A graduate of Baťa’s school of work traveled the world
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Vlastimil Trlida was born on November 23, 1933 in Nenkovice near Kyjov to parents Maria and František. The family lived off land and cattle. At the end of World War II, the Trlidas lost their house. At first, they were expelled from the house by German soldiers, and the family had to move out within a single hour under the threat of being shot. They thus experienced the liberation of Nenkovice in the cellar of the mason Julius Vyhňák. When it became clear that the war was over, they were able to leave the cellars, but they found out that their house and stables had burned down after the Soviet army’s drastic fighting with Wehrmacht soldiers. In 1948, Vlastimil joined Baťa’s school of work in Zlín, where he learned the shoemaking trade. During that time, Baťa’s factory became the national company Svit and Vlastimil started working here after his apprenticeship. He gradually became the leader of the shift and in the 1960s he took part in several trips abroad as a technician. He helped build a shoe factory in Ethiopia, which was then personally handed over by President Antonín Novotný to the then Emperor Haile Selassie. After returning from his travels, Vlastimil Trlida worked his way up to the position of clerk at the Svit General Directorate. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, he moved to the position of head of operations at the Zlín rubber plants. In 2020, he lived in Zlín and, despite his advanced age, was engaged in the production of support columns for winemakers.
