1938 – 21st Segment: Depends on Us

In this series we introduce 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. They became popular by being played throughout important years and time periods or by winning the hit parade. We continue with the year 1938.

The Liberated Theater, also known as the Prague Free Theater, featured songs which spontaneously gained popularity with the masses of that period. To this day they remain as a symbol of the age-old Czech longing for political freedom and social justice. Alongside the proceeding rise of Italian Fascism and Hitler’s Nazism in neighboring Germany came anti-Fascist demonstrations and a national resolve to defend the Republic against the growing German threat. Even a song from the Liberated Theater’s very last production from the spring of 1938, “Sore Thumb,” attests to the prevalent tensions and Czech attitude.

The song, “Depends on Us,” stems from a time not long before the Munich Agreement. The Liberated Theater’s call for civic bravery and the defense of the democratic state remains as a reminder for us in these troubled times. This is because, and I quote, “to defend your truth and to truly believe, to fight for the truth, and to win with truth – that all depends on us.” This is surely relevant even today. Give it some thought!