Unedited footage recorded by Czech filmmakers in Lidice on 10 June 1942. The footage captures the destruction of the village. Photographs of Lidice with the church and the men executed in the yard of Horák´s farm. Images of the wreckage of burning houses. Gestapo officers inspect the destroyed village. Remnants of the original furnishings can be seen in individual buildings and the remains of farm machinery in the yards. A shot dog lies by a kennel. German soldiers load beets onto a wagon. German officers led by the head of the Kladno Gestapo, Harald Wiesmann, pass through the village. Reich Labour Service units clear the debris and level the terrain. The material is being loaded into trolleys on makeshift rails. The Reich Labour Service camp is guarded by a guard. Members of the Reich Labour Service units are lined up in front of their quarters. One of the members salutes with a raised right arm.
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.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1941, issue no. 52, reports on a meeting of the Southeast European Economic Society and German Economic Society in Bohemia and Moravia in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle on 17 December 1941. The gathering is attended by Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, State President Emil Hácha, Reich Secretary Karl Hermann Frank, and Prime Minister of the Protectorate Government Jaroslav Krejčí. Speeches are given by Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, Hitlerjugend leader Baldur von Schirach, and Reich Minister of Economic Affairs Walter Funk (silent). The latter points out the need to break with the Anglo-Saxon model of colonial economic policy in Eastern Europe. The meeting concludes with paying tribute to the Führer.
Segment from Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) issue no. 23A from 1943 was shot on 30 May during the official opening of a training camp organised by the Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth at Protivín Chateau. The ceremony was held to mark the first anniversary of the Board. The importance of the event was highlighted by the presence of Prime Minister Jaroslav Krejčí. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Adolf Hrubý and Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment and Chairman of the Board Emanuel Moravec spoke to the participants in the chateau courtyard. In the afternoon, the course participants put on a collective sports performance in the park adjoining the chateau.
Segment from Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) issue no. 39A from 1944 was shot during a training course for the regional leaders of the Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth, which was held at the Čeperka Guest House near Unhošť in connection with changes in the conditions of mandatory youth service resulting from the declaration of forced labour (Totaleinsatz) in August 1944. In addition to lectures, the programme included sports activities to improve the physical fitness of the participants.
The segment of Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel), 1938, issue no. 43 offers an insight into the lives of Czech railway workers in the aftermath of the Sudetenland annexation after they find makeshift shelter in decommissioned railway carriages in the Posázaví region. The footage also shows railway workers from Obrnice u Mostu living in railway carriages.