Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 17, captures the presentation of a gift Ï Ambulance Train no. 751 Ï from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to Adolf Hitler and the German army. The train handover took place at Prague Main Railway Station on 20 April 1942, the birthday of Adolf Hitler. Cars arrive in front of Prague Main Railway Station. Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich enters the train station. State President Emil Hácha gives a speech in the festively decorated railway hall. In response, Heydrich shakes his hand. The event is witnessed by a delegation of railway workers. The train crew lines up on the station platform. Heydrich enters the train with his entourage and inspects the sleeping cars, the operating carriage, the kitchen, and the sick bay. The inspection of the ambulance train is attended by Protectorate Prime Minister Jaroslav Krejčí and Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment Emanuel Moravec. According to the voiceover, the train was made in a railway workshop in Prague-Bubny in record time. It consisted of 28 carriages and 20 hospital carriages, was 410 metres long, weighed 545 tons and had capacity for 280 wounded.
Segment from Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel 1943, issue no. 24, depicts a memorial act in V Holešovičkách, the Prague street that was the scene of the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Heydrich. The event was held to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination in June 1943. Footage from a ceremonial meeting held on 4 June 1943 in the Prague City Council´ reception hall in the Municipal Library building. Deputy Mayor of Prague, J. Pfitzner, presents historian Josef Kliment with the City of Prague Foundation´s Heydrich Memorial Award for spreading the ideas of the Reich. The event is attended by Prime Minister of the Protectorate Government J. Krejčí and Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment E. Moravec. Illustrative footage from a workers´ holiday organized by the Heydrich Foundation for Workers´ Recuperation, where the Protector´s legacy is being commemorated. The speech is followed by holidaymakers performing the Nazi salute. A ceremony to honour Heydrich is held in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle. Acting Reich Protector K. Daluege enters the hall with Heydrich´s widow Lina and her children. The event is attended by K. H. Frank, E. Hácha, J. Krejčí, E. Moravec and workers´ and peasants´ representatives. The German Philharmonic performs Ludwig van Beethoven´s symphonic work Coriolanus. The piece is followed by a speech by Daluege, which he symbolically concludes with "a greeting to my friend" Heydrich (authentic sound).
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 25, depicts a public demonstration on Cabbage Market Square (Zelný trh) in Brno on 12 June 1942, which was to vociferously condemn the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. The gathering was attended by 12,000 people. A grandstand in the middle of the crowded square is decorated with the Imperial Eagle and the national emblems of Bohemia and Moravia. The main speaker, Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment Emanuel Moravec, encourages Czech people to take into account the past. The segment concludes with the Czech anthem (authentic sound and singing) with images of people with arms raised in the Nazi salute.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 27A, depicts a public manifestation held at the Chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua on Blatnická Mountain in Moravian Slovakia on 28 June 1942, which was to unequivocally condemn the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. The gathering was attended by 35,000 to 40,000 people. Footage of the participants in festive folk costumes. The main organizer of the event, Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment Emanuel Moravec, delivers a speech from a grandstand (silent). People wearing Moravian-Slovakian folk costumes with arms raised in the Nazi salute.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 27A, captures a public manifestation held in Moravská Ostrava on 30 June 1942, which was to unequivocally condemn the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. The gathering was attended by more than 80,000 people. Footage of miners in their uniforms. Miner Karel Juříček and Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment Emanuel Moravec (silent) speak from a grandstand. The segment concludes with the Czech anthem (authentic sound), supplemented with images of people with arms raised in the Nazi salute.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1943, issue no. 23A, from a ceremonial gathering held on 31 May 1943 to rename Klatovská Avenue in Pilsen as Reinhard Heydrich-Strasse after the late Reich Protector. The large-scale renaming of important traffic thoroughfares after Reinhard Heydrich involved 19 cities within the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Reich Secretary Karl Hermann Frank oversees the troops. A festively decorated grandstand with a Nazi flag stands in front of the city theatre. A speech by Waltr Sturm, the Government Commissioner of the City of Pilsen (silent). The event is attended by Georg Wollner, the district head of NSDAP. The unveiling of a sign saying "Reinhard Heydrich Strasse". While the German anthem is played, people perform the Nazi salute.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 40A, from a ceremonial gathering held in Brno on 21 September 1942 to name a unit of the Reich Labour Service after Reinhard Heydrich. The event is attended by Acting Reich Protector Kurt Daluege, Reich Secretary Karl Hermann Frank, colonel of the Reich Labour Service Rührig, the late Acting Reich Protector´s widow Lina Heydrich, and a number of prominent Nazi officials. The commander of the Reich Labour Service takes a pledge of loyalty. The segment is concluded with the participants performing the Nazi salute.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 24A, reports on a workers´ holiday organized by the Reinhard Heydrich Foundation for Workers´ Recuperation in Luhačovice. Footage of a train arriving at the railway station and the welcoming of the holidaymakers. Lunch is ready for visitors at a local restaurant. Holidaymakers rest on the hotel terrace, some play volleyball or skittles. Others explore the surrounding countryside. Footage of a walk to the Luhačovice Dam. Girls sit on the grass, weaving flower wreaths. Holidaymakers taste the local mineral water.