“I remember that when we were as boys sometimes kept in detention after school, we could see from the classroom directly into Baťa’s garden. They had a swimming pool in the centre of it. We sat at school in detention and saw Baťa’s kids bathing in a pool and we felt sorry for ourselves.”
“Our uniforms were collected from various places. Some of them were British, Hungarian, German… A few of us even got uniforms of the SS. So we unpicked the SS markings and sew on the Czechoslovak ones. This is how the Czechoslovak army begun after the war.”
“Once the boys were kept at school in detention and among them Tomík Baťa. He said that he was the young Baťa and that he does not get to be kept in detention, that he does not need to know to write, that he will get a typewriter. They had a long discussion with his teacher Zapletal and Tomík Baťa told him he would run away home. After which Mr. Zapletal went into the teacher’s room, called Tomáš Baťa Sr. and described him the situation; he thanked him, started his Ford and drove to school just as the small Tomík was climbing over the school fence. The boss jumped out of his car, pulled out a belt from his trousers, held the boy down on the fence and said: ‘Then again, I am the old Baťa and I am telling you to go to school properly, to obey your teacher and if he keeps you in detention until night, you will stay there.‘ He took the boy, brought him back to the classroom and said: ‘Mr. Zapletal, if this was to happen again, do not even argue with him, just call me.‘“
Radomír Matulík was born on the 17th of February 1924 in Pozlovice. Since 1926, he and his parents lived in Zlín where his father got a job. Among Radomír Matulík’s classmates were Jan Čipera and Edita Baťová. He also knew Tomáš Baťa Jr.from school. Since his early years, Radomír was a member of the boy scouts; later becoming a leader of a group. During WWII, he took part in the resistance movement. His younger brother Bronislav was arrested for his resistance activities in the last days of the war and executed. Just like his father, Radomír Matulík worked in the Zlín factories as a blacksmith. He died on December 13, 2023 in Zlín.
