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.
Report from the celebration of the fourteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic held in front of the Municipal House in Prague on 28 October 1932. The gathering was attended by troops and legionnaires. A Philips Radio broadcast vehicle stands in front of the entrance. The segment includes a silent recording of a speech given by the Former Secretary of the National Committee and current Chairman of the Senate František Soukup.
Segment from the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic held on Old Town Square in Mladá Boleslav. A ceremonial line-up of the local military garrison. General Šípek delivers a speech before the municipal council, soldiers and inhabitants of the town. This is followed by a parade through the town, attended by the troops, representatives of the Sokol community, the local fire brigade, the gendarmerie, nurses and members of other town associations. Footage from a footrace through the streets of Mladá Boleslav to the Monument to the Fallen, won by Mr Mlejnek. Footage from the celebration in Kosmonosy, the place linked with the ground-breaking ceremony for the Resistance Memorial. The ceremony was attended by representatives of local associations and corporations as well as the county association of Czechoslovak legionnaires.
The segment captures a military parade of new army recruits, held in the third courtyard of Prague Castle on 28 October 1930 as part of the celebration of the twelfth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. Prime Minister František Udržal and Minister of Defence Karel Viškovský attend the parade, standing in for the absent President Masaryk.
The segment captures a military parade of new army recruits, held in Bratislava on 28 October 1931 as part of the celebration of the thirteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. The celebration opens with speeches by General František Škvor and Vladimír Krno, the Mayor of Bratislava. The city of Bratislava honours the 39th Infantry Regiment with the Czechoslovak War Cross and the honorary title "General Graziani´s Infantry Regiment of Reconnaissance". The 54th Artillery Regiment adopts the standard of the 109th and 153rd Artillery Regiments, made by the residents of the Jedlička Institute in Prague. The cavalry and infantry together with the military band take charge of the following parade.
Report from the celebration of the fourteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic held in Prague on 28 October 1932. An aerial view of a parade in front of the Old Town City Hall. Gathering in front of the Municipal House on Republic Square.
The segment captures events preceding the installation and subsequent unveiling of the memorial statue of French historian and Slavonic scholar Ernest Denis on Lesser Town Square in Prague. Members of the Commission for the Construction of Denis´s Memorial use a maquette to find the best place for the statue. The event is witnessed by the artist, the sculptor Karel Dvořák. A shot of Dvořák in his studio in the courtyard of a house on Janáček Embankment in Smíchov, Prague. Digging works for the pedestal followed by the unveiling of the memorial on 27 October 1928, the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Minister of Education Milan Hodža, Prague Mayor Karel Baxa, General Jan Syrový, MP Antonín Uhlíř, French General Eugene Mittelhauser, French politician Alfred Oberkirch and others are present on the grandstand. Speech by Minister of Foreign Affairs Edvard Beneš. An image of the President T. G. Masaryk and Edvard Beneš.
Footage from a manifestation in Uzhhorod in November 1919. Events following the General Statue that declared Subcarpathian Ruthenia as an autonomous part of the Czechoslovak Republic. Footage from a manifestation, from a ceremonial gathering on a square. Footage of soldiers and public speakers. A view of a bell covered with an American flag. Soldiers at the border. A military cemetery in winter. Ruthenians in fur coats and traditional clothes. People leaving a church. A group of people at a railway station.
Footage from Slavonic Island in Prague during the revolutionary days of autumn 1918. Events in front of the Military Headquarters of the newly established Czechoslovak Republic. Movement of Czech soldiers in Austro-Hungarian uniforms as crowds look on.
The segment from a Degl film production company newsreel captures president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk´s first visit to the National Theatre. Cars with guests are arriving at the side entrance of the building. The president is leaving the theatre and stepping into a car.
Unedited film footage from a visit of a sixteen-member delegation from the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to Czechoslovakia on the occasion of the first anniversary of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. The delegation was led by Serbian General Stevan Hadžić. Footage from the railway station in Tábor. Welcome by Mayor Josef Šáda, his deputies, Sokol representatives and the district governor. Arrival of the train in Benešov. Welcome by Mayor František Novotný, his deputies and Sokol representatives. The train driving through the Královské Vinohrady (Royal Vineyards) railway station in Prague below Nuselské schody and the Vinohrady tunnel. Welcome at the Wilson Railway Station in Prague. General Hadžić departs in a car driving along Wilson Street towards Wenceslaus Square. His car is followed by the Kornilovs, legionnaires and Sokols on horseback. Welcoming crowds on Wenceslaus Square. Arrival at the first courtyard of Prague Castle. Footage from military manoeuvres between Milovice and Lipnice forests near Milovice that took place on 29 October 1918 under the command of General Bossi. The manoeuvres are attended by Colonel Kušakovic. The delegation in the courtyard of the Škoda factory in Pilsen. General Stevan Hadžić decorates a military battalion during the renaming ceremony of the 102nd Infantry Regiment to Czechoslovak Infantry Regiment No. 48 Yugoslavia in Benešov.
Unedited film footage captures events taking place in the streets of Prague in October 1918 during the first weeks of Czechoslovakia´s independence. A public manifestation takes place in front of the building of the Czech Escompt Bank (Böhmische Escompte-Bank). A demonstration of Czech soldiers, dressed in the uniforms of the Austro-Hungarian army, is held on Old Town Square. Prime Minister Karel Kramář gets out of an arriving car. The gathering is attended by politicians Václav Klofáč and František Udržal. Gustav Habrman and Josef Scheiner speak by the Jan Hus Memorial. A shot of Karel Kramář, Gustav Habrman and Václav Klofáč in a train window at the Main Railway Station after their return from negotiations in Geneva on 4 November 1918. Czechoslovak soldiers in Austro-Hungarian uniforms march in a parade through Wenceslaus Square, which is decorated with Czech flags and the flags of the victorious states. A shot of a railway carriage with patriotic signs. A postcard with anti-Austrian caricatures. People in the parade carry the remnants of the Austrian coat of arms. Footage of the arrival of President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in Prague on 21 December. The train pulls into the Main Railway Station. President Masaryk, accompanied by František Tomášek, departs in an open car and then transfers to a carriage on Old Town Square.
Unedited film footage taken in Prague in 1918 during the first months of Czechoslovakia´s independence. Soldiers march across Svatopluk Čech Bridge. A festive parade on Old Town Square. Crowds cheering at the Main Railway Station. A gathering by the statue of St Wenceslaus in the upper part of Wenceslaus Square is attended by Dr. Josef Scheiner. A military oath ceremony of officers and a military parade on Old Town Square on 8 November. Josef Svatopluk Machar in front of the building of the Provincial War Office in Sněmovní Street in Lesser Town. The event is attended by politicians František Staněk, Václav Klofáč and Karel Kramář, who returned from Geneva on 4 November. Karel Kramář and Gustav Habrmann, followed by Václav Klofáč and František Staněk, speak from a train window. Footage from the arrival of President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk at the Main Railway Station. General Otakar Husák is also present. Distribution of weapons to members of the new military forces at the Military Headquarters on Slavonic Island. A military oath attended by František Staněk and Antonín Kalina. The return of soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army. Large parades along Wenceslaus Square and Old Town Square.
Unedited film footage from the first days of the Czechoslovak Republic shot in Prague in autumn 1918. Images from a demonstration in front of the Czech National Bank. Footage from the military oath ceremony of the newly established army held on Old Town Square on 8 November. Soldiers are lined up wearing Austro-Hungarian army uniforms. The oath ceremony is attended by politicians Karel Kramář, František Staněk and Václav Klofáč. Shots of Karel Kramář, Gustav Habrman, Václav Klofáč and František Staněk in a window of the train on which they returned to their country from the Geneva negotiations on 4 November. A view of Star Summer Palace (Schloss Stern), where a public gathering took place on 8 November, the anniversary of the Battle of White Mountain. The covering of the statue of Marshal Radecký on Lesser Town Square. Removal of the Austrian Eagle from the façade of the Hybernia House. The tearing down of symbols of the Austrian monarchy. The despatching a military train carrying soldiers who are to take action against separatist attempts in the border regions of the country. Karel Kramář in a Praga car driving through the streets of Prague. A shot of Karel Kramář in front of the Main Railway Station.
Unedited film footage from the first days of the Czechoslovak Republic shot in Prague in autumn 1918. Footage from a festive parade with destroyed Austrian symbols on Wenceslaus Square. A parade on Charles Bridge with banners reading "Socialist Nation", "Long Live the Czech Republic", and other slogans. Footage from a public gathering on White Mountain on 8 November 1918 to mark the anniversary of the famous battle. The participants carry small flags and banners with signs reading "Hus´s People" and "Separation of Church and State". A view of a gathering in the third courtyard of Prague Castle. Footage from a military celebration on Old Town Square with the damaged Marian Column. Politicians Václav Klofáč, Gustav Habrman and František Udržal at the Jan Hus Memorial. Josef Svatopluk Machar delivers a speech in front of the Provincial War Office in Sněmovní Street in Lesser Town. František Staněk, Václav Klofáč, Alois Rašín and Karel Kramář emerge from the building. Footage from a ceremonial gathering on Wenceslaus Square. A view of the decorated Zlatá husa (Golden Goose) Hotel. A parade of people in folk costumes carrying a banner reading "Long Live the Socialist Republic". Politicians František Tomášek and Josef Scheiner deliver speeches in front of the Statue of St Wenceslaus. Footage from a gathering on Old Town Square. People paint over German signs. People speak from the roof of a tram.