Zdeněk Forejt

This production of Ostrava TV Studios was inspired by actual events which occurred in the Ostrava region of Moravia during the 1920s and 1930s. A hedonistic bon vivant of a lawyer named Zajícek (played by Václav Postránecký) came up with a sophisticated finance speculation scheme which exceeded the bounds of law. When discovered it became one of the most closely-followed First Republic scandals.

This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.