Title in original language: Vzťah koncernu Baťa k režimu Slovenskej republiky 1939–1945 na stránkach časopisu Budovateľ
Author: Ľudovít Hallon
Title in English: Bata Corporation’s relationship to the Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945 as seen through the Budovateľ magazine
Journal: Česko-slovenská historická ročenka 23, 2, 2021, pp. 27-56
Abstract: The Slovak branch of the international Bata Corporation gradually came into existence in the 1930s, with the process culminating during the existence of the Slovak Republic between 1939 and 1945. In January 1939, the branch also started a magazine, named Budovateľ and targeted at the Slovak factories of the corporation. The magazine, whose content would be created by its editors, provided information about life in the factories, but also presented the official attitude of the Slovak branch’s top management towards the government and the political system of Slovakia at that time. The study maps and evaluates the attitudes (or certain aspects thereof) expressed in Budovateľ in the period 1939 to 1941, when the government of the independent Slovak Republic was on the rise and could boast some economic and social achievements and when the idea of national unity resonated in the broader populace. The study analyses these attitudes up to June 1941, specifically until the attack on the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. In the months and years that followed, the views of the management and rank-and-file employees at Bata’s plants in Slovakia gradually began to change under the influence of domestic and international developments in the context of the world war.