Searching for Family in the Shadows of War

Jan Beránek sets out to find out what happened to his granduncle, Silvestr Němec, who left his Czech village for Singapore in 1938 and died as a volunteer during WWII. He finds Silvestr’s story woven with that of the Bata Shoe Company, the Czechoslovak community and volunteer forces in Singapore.Jan Beránek is a Czech environmentalist and an energy expert. He was born and raised in the Czech city of Brno, where he studied physics and sociology. Jan has worked for several environmental organisations and was also the chairman of the Czech Green Party. He currently lives in Amsterdam, working for Greenpeace International as Director for Organizational Strategy and Development. He is the author of In Search of Silvestr: Unravelling My Granduncle's Fate, Bata, Czechoslovaks and World War II in Singapore (Landmark Books, 2025).What Jan Talked About01:31 – Introduction to the podcast and Bata’s Singapore history02:07 – Silvestr Němec’s disappearance02:29 – Jan Beránek’s research journey03:26 – Family memories04:37 – The post-war search for Silvestr05:49 – Discovery of family letters in 201707:25 – Motivation for beginning the investigation08:45 – How Silvestr was sent to Singapore by Bata09:20 – Silvestr’s job at Bata’s flagship store10:05 – Bata’s international success and localisation11:42 – Bata’s early operations and expansion in Malaya13:17 – What made Bata successful14:11 – The Czechoslovak community in Malaya14:55 – Czechoslovaks’ impressions of colonial Singapore16:35 – Czechoslovakia during WWII and Bata’s wartime challenges22:26 – Silvestr’s service in the Volunteer Corps24:44 – What happened to Silvestr28:37 – Jan’s research process and reflections36:07 – The number of Bata shoes Jan owns36:58 – Family history is…Transcript and ResourcesRead the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-searching-for-family-in-the-shadows-of-war-jan-beranek/Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/vol-21-issue-4-jan-mar-2026-lost-family-silvestr-nemec-war-search-czech-singapore/Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Jan for coming on the show.The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.