„The students of the School of art were not very positive to the Bata system. We did not like Bata so much, because we had to leave the school's ateliers and go to work in his factory. We were working on the machines, cutting pieces of leather and doing similar. Good thing was, we had not been dependent on parent's financial help anymore. We were monthly payed and it was sufficient for buying food and even for buying some books about art. But we were treated well in the factory even though it was not a welcome duty. We were Bata's employees, we did not pay for the studies. We usually worked till noon and then went to the school. It was sometimes exhausting. I hated working on the machine, doing automatically one move for many hours like Chaplin in the movie Modern time. But well, we survived."
„It was good that I had an opportunity to get to the office. I gave vouchers to the people, which allowed them to go home for a visit. I usually mentioned a sickness of their parents to be a reason for visiting them. I signed it Mr. Jates and gave a stamp on it. Once there was even a whole carriage of Jates's on the way to Prague. If they caught me I would go to the jail. Once they caught my colleague Jurko from Slovenia. He did the very same thing but under his own name. He didn't get as lucky as myself and was sent behind the bars. Thanks to a false document I was released from the forced labour and got away from Austria sooner than most of my unfortunate friends."
„There was a Unit of artist. It was my father's arrangement that once there came an official paper to Kapfenberg, that I am not legally there, because I am an artist. (Artist were extracted from the obligation to work as forced labour.) I had studied only 2 years in the School of Art in Zlin and was no artist by then yet. Nevertheless they gave me a stamp of leave and I went home. I got lucky once again."
„So he got to Paris and got a big piecework to create a Monument of legionary in Arras - it happened to be later on czech post stamps. It was a big piece and he made it all by himself. He also made several of portraits of some officials. There was for example the Mayor of Paris among them. It was quite a happy time I think."
„There were many people visiting the Man. They gathered a group of 8 - 10 people and I joined them. He showed us his paintings and told us some stories. For instance about a boy who was payed a 5 czech crowns for sitting as a model. He ate the coin and Mr. Svabinsky had to look for him in hospitals..."
Academic painter Jiri Hruska was born 10th February 1921 in Paris, his father was well-known czech sculptor Jaroslav Hruska. After finishing the Monument of legionary in Arras his family moved back to Prague in 1926. The witness graduated at the Grammar school in Truhlarska street. In 1940 he was accepted to the School of Art in Zlin, specialization in sculpture under the supervisory of Vincenc Makovsky. He became automatically an emplyee of Bata’s factory. Between 1942 - 1944 he was a forced labour in the factory producing cannons in austrian Kapfenberg. He was lucky to get an administrative position. He made up a person named Jates who gave false permissions allowing his forced labour colleagues to visit their families in Prague. However, this fraud was never revealed. After II. World war he studied AVU in Prague, major -figural paintings by professor V. Rada. in 1950 he married painter Vendula Truhlářová, the niece of the famous czech painter Jan Zrzavý. He was a member of Umělecká beseda, persuaded communist until 1968, then lost his political interest completely. His daughter Vendula Císařovská is also an academic painter, restaurator and book illustrator. She was a friend of Vaclav Havel who invited her to decorate some rooms at the Prague Castle. Witness inspired by impressionism devoted his work to the landscape painting. We can find his pieces of art in the Czech National gallery and in private collections in the Czech republic as well as abroad. He lives and works in Prague 7 with his second wife Božena Kiková.
