Pátrání po Silvestrovi - Válečné osudy baťovců v Singapuru – Beránek Jan (2020)

A fact-based detective story about the search for Silvestr Němec, a Baťa employee who was born in Vémyslice in southern Moravia and left for Singapore at the age of nineteen. Far from home, he was caught up in the events of the Second World War and died under unclear circumstances as a volunteer defending Singapore against the Japanese invasion in February 1942. Jan Beránek spends three years investigating Silvestr’s life and the circumstances of his death, searching archives in Zlín, Znojmo, Prague, London and Singapore. With the help of other historians and witnesses, he gathers unique photographs and previously unpublished documents, including diaries and recollections from several Baťa employees in Singapore. The book follows the investigation from its earliest stages, introducing Silvestr’s family background, his work for Baťa and the conditions in which hundreds of young workers set out for exotic foreign countries. Particular attention is paid to his time in Singapore and the dramatic events leading to his premature death, which Beránek ultimately learns more about through surviving sources, conversations with witnesses’ descendants, speculation and his own visit to Singapore than he initially hoped.