia or Moravia or resettlement and 'special handling' of those who threaten the German cause. Proposed by Karl Hermann Frank. Nazi terror in Czechoslovakia: photographs act as evidence of torture camps and mass executions.
Segment 9: Shot of sea. Two soldiers on ship, soldiers dancing. British and French soldiers await direction to fight during the 'phoney war'. Chamberlain and his wife walking in London carrying gas masks. Claims that Chamberlain allowed time for the Nazi's to develop their military might to a point where they would be ready to combat the Soviet Union. Footage of Hitler looking out of plane. German attack on Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland and France: scenes of battle, bombing raids, fleeing civilians chased by Stuka dive bomber, refugees and homeless civilians. Nazi newsreel footage: Nazis acquire equipment for 12 military divisions in both Belgium and Holland and enough for 37 divisions in France. 700 British tanks, 2400 guns and 50,000 vehicles are also taken from the Maginot Line. Nazis take other ammunitions and equipment. 7 million soldiers of the Western powers are taken out of the war as the Nazis take France on 21 June 1939. On 27 September 1940 representatives from Japan, Italy and Germany meet in Berlin to form the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis. Fascist governments of Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and fascist monarchy of Bulgaria join the Axis. Map depicts the Nazi occupation of Europe. The Soviet Union. Soldiers marching and military display in Red Square including tanks and war planes. Czechoslovakian hope for liberation by the Soviet Union.
Persistent URL: http://edina.ac.uk/purl/isan/0002-0000-0049-0000-0-0000-0000-0
Written and compiled by the British Universities Film & Video Council © BUFVC 2005
Subject classification by University of Edinburgh Library © 2006