The truth has finally surfaced as to why Jan Bata was blacklisted during the Second world
War in Canada. It turns out that it was due to the efforts of one member of the Canadian government who was closely aligned with Thomas J. Bata. Glenn W. McPherson, an attorney, was the Canadian Enemy Property Custodian at the time and the person responsible for managing enemy property for the Canadian government.
The legal work Glenn McPherson did in August 1939 describes the methods used by the Canadian government to blacklist and vest the property under the guise of enemy ownership. All Czechs were automatically considered Germans under this mandate. In spite of the fact that Jan Antonin Bata was not in occupied territory at any point during the war. Nor did he ever return to Czechoslovakia. And, the well known fact that J.A.Bata funded the Czechoslovak government in exile throughout the war makes you wonder what other reasons may have led to the blacklisting of J.A.Bata.
According to Glenn McPherson: “We had to make a prima facie [prima facie definition: based on the first impression; accepted as correct until proved otherwise.] case that any vesting orders we applied for were based on facts indicating an enemy interest. I felt that this was wrong, that in wartime the English rule that you are innocent until proven guilty should be waived. I knew this was a real departure from British jurisprudence, and I knew some in the Cabinet would probably object. However, in drafting the regulations I put in the clause that, in effect, said that all German-owned assets in Canada automatically vested in the Canadian Custodian as of the date of the issuing of the Orders-in-Council. This became known as the Canadian Automatic Vesting Provision. We didn’t have to prove anything. The law said that if the assets were enemy-owned, they vested.”
“I also had a provision that all a Custodian had to do was to advise the holder of such assets, or a party controlling the same, that he had determined that the assets were enemy-owned, and that it was up to the other party to prove they were not. Obviously, with a war going on and no direct communication going on with the enemy, there would be no way for a chartered bank to get evidence out of Germany that the assets were, or were not, German-owned. The only information they might have would be from a Swiss bank, and that would customarily be that the interests in Canada were either owned by unknown parties (numbered accounts) or they were owned in Switzerland.”
Glenn McPherson did not believe that Jan Antonin Bata was the only owner of Bata a.s., Zlin. After the war, McPherson took the position that Thomas J. Bata was the owner 100% of Bata a.s., Zlin and other Bata companies. He must have forgotten about the letters that Tomik wrote him that confirmed J.A.Bata’s legitimate ownership. One such letter from Tomik to McPherson, dated, Feb. 5th, 1941 states: “In 1932 my father died in an airplane accident and left me an amount of money. His business interests went to his half-brother, John A. Bata." It is clear that Tomik knew that his uncle was the owner of the concern and thus Custodian McPherson and the Canadian government also knew the truth. Unfortunately, getting to the truth is often difficult when large sums of money are involved.
In reading the convoluted description by Glenn McPherson, one might think that these rules were written for a business specifically like Jan Bata's, a Czech business with a Swiss holding company, controlled through Swiss banks.
Well, the Czech Ministry of Finance has come to the correct conclusion that Jan Antonin Bata was the undisputed owner of Bata a.s., Zlin.
It is clear today that the Honorable Glenn W. McPherson got it exactly wrong with respect to Jan Antonin Bata.
This raises important questions with respect to the real motives behind the blacklisting of Jan Antonin Bata, including the permanent vesting of his property in Canada, the Bata vs. Bata litigation initiated by Thomas J. Bata and Marie Bata 1947 over ownership of the international Bata concern, and the confiscation of all of Jan Bata’s property in Czechoslovakia.
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John Nash
10 Stowecroft Drive
Hampton, NH 03842
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