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 Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) issue no. 21A, B from 1944 captures a solemn ceremony organised by the Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth to mark the 60th anniversary of Bedřich Smetana´s death, which took place at the composer´s grave on 11 May. The fanfare from the opera Dalibor was followed by a speech by General Secretary of the Board František Teuner, who also laid a wreath on Smetana´s grave. The choir of Prague teachers under the baton of Metod Doležal sang the chorus called "Dowry". The ceremony was concluded with the Nazi salute.
Segment from Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) issue no. 26B from 1943, shot on 20 June, captures a traditional church ceremony at the Saint Anthony pilgrimage site. The Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth exploited its popularity and organised a political rally at the venue, with speeches by the Uherské Hradiště District Representative of the Board Jan Ryba and General Secretary of the Board František Teuner. Then, the youth of Moravian Slovakia paid homage to Adolf Hitler. The festivities concluded with a presentation of Moravian Slovak dances performed by couples wearing folk costumes.
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 Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) issue no. 30A, B from 1942 captures the first training camp for future instructors of the newly established Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth, which took place at Slapy Chateau from 10 to 17 July. Forty-five young men attended training and sports activities as well as theoretical education in the form of lectures. On the last day, Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Emanuel Moravec visited the camp.