In 1935 the threat of Nazi expansion could already be felt. The small countries bordering on Germany were extremely concerned and it was clear that world peace was at risk. This is the context in which Karel Čapek, the greatest Czech writer at the time, penned Bílá nemoc. According to the author the world can be divided into two parts, one half believing in human rights, democracy, peace and respect for human life, while the other opts for inhuman, idealised tyranny, hegemony and expansion, fêting violence and reducing mankind to the level of an object. In his film Haas plays the hero, Doctor Galén, who succeeds in finding a cure for the white plague. The stage production and the film were a serious warning about the risk of a Nazi invasion.

Luboš Bartošek, Le cinéma tchèque et slovaque, Ed. du Centre Pompidou, 1996