1937 – 20th segment: The World Belongs to Us (Svět patří nám)

In this series we introduce 100 songs that have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Vote in the big poll of the 100 Hits of the Republic and pick the greatest hit today. We continue with the year 1937.

1937

On April 5th, after four-years of construction, the Prague Airport at Ruzyně (now called the Václav Havel Airport) was put into operation.

On September 14th Czechoslovakia’s first president, Tomas G. Masaryk, died in Lány.

On January 24th, child actor Ivan Jandl was born. He was the first Czech to win an Oscar.

One of the most popular Prague theaters of the time was the Liberated Theater, the home scene of the famous trio Voskovec-Werich-Ježek. They celebrated successes not only in the theater but also in film. For the year 1937, we offer you another of their successful marching songs, “The World Belongs to Us.” The song culminated in the making of a film by the same-name, which was received with great enthusiasm by the public. Young people took a great liking to it at the time. However, while to the democratic youth the text of the song meant expressions of sympathy and fidelity to the Free Republic and its future, the Communists interpreted the slogan "The World Belongs to Us" in their own way as part of the ideological struggle and desired proletarian dictatorship.

It should be noted, however, that while Voskovec, Werich and Ježek sympathized with the democratic left they were never members of any party, least of all the Communist Party. One thing is for certain; the song "The World Belongs to Us" matched the atmosphere of the time and it became a source of strength of all self-confident citizens of the Free Republic, who in 1937 already faced the danger of Hitler's expanding Nazism.