Nationalized Bata factory renamed Svit

Czechoslovakia, Prague 1947. Bata shoe factory with High Tatras in background. Although the owner Jan Antonin Bata saved hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Czechoslovak citizens including Jews from the transport to concentration camps, Bata factory in Zlin was confiscated after WWII under Benes Decrees. Bata was tried on 64 trumped up charges but was found innocent which angered the Communist Judge who sent him, in absentia, to 15 years of hard labor. Bata emigrated to Canada where he continued his successful shoe business. CTK Vintage Photo

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Absentia Although Angered Antonin Bata Benes Charges Confiscated Continued Decrees Emigrated Hundreds Innocent Nationalized Perhaps Renamed Saved Svit Tatras Tried Trumped Zlin

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