Josef Pfitzner was a historian who became a senior official in the administration of German-occupied Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. His career reflects the transformation of an academic into a political actor within the structures of the Third Reich. This documentary traces Pfitzner’s rise from university lecturer in Prague to a leading figure in the municipal administration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In the years following the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the subsequent German occupation, he aligned himself closely with National Socialist policy and advanced within the occupation authorities. Working alongside senior figures such as Reinhard Heydrich and Karl Hermann Frank, Pfitzner played a role in the political and cultural restructuring of Prague. His activities included the supervision of public messaging, intervention in historical interpretation, and efforts to promote the Germanization of the city’s identity and institutions.
The film also places his actions within the wider context of occupation policy, resistance, and repression in wartime Czechoslovakia. It examines how administrative authority, ideology, and personal ambition intersected during a period marked by coercion and systemic violence.
Following the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, Pfitzner attempted to leave Prague but was detained and returned to Czechoslovakia. He was tried before the Extraordinary People’s Court, charged with collaboration and responsibility for actions carried out under the occupation regime. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Josef Pfitzner’s sentence was carried out in Prague in September 1945. His case illustrates the post-war effort to address collaboration and the broader question of accountability in the aftermath of occupation.
Narrator: Marchand Steenkamp.
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