Created in the 1930s, this German newsreel “Homecoming to the Reich” shows part of the “expansion of Germany” promoted under Adolf Hitler, in this case the seizure of the Sudentenland. At :46, an August 5, 1936 newspaper announces the end of negotiations regarding the disputed province and notes that it is “finally ceded” to Germany. At 1:09, a figure (probably Konrad Ernst Eduard Henlein, who was appointed Reichsstatthalter of the Reichsgau Sudetenland upon its formation on 1 May 1939) performs a Nazi salute. At 1:24, German troops gleefully open up a border gate. At 2:10, German troops are shown being welcomed into the area, along with Hitler himself who arrives in a large open car to a hero’s welcome (2:37). At 4:00 the film “tells the story” of the entry of Sudetenland into the Reich, using an animated map. At 5:23 images from the signing of the Sept. 29th Munich Agreement, with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in attendance, are shown. Hitler, Daladier and Chamberlain met and accepted the immediate occupation of the Sudetenland. At 5:40, Czech border markings are pushed over by German troops and at 6:10, surrendered bunkers and pillboxes visited by Hitler. At 6:20, more German troops are shown entering the disputed area and being greeted by vast throngs. At 7:03 and following, Hitler is shown giving speeches, moving through a crowd in an open car, and being greeted by large groups of people. At 8:23 a dirigible, possibly Graf Zeppelin, flies overhead. At 8:30, Hermann Goring is shown at an airport where a Junkers trimotor is landing. Goring joins Hitler in the next sequences. At 8:53 a banner proclaims “Food transport for the Sudetenland” and shows portable kitchens set up to feed the gathered throngs. The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak, and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation. At 10:27, German troops are shown on the road to Prague, Czechoslovakia, in the snow. At 11:40, troops are shown in downtown Prague, near the statue of a knight on horseback (present day national museum of the Czech Republic). At 11:56 the so-called “protectorate” of Mahren / Moravia and Bohemia is shown.
At 12:24 another vestage of the Versailles Treaty, the Memel Territory, is shown. A Treaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany was signed by Lithuania during this period, and Hitler sailed into Memel on the cruiser Deutschland to celebrate its return (13:50). The film ends with Hitler once again being saluted by vast crowds of enthusiastic onlookers and giving a triumphant speech. The annexation of Memel would be his last bloodless acquisition for Germany; the future expansion of Germany would cost blood and iron, and end in calamity.
Sudetenland came into existence in the early 20th century, after WWI, when the German-dominated Austria-Hungary was dismembered and the Sudeten Germans found themselves living in the new country of Czechoslovakia. The Sudeten crisis of 1938 was provoked by the demands of Nazi Germany that the Sudetenland be annexed to Germany, which in fact took place after the later infamous Munich Agreement. When Czechoslovakia was reconstituted after the Second World War, the Sudeten Germans were largely expelled, and the region today is inhabited primarily by Czech speakers.
Parts of the current Czech regions of Karlovy Vary, Liberec, Olomouc, Moravia-Silesia, and Ústí nad Labem are situated within the former Sudetenland.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
