Thirty Cases of Major Zeman (Tà Âicet pà ÂÃÂpadà ¯ majora Zemana) is a Czechoslovak action-drama television show intended as a political propaganda to support the official image and attitude of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The series was filmed in the 1970s. Most of the episodes are inspired by real criminal cases. The series follows the life of police investigator Jan Zeman during his career from 1945 to 1973.
The first episode takes place in 1945. Young Jan Zeman is returning from a Nazi concentration camp. On the train he meets his friend Václav Kalina, who tells him about his plan to join the police force once he gets home. Jan returns to his home village and finds only his mother there. He discovers that his father has been murdered. The police are unable to find the murderer and close the case. Jan begins investigating on his own, wishing to expose his father's killer. He reveals a conspiracy and informs Václav Kalina at Brno police headquarters; eventually, the murderers are captured. Impressed, Kalina induces Jan to join the police and serve with him.
A re-broadcast of the series in the Czech Republic in 1999, caused controversy and public criticism of the series, which was accused of conveying communist propaganda and portraying those with different political views as criminals.