A special edition of the Elektajournal from 1933 dedicated to the fifteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. The introduction consists of a short retrospective composed of archival materials obtained in the streets of Prague on 28 October 1918. Footage of the parade on Wenceslaus Square on 28 October 1933. Raising the Czechoslovak flag in front of the Municipal House on Republic Square. Philips Radio vehicle with loudspeakers on the roof. Philips microphone. President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Minister of National Defence Bohumír Bradáč during a military parade on Wenceslaus Square. The ceremonial parade heads down 28 October Street and National Avenue to Smetana Embankment. MPs František Soukup, František Staněk and Prime Minister Jan Malypetr watch the ceremony from a grandstand by the Rudolfinum. Shots of a Czechoslovak Army military parade; the parade consists of infantry, soldiers with bicycles, horse-drawn cannons and armoured cars. Flyover by military aircraft. Parade of scouts in front of President Masaryk in the third courtyard of Prague Castle.
The segment from a Degl film production company newsreel captures the 50th anniversary celebrations of laying of the cornerstone of the National Theatre. The celebrations took place on 16-18 May 1918 in Prague, with the participation of representatives of all Slavic nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first shots show the festively decorated building of the National Theatre. In the next part, the camera observes the events taking place in the upper part of Wenceslas Square. The staircase and the ramp of the National Museum, where the opening ceremony took place (specifically in its Pantheon), are filled with young people in national folk costumes. Shots of the crowded square. Cultural and political figures, such as poets Adolf Heyduk and Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, writer Alois Jirásek and the head of the National Theatre Opera Karel Kovařovic, are leaving the building of the National Museum. This is followed by the symbolic ceremonial removal of politician Karel Kramář from the building. Afterwards, the Slovenian writer and mayor of Ljubljana Ivan Tavčar is seen leaving the building, as well as Czech actors Eduard Vojan, Marie Hübnerová, Leopolda Dostalová, Marie Laudová-Hořicová, Karel Želenský, writers Ignát Herrmann, František Herites and Jan Herben with his wife Bronislava, poet Bohdan Kaminský, politicians Alois Rašín, František Soukup, Gustav Habrman, Václav Klofáč and other notable national figures.
The segment captures the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic held in Prague on 28 October 1923. Festivities by the Statue of St Wenceslaus on Wenceslaus Square. Karel Kramář stands at the rostrum. Crowds gathered on the square wave their hats.
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 Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 27A, captures the Pledge of Czech Theatre Professionals´ Allegiance to the Reich, a manifestation held at the National Theatre in Prague on 25 June 1942, which was to unequivocally condemn the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. Speeches are delivered by actor Rudolf Deyl Jr. and Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment Emanuel Moravec (silent). Actress Růžena Nasková and actors Karel Höger, Ferenc Futurista, and Stanislav Neumann are seen among the participants. The segment concludes with everyone performing the Nazi salute.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1941, issue no. 40, captures events linked to the accession of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich to the office of Deputy Reich Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on 27 September 1941. Heydrich attends an SS military parade on Hradčanské Square in Prague. Military dignitaries and state officials welcome him in the first quadrangle of Prague Castle. The Nazi flag flies over Prague Castle. Reich Commissioner for the Sudetenland Konrad Henlein and Reich Secretary Karl Hermann Frank are present at the occasion. State President Emil Hácha receives Reinhard Heydrich at Prague Castle.
An image of actor Ada Karlovský in an unidentified film. Karlovský with his colleague Terezie Javůrková in Pražští adamité (The Prague Adamites, dir. Antonín Fencl, 1917).
Painter Adolf Hoffmeister on Bohumil Veselý's balcony. Hoffmeister in a fragmented segment from Československé filmové noviny (Czechoslovak Film News) 1952, issue no. 26.