Nazi Germany invades Memel in 1939. Archive film 91545

An educational film produced by the Reichsanstalt fur Film und Bild in Wissenschaft und Unterricht (a state body), which documents Germany s annexation of the Memel Territory in 1939. The film emphasises the warm reception that met German troops on the streets of the four territories. An officer throws a newspaper into a crowd. Close up of the newspaper Memmelwacht declaring freedom for the Memel Territory from Poland. A man climbs a ladder and fastens a little nazi flag above a door. A banner declares We have come home. A bilingual sign at a ferry station is defaced, leaving only the German text. A uniformed official opens a metal gate, ecstatic young men and women flood in waving flags. Soldiers poke their heads out of a covered army truck and wave at the crowds, one carries a posy of flowers. Local soldiers wearing uniforms decorated with fresh flowers watch the procession on the ground and in the air. A formation of aircraft fly above. Shots of the sea from a military vessel