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Newsreels in Nazi‐occupied Czechoslovakia: Karel Peceny and his newsreel company Aktualita

2004; Routledge; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0143968032000184506

1465-3451

Karel Margry,

Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Research for this article was carried out under the auspices of the University of Utrecht and was sponsored by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Unless noted otherwise, this article is based on ‘Moje cinnost za okupace 1939–1945’ (‘My activities during the occupation 1939–1945’), a 70‐page typescript account written by Karel Peceny in June 1945 to defend himself against charges of collaboration made against him by his own employees at Aktualita. It can be found in the files of the trails against Peceny located at the Statni Oblastni Archiv in Prague. Cited hereafter as: SOAP: MLS 521/48: 1–62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945). In general, the Peceny case files have proved an invaluable source for everything connected with Aktualita. The figure for the 1937–1939 deficit comes from SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐140: Aktualita annual accounts for 1940; the debt and estimated loss figures from I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 13. On p. 10 he puts the debt figure at Ckr. 2,500,000. In this same account, Peceny gives much higher deficit figures than that in the 1940 annual accounts: on p. 2 he claims that by the first quarter of 1939 the yearly loss stood at 1 million crowns; on p. 10 he puts it at Ckr. 750,000. In spite of these exaggerations, we have accepted Peceny's debt and estimated loss figures in this account, partly for lack of other sources and because they seem to be borne out by the 1940 book accounts (which show a debt of Ckr. 2,368,346.45 and a loss for 1939–1940 of Ckr. 675,624.10). In addition to the foreign newsreels already mentioned for Elekta, Aktualita in these years received footage from: Latvijas Skanu Chronika in Riga, Laya Film in Barcelona, Luce in Rome, Magyar Film Iroda in Budapest, ONT in Bucharest, Sojuz Kinokronika in Moscow, Svensk Film in Stockholm, and Universe Film in London (Filmovy Archiv, Prague: Aktualita programme posters 1937–1939). Capek's funeral was in both version A and B of Issue 1939/No. 1 (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1939). Aktualita was fiercely attacked for its ‘tendentious’ coverage of the Capek funeral by the Czech fascist press (see SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐114: newspaper clippings of 3 and 6 January 1939). Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1938–1940. To help the public distinguish the one from the other, ‘A’ had a blue and yellow window poster and ‘B’ a red and white one. As of 1939, Version ‘A’ had an all‐green poster. Wolfgang Becker, Film und Herrschaft. Organisationsprinzipien und Organisationsstrukturen der nationalsozialistischen Filmpropaganda (Berlin, 1973), p. 134. Thus, German state‐controlled newsreel footage was screened in Czech cinemas even at a time when there were great tensions between the two countries. This paradoxical situation continued even after the Munich crisis of September 1938. Bundesarchiv, Berlin (BA): R‐109 I/1615: minutes of Reichsfilmkammer meeting (undated but late 1938). BA: R‐109 I/1615: minutes of Reichsfilmkammer meeting (28 September 1939), p. 4; SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 63. The exact date of the contract is not clear, but it probably went into effect around December 1938. The first Tobis item appeared in Aktualita in week 4 of 1939 (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1939). BA: R‐109 I/1615: minutes of Reichsfilmkammer meeting (4 January 1939). The case of Aktualita shows that when it came down to it, the economic interests of the film companies had to subordinate to the political interests of the Propaganda Ministry. At the same time, this is a perfect example of how well business competition and political interests went together in the Third Reich: although the one film company had to subordinate its maximisation of profits to the political aims of the state, the other company gained from this measure—for Cautio's financial end result it made little difference. Státní Ustr˘edni Archiv, Prague (SUA): URP‐Dotatky I: box 1, folder Z, # 71; see also: Detlef Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat, Vol. I (München, 1969), pp. 30–31. BA: R‐109 I/1615 (21 April 1939). SUA: URP 1173: IV‐2 (Film); URP‐Dotatky II: box 1, folder Z: #71; also: Telephone Directory of Protectorate agencies, p. 35. Glessgen had made himself untenable at his post because of a scandal involving debts and an extra‐marital affair. Looking for a replacement job for him, Winkler of the Cautio suggested to Goebbels that he, Glessgen, might be charged with the political watch over and editorship of Aktualita—a degradation, but one that would enable him to stay in the Protectorate. Goebbels, however, decided differently, relegating him to follow an obscure film course in Berlin. All this, it seems, occurred without Aktualita being consulted or informed. BA: R‐55/1040/19: letter Winkler to Goebbels, 8 May 1940; letter Goebbels to Winkler, 25 May 1940. His name is misspelled in some documents as ‘Biksenstein’. The initials X.E. come from SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐6; Zdenek Lederer, Ghetto Theresienstadt (London, 1953), p. 121, gives his name as W. Lampl. The Berlin Document Centre (now Bundesarchiv Berlin) was unable to produce a file on either X.E. or W. Lampl. BA: R‐109 I/1615: Verordnungsblatt des Reichsprotektors (26 October 1940); SUA:URP: 1144 (I‐1‐a‐1574): circular letter from Abteilung IV (Film) (7 September 1944). Jürgen Spiker, Film und Kapital. Der Weg der deutschen Filmwirtschaft zum nationalsozialistischen Einheitskonzern (Berlin, 1975), p. 189. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 67. BA: R‐109 I/1615: Verordnungsblatt des Reichsprotektors, No. 50 (25 November 1940). See Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, pp. 31–38. SUA: URP‐1223: Protokoll über die Abmachungen mit dem Reichspropagandaministerium über die beabsichtigte Massnahmen auf dem Sektor Kulturpropaganda vom 14.10.1941; letter Himmler to Heydrich, 23 October 1941. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐253 (report by Gestapo informer Václav Binovec, 1942). Reports like these echo the propaganda aimed at Aktualita by Czechoslovakia's own fascists. The Czech fascist periodical Vlajka, for instance, on more than one occasion, decried Aktualita as an organisation ‘infiltrated by Jews, freemasons and Bolshevists’ (see e.g. Vlajka cutting of 15 August 1939 in SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐114). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐253. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 61. The number of cinemas grew only slightly during the war: in 1940 there were 1115 (Spiker, 1975, pp. 187, 275); in 1941, 1157 (J. Havelka, Filmwirtschaft in Böhmen und Mähren 1941 (Prague, 1942), p. 25); in 1942, 1181 (J. Havelka, Filmwirtschaft in Böhmen und Mähren 1942 (Prague, 1943), p. 23); in 1944, 1183 (BA: R‐109 II/48: letter Ufa to Dr Fries of RMfVuP, 19 May 1944). BA: R‐109/1615: Bericht über die Reise nach Prag und Pressburg vom 22–27.3.1939, p. 6. In his description of his first meeting with the Germans in his 1945 account (SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62, p. 5), Peceny does not name his discussion partner(s) and dates the meeting not 22 but 18 March. However, it seems reasonable to assume that what Peceny describes is in fact the meeting with Schwarz and that his dating is an error of memory. See Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, pp. 59, 67. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐61 (Salda affidavit, 22 June 1946). The Germans themselves nearly jeopardised the Berlin meeting. At the time, Aktualita was involved in a lawsuit with Klang‐Film—another Propaganda Ministry‐controlled firm—over the obligation to use that company's patented sound system. When on Monday rumours reached Peceny that, in his absence, all of Aktualita's sound equipment was to be legally seized, he refused to leave for Germany until he had been assured that no such thing would happen. Only after Von Gregory's office had, at the last moment, given him a guarantee that the impounding was off did he agree to board the train to Berlin. (The conflict over the sound system lasted from January 1938 to June 1939 and was eventually settled by a special contract between Tobis and AB‐Film; see BA: R‐109 I/233 and 234). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62, p. 12. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62, p. 8. Up to the end of 1939, in addition to the newsreels already mentioned (see note 4), Aktualita received material from: Domei (Tokyo), Nichi Nichi (Tokyo), Norsdisk (Oslo), Ostmark‐Woche (Vienna), Universal (New York), Pathé (Paris) and British Gaumont (London). Supply by the latter two was discontinued at the outbreak of war in September 1939 (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1939). Schmoranz had been arrested by the Gestapo on 25 August 1939 for founding and organising a major underground intelligence network. See Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, pp. 67, 213. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account 25 June 1945), pp. 12–14; I‐40 and II‐60 (Kliment affidavits, 23 June 1945); I‐47 and II‐62 (Kulisek affidavits, 26 June 1945). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 14; II‐61 (Salda affidavit, 22 June 1945). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐60 (Kulisek affidavit, 23 June 1945). In fact, already in March 1939, in a discussion with his closest collaborators, Peceny had disagreed with those who believed the Protectorate would only last a couple of months and had professed his belief that it would be in existence for ‘many years’. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945) p. 29. He certainly thought so a few months later: in the summer of 1940, during a trip to Germany he confided to his friend Jindrich Britta his belief that Germany would win the war. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐121 (Britta testimony, 28 July 1947). De jure, the registration was not concluded until 4 March 1941, when Peceny paid off the Orbis and Melantrich shares in cash. De facto, he had acted as majority shareholder since 1 January 1940. Almost as a telltale illustration of this period, Aktualita of 8 March 1940 (1940/No. 11) showed Minister Kratochvil visiting the AB Studios accompanied, not by Havel, but by Schulz, Glessgen and Dr Martin; that of 3 May (1940/No. 19) again featured Glessgen, this time inspecting the newly‐acquired AB premises (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1940). See Becker, Film und Herrschaft, pp. 169–171, 263 (notes 462–464); Spiker, Film und Kapital, pp. 187–189, 275 (notes 633–635). In the spring of 1941, Havel sold his remaining AB shares, with a nominal value of Ckr. 235,000, to the Germans. On 21 November 1941, the ‘AB‐Filmfabrikations AG’ was renamed ‘Prag‐Film AG’. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62, pp. 15–16; BA: R‐55/498: Geschäftsabschluss der AB‐Film AG, Prag, für das Jahr 1940 (4 January 1941); R‐55/676/39: Prag‐Film AG: Prüfungsbericht über die Jahresabschnitte 1940 und 1941 (10 December 1943), annex, p. 16. SUA: URP‐1233: Protokoll über die Abmachungen mit dem Reichspropagandaministerium über die beabsichtigte Maßnahmen auf dem Sektor Kulturpropaganda vom 14.10.1941. There is a distinct possibility that Schulz's action was indeed his own initiative and instigated without formal approval. He may well have tried to bluff Peceny into surrendering Aktualita to AB‐Film for his own private gain, using the Goebbels–Heydrich agreement only as a pretext. An action like that was certainly not beyond him: in July 1942, Schulz had to step down as director of Prag‐Film, accused of ‘unfaithfulness, embezzlement, falsification of documents and wilful enrichment’. Arrested, he was tried and found guilty. BA: R‐55/498/23. See also Spiker, Film und Kapital, p. 299. BA: R‐109 I/2650: Deutsche Wochenschau balance sheet for 1942–1943 (drawn up post‐war), p. 3; also annexe 13 (outstanding claims as per 31 May 1943); R‐55/676/39: Prag‐Film AG: Prüfungsbericht über die Jahresabschnitte 1940 und 1941 (10 December 1943), annexe, p. 16. BA: R‐109 II/67; R‐109 II/10. On 21 September 1944, Tietz became chief editor of the Inlandswoche (domestic newsreel edition). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐197a: Agreement between Gutterer and Frank, 17 January 1942; exchange of letters between Goebbels, Gutterer, Daluege and Frank, 20, 29 and 30 July 1942. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐140: Aktualita annual accounts for 1945, p. 17; BA: R‐109 I/2650: Deutsche Wochenschau annual accounts for 1942–1943, annexe 8; R‐109/1350/2: Deutsche Wochenschau liquidation accounts 1945–1948 (7 October 1952), p. 5 and annexe 2, p. 8. BA: R‐109 I/1615: Die Entwicklung des Filmmarktes in der Slowakei bis zum heutigen Standes (16 February 1939), p. 8. BA: R‐109 I/1615: Bericht über die Reise nach Prag und Pressburg vom 22.–27.3.1939, p. 6. BA: R‐109 I/1615: Bericht über die Filmlage in der Slowakei (15 August 1939), pp. 9–10. BA: R‐109 I/1615: minutes of Reichsfilmkammer meeting (28 September 1939), p. 4. BA: R‐109 I/1615: minutes of Reichsfilmkammer meeting (12 October 1939), p. 4. BA: R‐109 I/1615: minutes of Reichsfilmkammer meeting (16 January 1940). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), pp. 55–57. See also BA: R‐109 I/373: Tobis correspondence with Nástup (1939–1940). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐114f. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐144g. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐118–133 (Berdych testimony, 28 February 1947). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐138 (Hajecka testimony, 5 March 1947). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62, p. 45. Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1939–1940. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐2 (Sohnel affidavit, 4 March 1946); I‐21 (Cechura affidavit, 27 June 1945); I‐6–9 (charges against Peceny, 5 June 1945); II‐114a (renewed charges against Peceny, 27 February 1947); II‐118–133 (Peceny, Brichta and Kucera testimony, 28 February 1947). The Germans would have none of Elbl. His ‘anti‐German’ and reputedly ‘pro‐Russian’ attitude had already been noted in Reichsfilmkammer reports as early as 1936 (see e.g. BA: R‐56 VI/9: Dok. 288–300: Bericht über die Verhältnisse in Aussig und Prag [26.10.1936]). As early as April 1939, Glessgen had asked Pecenty to get rid of Elbl, but the latter had refused to do so. This same battle was also fought over the external appearance of the Aktualita office. The Germans had placed two signboards at the building entrance on Wenceslas Square, giving the company's name in German: Tschechische Tonfilmwochenschau Aktualita Kommandit‐Gesellschaft. However, when Lampl ordered that in addition all door‐plates in the building should have both Czech and German texts, Peceny, instead of making them bilingual, had all plates removed. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐138 (Hájecká testimony, 5 March 1947). This was most probably the Vlajka meeting of 9 January 1940. See Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, p. 102. SUA: URP‐1144 (I‐1‐a‐1574). See also Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, pp. 82, 189, 202. SUA: URP‐1144 (I‐1‐a‐1574). Zankl was right: the same Roosevelt item was screened e.g. in occupied Holland in the Ufa‐Auslandswoche, No. 476 of 18 October 1940; see Thomas Leeflang, De Bioscoop in de Oorlog (Amsterdam, 1990), p. 253. SUA: URP 1144 (I‐1‐a‐1574): Niederschrift über die Dienstbesprechung der Oberlandräte am 9.1.1941, p. 2. In 1941, Aktualita brought out 52 issues each of version A and B, a total of 104 different newsreels; in the same period, 85 issues of the Deutsche Wochenschau were released in the Protectorate (Havelka, 1942, p. 16). The first extra‐long edition was released on 7 June 1940 (1940/No. 24). Its war report alone had a length of 1172 metres. It was followed by eight weeks with reports of 1139, 957, 1213, 1217, 682, 919, 621 and 588 metres, respectively. The extra‐long editions of 1941, released in the wake of the German attack on Russia—1941/Nos 27 (11 July) to 32 (8 August)—had war reports of 415, 413, 1050, 942 and 876 metres, respectively (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1940–1941). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐134–138. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 64; Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, pp. 117–118. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐49 (letter Peceny to Abteilung Kulturpolitik, 19 February 1941); see also II‐114a. The Goebbels visit was the opening item of both version A and B of Aktualita's issue of 15 November 1940 (1940/No. 47). The report was 267 metres (9 minutes) long (Filmovy Archiv; Aktualita programme posters 1940). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐6 (charges against Peceny, 5 June 1945), point 4; I‐21 (Cechura affidavit, 27 June 1945). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐118–133 (Peceny, Kucera and Zahradnícek testimony, 28 February 1947); H.G. Adler, Theresienstadt 1941–1945. Das Antlitz einer Zwangsgemeinschaft (Tübingen, second revised edition, 1960), pp. 101–102; Lederer (1953), p. 32; Zdenek Lederer, ‘Terezin’, in A. Dagan (ed.), The Jews of Czechoslovakia, Vol. III (Philadelphia and New York, 1984), p. 148; John Bradley, Lidice, Sacrificial Village (London, 1972), pp. 100–111. The Heydrich funeral was in Aktualita A and B of 12 June 1942 (1942/No. 24). The staged mass meetings were covered in the issues of 5 June (No. 23), 19 June (No. 25), 26 June (No. 26) and 10 July (No. 28) (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1942). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐57–61 (Peceny statement, 16 March 1946); I‐22 (Bednár affidavit, 27 June 1945); II‐15–18 (text of Peceny's speech, 18 June 1942); II‐118–133, p. 10 (Faix testimony, 28 February 1947). The exact date and reason of the arrest are unknown, but according to cameraman Ivan Fric, it happened before the assault on Heydrich on 27 May (Fric interview, 1 December 1991). It was therefore not part of the wave of arrests following that assault (some 541 persons were arrested in Prague on 28 May alone; in all, over 13,000 Czechs were arrested in connection with the murder attack). David Welch, ‘Nazi Wartime Newsreel Propaganda’, in K.R.M. Short (ed.), Film and Radio Propaganda in World War II (London, 1983), pp. 201–216; David Welch, ‘Goebbels, Götterdämmerung and the Deutsche Wochenschau’, in K.R.M. Short and S. Dolezel (eds), Hitler's Fall, the Newsreel Witness (London, 1988), pp. 80–96. Items along these lines appeared, for example, in Aktualita Nos 24, 32 and 33 of 1942 and 11, 12 and 53 of 1943 (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1942–1943). Leeflang, De Bioscoop, pp. 219–283: contents of Ufa‐Auslandswochenschau 1940–1944. The ‘bicycle accident’ story comes from SOAP: MLS 521/48; 1–62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945). However, there is also another version of Kucera's parting with Aktualita. According to Ivan Fric, he and Kucera had been involved in a row and, forced to choose between Fric and Kucera, Peceny had fired his chief editor (Fric interview, 1 December 1991). Unlike their German protectors, the more radical Czech collaborators were, however, never entirely satisfied with Aktualita. As late as 30 December 1944, the editor in chief of the Nazified newspaper Ceské Slovo, Karel Werner, inveighed against the newsreel for not paying enough attention to important events in the Protectorate and for presenting a ‘distorted portrait of the era’ (SOAP: MLS 521/48: I–62, p. 50). For the Kuratorium, see Brandes, Die Tschechen, I, p. 241; II (1975), p. 29. In his post‐war account, Peceny makes great play out of the story that around December 1942, he forbade coverage of a Kuratorium ‘Youth Day’, adding that this led to a furious argument with Wolf, Von Gregory's successor at Abteilung IV. The suggestion clearly is that Aktualita did not report on the event (SOAP:MLS 521/48: I–62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), pp. 48–49. However, from his description of the Youth Day (60,000 youngsters, 700 dancers, the Strahov Stadium), it is clear that he means the one that was held in September 1943 and which Aktualita did report on. Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1942–1945. In 1942, the Kuratorium already appeared in Aktualita five times. But this was nothing compared to the exposure it got in 1943 and 1944. In both those years, it appeared in Aktualita no fewer than 21 times. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I–6 (charges against Peceny, 5 June 1945). Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters for 1942/Nos 9 (27 February 1942), 10 (6 March 1942) and 12 (20 March 1942). See e.g. Aktualita, 1943/No. 52, 1944/Nos 5, 6, 7, 22 and 25 (SOAP: Aktualita programme posters 1943–1945). On the League, see Brandes, Die Tschechen, II, pp. 30–33. See e.g. Aktualita, Nos 5 and 39 of 1942; 1, 7, 14, 41 and 45 of 1943; 14, 22, 23 and 25 of 1944 (Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1941–1945). About the NOUZ, see Brandes Die Tschechen, I, pp. 228–232, 235. Average lengths of Aktualitas come from Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters 1939–1945; for 1941 also from SUA: URP‐1144 (I‐1‐a‐1574), dated 9 January 1941; Havelka (1942), p. 16; Average lengths of German newsreels come from Robert E. Herzstein, The War that Hitler Won: the most infamous propaganda campaign in history (London, 1979), p. 233. Herzstein, War that Hitler won, pp. 232–233; Welch, in Short, Film and Radio Propaganda, pp. 208–209. BA: R‐109 II/48 (letter Ufa to Dr Fries of RMfVuP, 19 May 1944). Ibid. Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme poster for 1944/No. 38 (15–22 September 1944). This particular issue incidentally came out four days after Aktualita had finished shooting at Theresienstadt. Filmovy Archiv: Aktualita programme posters for 1944/Nos 3 (19 January 1944), 49 (1 December 1944), 27 (30 June 1944) and 46 (10 November 1944), respectively. The ‘D‐Day edition’ of Aktualita was released on 30 June 1944; that of the Deutsche Wochenschau already on 16 June. The Czech audiences thus had to wait a full two weeks longer than the German to see its first images of the invasion which by then was 24 days old. Filmovy Archiv: programme poster for Aktualita, 1944/No. 45 (3 November 1944), version A and B. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I–62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), pp. 52–54; I–21 (Cechura affidavit, 27 June 1945); II‐123–124 (Matejka and Peceny testimony, 28 February 1947); II‐13–14 (commentary texts for Aktualita items on Slovak uprising); II‐126 (Zahradnícek testimony, 28 February 1947). In fairness to Peceny, the sequel to this should be told as well: calmed down next day, he allowed Matejka two months to look for a new job; he kept Lampl from taking punitive measures against Matejka; and, although Matejka did indeed leave Aktualita in January 1945, Peceny kept him on the pay‐roll until April. Filmovy Archiv: programme posters for Aktualita, 1944/No. 46 (20 November 1944) and 49 (1 December 1944); BA: Deutsche Wochenschau, No. 742 (23 November 1944). Nazi propaganda in the Protectorate exploited the Saint, who in the 10th Century AD had advocated Bohemia's union with the German empire, as a symbol figure for the rapproachement between Czechs and Germans. See, for example, MLS 521/48: II‐144h: leaflet listing Aktualita shorts shown at the ‘America’ film theatre in Prague, 23 June 1939. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), pp. 39–41; II‐19–20 (commentary text for Ukrainja); II‐118–133 (Kucera testimony, 28 February 1947). About Moravec and the Ukraine expedition, see Brandes Die Tschechen, II, p. 28. Aktualita reported on the expedition's departure in its issue of 16 October 1942 (1942/No. 42). SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), pp. 43–44; I‐21 (Cechura affidavit, 27 June 1945); II‐126 (Zahradnícek testimony, 28 February 1947). See Karel Margry, Theresienstadt (1944–1945): the nazi propaganda film depicting the concentration camp as paradise, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 12:2 (1992), pp. 145–162. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 59. In late 1941, for example, Vaclav Berdych, the archive technician, was arrested by the Gestapo together with his wife, suspected of being Communists and active in the Communist resistance. Within a week, Peceny had him released from custody for lack of evidence. A few weeks later, wanting to devote himself fully to his underground work, Berdych, without telling Peceny, purposely caused a scene at the office and had himself fired on the spot. Caught and convicted some time later, he was to spend three and a half years at Mauthausen. SOAP: MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 61; II‐125 (Berdych testimony, 28 February 1947). Fric interview, 13 November 1989. SUA: URP: 1773 (Verzeichnis der Filmschaffenden, dated October 1944). The list is even more revealing, for it shows that for the whole Protectorate film industry, including the huge Barrandov studios, only 16 cameramen, 17 sound technicians and 38 assistants of all categories received this predicate. By September 1944, to make another comparison, the Deutsche Wochenschau in Germany had been reduced to three soundmen, 12 cutters with eight assistants, one editor and one management clerk—a total staff of only 46 (BA: R‐109 II/67: list dated 5 September 1944). SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐140: Aktualita annual accounts 1940–1945. The account for 1940 gives Ckr. 2,961,456 for the period 1 August 1939 to 30 June 1940 (11 months); that for 1945 Ckr. 6,042,470—but that figure has to be tripled in order to make a comparison, since it only covers the first four months (1 January to 8 May) of that year. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐140: Aktualita annual accounts for 1940 and 1945. Aktualita's income breaks down as follows: Newsreels in Nazi‐occupied Czechoslovakia: Karel Peceny and his newsreel company AktualitaAll authorsKarel Margry Karel Margry (1957) studied modern history at Utrecht University. He is Editor of After the Battle, a British quarterly magazine dealing with all aspects of the Second World War. He was the historian responsible for the creation of the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. A focal point of his research are the Nazi (propaganda) films made about the Theresienstadt ghetto camp, about which he has published and lectured widely. His further publications include three books on the military operations in the Netherlands—The Liberation of Eindhoven (1982), September 1944. Operation Market‐Garden (1984) and Operation Market‐Garden Then and Now (2002), a guide to the battlefields of the First World War, and numerous articles on WW2 military history, the Third Reich, holocaust history and the history of resistance in Europe. He has made three film documentaries, The Battle of Den Bosch (1984), Ghetto Theresienstadt— Deception and Reality (1997) and Westerbork Camp 1939–1945 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1080/0143968032000184506Published online:22 January 2007Table Download CSVDisplay Table Havelka Film wirtschaft in Böhmen, p. 8. SOAP MLS 521/48: I‐62 (Peceny account, 25 June 1945), p. 30. This same law had already been introduced in Germany in August 1938. See Welch, in Short, Film and Radio Propaganda, p. 204. SOAP MLS 521/48: II‐140: Aktualita annual accounts for 1940 and 1945. The exact figures are: Newsreels in Nazi‐occupied Czechoslovakia: Karel Peceny and his newsreel company AktualitaAll authorsKarel Margry Karel Margry (1957) studied modern history at Utrecht University. He is Editor of After the Battle, a British quarterly magazine dealing with all aspects of the Second World War. He was the historian responsible for the creation of the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. A focal point of his research are the Nazi (propaganda) films made about the Theresienstadt ghetto camp, about which he has published and lectured widely. His further publications include three books on the military operations in the Netherlands—The Liberation of Eindhoven (1982), September 1944. Operation Market‐Garden (1984) and Operation Market‐Garden Then and Now (2002), a guide to the battlefields of the First World War, and numerous articles on WW2 military history, the Third Reich, holocaust history and the history of resistance in Europe. He has made three film documentaries, The Battle of Den Bosch (1984), Ghetto Theresienstadt— Deception and Reality (1997) and Westerbork Camp 1939–1945 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1080/0143968032000184506Published online:22 January 2007Table Download CSVDisplay Table For the sake of comparison, the 1945 figures have been triplicated in the text. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐140: Aktualita annual accounts for 1940 and 1945. The 1945 reserves consisted of: nearly 4.7 million crowns in long‐term investment; over 1.6 million in a ‘tax reserve fund’; over 827,000 crowns in a ‘general reserve fund’; and over 529,000 in an ‘income tax reserve fund’. At the end of 1945, Aktualita had a bank balance of Ckr. 3,952,735.80. Interest returns for 1945 added up to Ckr. 30,226.10. SOAP: MLS 521/48: II‐72 (letter Peceny to Frank, 7 March 1944). Additional informationNotes on contributorsKarel Margry Karel Margry (1957) studied modern history at Utrecht University. He is Editor of After the Battle, a British quarterly magazine dealing with all aspects of the Second World War. He was the historian responsible for the creation of the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. A focal point of his research are the Nazi (propaganda) films made about the Theresienstadt ghetto camp, about which he has published and lectured widely. His further publications include three books on the military operations in the Netherlands—The Liberation of Eindhoven (1982), September 1944. Operation Market‐Garden (1984) and Operation Market‐Garden Then and Now (2002), a guide to the battlefields of the First World War, and numerous articles on WW2 military history, the Third Reich, holocaust history and the history of resistance in Europe. He has made three film documentaries, The Battle of Den Bosch (1984), Ghetto Theresienstadt— Deception and Reality (1997) and Westerbork Camp 1939–1945 (1999). Karel Margry (1957) studied modern history at Utrecht University. He is Editor of After the Battle, a British quarterly magazine dealing with all aspects of the Second World War. He was the historian responsible for the creation of the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. A focal point of his research are the Nazi (propaganda) films made about the Theresienstadt ghetto camp, about which he has published and lectured widely. His further publications include three books on the military operations in the Netherlands—The Liberation of Eindhoven (1982), September 1944. Operation Market‐Garden (1984) and Operation Market‐Garden Then and Now (2002), a guide to the battlefields of the First World War, and numerous articles on WW2 military history, the Third Reich, holocaust history and the history of resistance in Europe. He has made three film documentaries, The Battle of Den Bosch (1984), Ghetto Theresienstadt— Deception and Reality (1997) and Westerbork Camp 1939–1945 (1999).