Radomír Matulík

“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.‘“