Cathedral in Prague. c. 1942. Paul Goldfinger still image from the movie “Anthropoid” 2022. Click on images to enlarge.
Prague. 1942. Paul Goldfinger still photo from the movie “Anthropoid.”
The movie Anthropoid is streaming on Amazon. It is a terrifying film set in occupied Czechoslovakia. A group of Czech terrorists parachute into Prague with plans to assassinate the third highest ranking Nazi in the world—Reinhard Heydrich. They succeed, but there is hell to pay for the Czech people.
Unless you can stomach extreme violence, you might consider skipping the end from where they are hiding in the cathedral. I did not watch that ending, although I know what happened—it’s in the history books.
The greatest Czech composer was Antonin Dvorak. Here is a portion of his Nocturne in B major:
Thanks George. Yes the similarity is striking. Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Germans in March, 1939 despite Chamberlain’s naive efforts. No one helped the Czechs, and they surrendered to Hitler without firing a shot. An underground was established and based in England, but that network was destroyed as shown in Anthropoid.
And now the theme is being repeated in the Ukraine, although there the Ukrainians are fighting back with their army, but without any outside help.
From George Held
Paul,
Thanks for the excerpt from the Nocturne in D and the reference to Arthropod.
Did you know I spent three years in Czechoslovakia as a Fulbright lecturer? Anthropoid, which I saw in a theater when it made its first US run, is one of the best war movies ever. And in its relevance to Ukraine most appropriate for you to mention today.
Best, George
Note: George Held writes poetry on Blogfinger. He is a retired professor of writing from Queens College, CUNY.