Paper short abstract:

Partizánske (SK) was established as one of the Baťa company cities in August 1938. But since March 1939, the director J. A. Baťa was in exile; immediately after WWII, the property was nationalized. Still, the self-image of the city is based on the limited "Baťa heritage".

Paper long abstract:

The Baťa Shoe Company established the settlement of Šimonovany-Baťovany (from 1949 Partizánske, Slovakia) literally a few weeks before the Munich Agreement and shortly before the establishment of the Slovak State and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. During wartime, the factory operated successfully but had no chance to develop the company system as it worked in Zlín thoroughly. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to describe the patterns of creating the city's past, which can objectively be said to have never had a chance to exist. Therefore, we ask:

- What does it mean "Baťa/baťa" in remembering and constructing the past of this particular town?

- Could be the reinvention of Baťa past interpreted as the mechanism of re-framing the Slovak State period?

- What is emphasized and what is suppressed in the contemporary narrative of the past in Partizánske?

During WWII, several local anti-fascist groups were formed among the company's employees. After nationalization in 1945 and the coup d'état in 1948, the communist regime promoted the one-sided narrative of Baťa as a capitalist exploiter, and the city was renamed to memorize these WWII partisans groups. After the revolution in 1989, residents, local politicians, historians and workers in culture began reinventing the Baťa tradition and history.

The paper presents the data from the focus group (December 2022), other interviews (spring 2023) and archival materials (long-term research of Nina Bartošová).