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 About

• 01:31 – Introduction to the podcast and Bata’s Singapore history
• 02:07 – Silvestr Němec’s disappearance
• 02:29 – Jan Beránek’s research journey
• 03:26 – Family memories
• 04:37 – The post-war search for Silvestr
• 05:49 – Discovery of family letters in 2017
• 07:25 – Motivation for beginning the investigation
• 08:45 – How Silvestr was sent to Singapore by Bata
• 09:20 – Silvestr’s job at Bata’s flagship store
• 10:05 – Bata’s international success and localisation
• 11:42 – Bata’s early operations and expansion in Malaya
• 13:17 – What made Bata successful
• 14:11 – The Czechoslovak community in Malaya
• 14:55 – Czechoslovaks’ impressions of colonial Singapore
• 16:35 – Czechoslovakia during WWII and Bata’s wartime challenges
• 22:26 – Silvestr’s service in the Volunteer Corps
• 24:44 – What happened to Silvestr
• 28:37 – Jan’s research process and reflections
• 36:07 – The number of Bata shoes Jan owns
• 36:58 – Family history is…

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/searching-for-family-in-the-shadows-of-war-jan-beranek/transcript/
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-4/jan-mar-2026/lost-family-silvestr-nemec-war-search-czech-singapore/

This episode of BiblioAsia+ 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.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.