James FitzPatrick leads us on a Technicolor tour of Czechoslovakia circa 1938, showing points of interest, with special emphasis on the beautiful and historic city of Prague.
Went to Prague a year ago and considering all that the city has faced since then and now a lot of it looks so similar! Such a beautiful city that I recommend everyone to visit if they’re in Europe
Note that traffic in Czechoslovakia drove on the left back then. When the Nazis invaded in March 1939 they gave the Czechs and Slovaks 10 days to change over to driving on the right. The Germans also ordered the Austrians to do likewise after the Anschluss in 1938.
@@Cromwelldunbar Jersey and Guernsey reverted back to lrft hand traffic in 1945. Over twenty years later, Sweden and Iceland switched from left to right.
Amazing video. Good to know Prague stayed as beautiful as it was back then. Its so sad we know what will be a year later.. they are happy there and unaware of what soon to come :(
Heavens! It's not Jekoslovakia!! How did he get this so wrong and nobody correct him?!? in any case, wonderful film but so pogniant seeing it's 1938 - how many of them were killed in the war. Tragic.
Their last happy year before the dark times. First Hitler's facists and then Stalins communists. Nice that they are free once more and safely esconsed in the EU. Shame they split into two nations though. But at least it was a peaceful and amicable split.
Nope. The Czechs knew they couldn't possibly defeat the Germans after the Munich sellout by the UK and France handed the Germans the Sudetenland. They were basically surrounded by a much larger nation. So their government ordered the their armed forces to stand down. As there was no battles or bombing campaigns their nation remained mostly unscathed. The Germans just took over and appointed a puppet government.
The Germans burnt the City administration building (behind the Praha Orloj astronomical clock) during the May 1945 uprising. An errant U.S. bomber pilot accidentally dropped a few bombs on Praha thinking it was Dresden (that's how bad navigation was back then). Several buildings were destroyed or damaged.
I am Slovak-Canadian. I want Czechoslovakia back. ❤️
It is eerie to watch considering the year. Prague is an amazing city.
Went to Prague a year ago and considering all that the city has faced since then and now a lot of it looks so similar! Such a beautiful city that I recommend everyone to visit if they’re in Europe
Note that traffic in Czechoslovakia drove on the left back then. When the Nazis invaded in March 1939 they gave the Czechs and Slovaks 10 days to change over to driving on the right. The Germans also ordered the Austrians to do likewise after the Anschluss in 1938.
Likewise in the Channel Islands when they invaded them in 1940.
@@Cromwelldunbar Jersey and Guernsey reverted back to lrft hand traffic in 1945. Over twenty years later, Sweden and Iceland switched from left to right.
I wish I could transport myself back there in 1938 and look around, talk to people, and try to decide what to do. What a visit that could be.
A mere year later, Czechoslovakia was no more and the world was at war.
I'm so happy that these are archived on CZcams.
Amazing video. Good to know Prague stayed as beautiful as it was back then.
Its so sad we know what will be a year later.. they are happy there and unaware of what soon to come :(
Thanks!
Heavens! It's not Jekoslovakia!! How did he get this so wrong and nobody correct him?!? in any case, wonderful film but so pogniant seeing it's 1938 - how many of them were killed in the war. Tragic.
Their last happy year before the dark times. First Hitler's facists and then Stalins communists. Nice that they are free once more and safely esconsed in the EU. Shame they split into two nations though. But at least it was a peaceful and amicable split.
I’d venture to say many of these architectural wonders were destroyed by the Nazi’s in WW2
Prague remained virtually unscathed. If you can swing it, I’d recommend a visit.
the only thing that dissapeared were jew and germans after ww2 and most of the roads which are pathwalks now
Nope. The Czechs knew they couldn't possibly defeat the Germans after the Munich sellout by the UK and France handed the Germans the Sudetenland. They were basically surrounded by a much larger nation. So their government ordered the their armed forces to stand down. As there was no battles or bombing campaigns their nation remained mostly unscathed. The Germans just took over and appointed a puppet government.
The Germans burnt the City administration building (behind the Praha Orloj astronomical clock) during the May 1945 uprising. An errant U.S. bomber pilot accidentally dropped a few bombs on Praha thinking it was Dresden (that's how bad navigation was back then). Several buildings were destroyed or damaged.
Danach zerstörten die Nazis auch noch Dresden,Halberstadt,Dessau,......