Escape to Africa. Henri Diamant

Vienna that Harry appeared on the scene. He was born on February 22, 1928. And a few months later, another notable event unfolded.

      Father found out about a great business opportunity that fit perfectly into his long-term plans. An established shoe store had come on the market in the capital city of Berlin, Germany. And, what made this potential acquisition especially interesting, was the financial clause. The terms required only a minimal amount of up-front financing, an amount that was within the range of father’s affordability. Obviously, this was the break that father had been praying for, and he wasted little time closing the deal.

      The family moved to Berlin at the end of 1928, and began a new kind of life, the life of a proprietor of a small retail shop. A life that turned out to be full of hard work, long hours and nagging financial worries. Father and mother worked side-by- side in the store, and spent little time on social activities.

      Father changed the store’s name to “Schuh Haus Diamant”, and immediately turned his efforts toward improving profitability and sales. He reduced expenses by carefully managing the level of the inventory, and improved sales by replacing the store’s limited assortment of styles with more alluring and catchy patterns and colors.

      As luck would have it, father decided early on to stock the store with merchandise produced by a well-known Czech manufacturer, the Bata Shoe Company. In the footwear industry, the Bata Shoe Company was renowned for the high quality of its production and for its mid-priced fashionable footwear. In addition, the company had ongoing programs for cooperative advertising campaigns and a guaranteed 24-hour re-supply policy. Obviously, that was exactly what father needed for his new store, and he made good use of all the advantages that came with the Bata brand.

      Over the months, father developed a personal relationship with some of the Bata’s marketing managers, and it did not take long before they tried to recruit him for the company. They recognized his talents and decided that he would be a great asset for the firm. Bata was expanding rapidly, and it was in need of capable men and women, especially those with some years of retail experience.

      It was around that time that a great event occurred-my birth. I was born on March 24, 1930, and a few months later, father signed up with Bata’s retail division in Czechoslovakia.

      We left Berlin during the month of November 1930.

      06. Father’s Career At Bata

      I do not know why father abandoned his dream of owning and running his own store. Maybe it was on account of me. I was another mouth to feed and the growing family needed a decent and dependable income, the kind that one could not really expect from a small retail business. The company he was joining was known for great career opportunities, above average pay and exceptional benefits, such as the company-managed savings accounts that rewarded employees with the unheard of yearly yield of ten percent.

      Without question, future events proved that father made the right decision to join the Bata organization. And, since he often spoke of those times, I was left with a good appreciation of what the company was all about, the company that eventually affected our lives to such a great degree.

      The founder of the company, Mr. Thomas Bata, became an apprentice in his father’s modest footwear-manufacturing establishment during the late 1800s. By 1932, the year that he died in the crash of the company-owned airplane, he had transformed his hometown of Zlin, Czechoslovakia, into a modern industrial center that mass-produced some thirty-six million pairs of footwear per year. The town, about 150 miles east of Prague, was owned entirely by the company, and employed a total of 20,000 workers. It featured low-rent housing, free access to medical care, schools, a cinema, a great indoor market, a department store, and large athletic facilities where various company teams competed vigorously for trophies. It became a global enterprise, with an industrial center famous for its mass production techniques and up-to-date technology. It was the most modern enterprise in the country, wielding a huge economic impact on the young republic and, to some extent, the world across state borders. For instance, there was the time when the German railroads, which moved the bulk of Zlin’s exports to various German seaports (the Czech Republic being a land-locked country), informed the company about a substantial freight-rate increase. The company did not even bother to acknowledge receipt of the new rates, much less enter into any negotiations about them. Instead, it purchased a large fleet of trucks and started to do its own hauling across Germany. Within a few weeks, according to father, the railroads canceled the new freight rates, submitted some of the lowest rates ever, and took those dreadful trucks off the company’s hands by purchasing them at premium prices.

      Father also mentioned a couple of other instances that I found really interesting. The first one had to do with the extraordinary concept (we must remember that we are talking about the1930s) that went into the making of the chairman’s office in the company’s new headquarters building. The architects installed it in an elevator that moved swiftly and quietly up and down the 16 floors of the headquarters. This saved the chairman’s time and kept the office personnel on its toes... no one knew when the boss would pop-up unannounced on their floor. By the way, the boss at that time was Jan Bata, he took over the management of the company after Thomas’ death. They were stepbrothers, and Jan remained in charge until Thomas Junior came of age.

      The other instance tells of Bata’s entry into Africa. The initial decision to break into that market was made in the early 1930s, when the company charged two budding marketing managers to size up the business outlook on the continent. One was instructed to do his research up and down the East Coast, while the other was assigned to the West Coast. The one that had gone to the East Coast telexed the following discouraging news; “No one is wearing any footwear. No reason to waste time. Returning home”. Then headquarters received the now-famous telex from the second guy: “See great opportunity. Everyone here in need of their very first pair of shoes”. It is not difficult to guess which one of them was promoted quickly to a high management position in the expanding export division.

      At any rate, once father made the move, he charged aggressively into his new job and, thanks to his prior experience in the retail business, easily impressed management during initial evaluation, and over the tough training period in Zlin. As a result, it did not take long before he was placed in charge of one of the low-volume shoe stores that were the training grounds for upcoming retail managers.

      This store was located in the small town of Slavkov, a short distance from Brno, the second largest city in Czechoslovakia and the capital of the province of Moravia. And while it was a small town according to its size, it really was a giant by historical dimensions. History refers to it by the German name of Austerlitz, the place where a famous battle of the Napoleonic wars was fought on December 2, 1805. During that engagement, Napoleon’s small expeditionary force completely crushed the much larger army that had been hurled against it by a coalition of the Austrian and Russian military forces.

      Outside of Slavkov, at a junction of the road leading to the highway that connects the cities of Brno and Olomouc, one can still have a meal at the Stara Posta Inn, the very same tavern that Napoleon used during the night of that famous December day, in 1805. The next morning, he went to Presburg to sign the Peace Treaty that forced Austria to relinquish Venice and the Tyrol, and paved the way for Napoleon to become the master of Central Europe. His reign ended in 1815, when he met his final defeat at the bloody battle of Waterloo, a small Belgian village some 10 miles southeast of Brussels. He was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he died of cancer in 1821. Napoleon Bonaparte’s body is buried in Paris, beneath the dome of the Hotel des Invalides, a hospital for sick and aged soldiers.

      In 1933 father took over a large store in Sumperk, in the vicinity of the city of Olomouc. This promotion came with a substantial pay increase, an increase that motivated father to purchase the family’s first car. Having a car in those days was rather exceptional, and the fact that father could afford one was clear indication that, true to its reputation, the company never failed to link pay to performance and hard work.

      Another noteworthy event happened that year. Harry started his formal education and entered first grade. How fitting that he reached this milestone in the proximity of Olomouc, a well-known college town.

      Father’s new responsibility did not overwhelm him for a moment,