How Concepts Became Reality
By John Nash, 10.6.2016
Most Czech's don't know the background of the Bata canal or the origins of city of Otrokovice (formerly Batov). How did these grand projects became part of today's reality. It is unclear to me why such basic history is not well known. I will attempt to bring this history to light.
The idea controlling Moravian waterways is a very old idea. However, the first well documented study on this topic was the inspiration of a Czech engineer named Stanislav Suk. In 1919 he completed a study on how to control and harness the waterways of the Morava river. The primary interest for Suk's study was to alleviate the problem of high 
waters during flood season and to regulate water during periods of drought along the Morava river. Tomas Bata Sr. became keenly interested in Suk's research and became a proponent of this idea. Though time was not on Tomas Bata's side. Tomas eagerly began construction in an area known as the Zlin annex (where the suburb where Otrokovice is located today) along the Morava river. Soon after the completion of the first factory buildings, the floods came and utterly destroyed all of the new buildings. This destructive event confirmed Suk's analysis was correct. Tomas abandoned further building on this land until the flooding problem was solved. Tomas Bata lobbied the government to support the idea of making major rivers in Czechoslovakia navigable and controllable. This turned out to be an enormous effort that was too extensive for the government to undertake. Tomas Bata died in an airplane accident in 1932 before the creation of the Bata canal or the Batov/Otrokovice suburb. Fortunately, Tomas' younger brother Jan Antonin Bata had the energy, the ideas, and the determination to successfully complete these enormous projects. Jan named the new city Batov naming it after his brother Tomas. Construction of Batov was completed by the mid-1930s and the Bata canal was completed by 1938.
The inspiration for what eventually became the Bata Canal was Stanislav Suk.
Tomas Bata was the person who lobbied the government for Suk's project was Tomas Bata Sr.
The person who was the force behind the construction of the Bata Canal and the Otrokovice suburb was Jan Antonin Bata.
Jan Antonin Bata, Chief of the the Bata Organization ordered work to begin on the Bata Canal on 
October 16, 1934. The canal was completed four years later in the autum of 1938. As a part of this project, Jan Bata founded a company called Moravská plavební a.s. J.A. Bata's new company obtained the first shipping license in Moravia for the Morava and its tributaries.
Information on Stanislav Suk can be found in a book published by Tisk shortly after the death of Tomas Bata where Suk's plans are referenced. Please refer to pages 215-224 of the book entitled, Tomas Bata, Uvahy Projevy, 1932.
Jan Antonin Bata's creation of Batov and the undertaking of the Bata canal can be found in a book entitled, Bata Men and Work,1935. Please refer to pages 151-156.
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J.Š.10.6.2016
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