František Malota

* recorded in the personal card:

• born on December 22, 1900 in Hulín
• education – Secondary Grammar School in Olomouc, Business Academy in Olomouc, University of Business in Prague
• foreign language skills – German, French, English, Russian
• hired by the company on 12. 1. 1924
• residence – Nad Ovčírnou 2563, later Lazy

During his high school studies, he earned extra money in the Zlín factory during the holidays, during his university studies he received financial help from his great-uncle Tomas Bata, and then he also worked on Saturdays in Bata's shop on Prague's Wenceslas Square. After joining the company in Zlín, he worked in the shoemaker's operation, then moved to the export department for two years and then to the purchasing department. He bought leather all over Europe and even got to India. In the years 1934-1936, he was the director of the Bata factory in Hellocourt, France. During the war years, he belonged to the highest management of the concern, and in this position in 1944 he supported the Slovak patriots during the anti-fascist resistance (financial support of the Bata company amounted to 90 million crowns). Because of this activity, he underwent three interrogations by the Zlín Gestapo. After the communist coup of February 1948, he found an existence in Prague, but then he was imprisoned, tried and persecuted in the years 1951-1956. He struggled for several years at workplaces in Ostrava, retired in 1961 and then lived in Zlín. He died on September 16, 1984.

Tomas Bata through the eyes of František Malota: He did not settle any matter by throwing it onto the other person. He bit into each issue by himself, taught us to analyse the problems, find a way to the core and to clearly say yes and no. Thus, in his own way, he taught us to think and work on a global scale.

František Malota, 1940 (SokA Zlin, o. č. 14274, p. č. 10)