Josef Sousedik
Josef Sousedík (18 December 1894, Vsetín – 15 December 1944, Vsetín) was a Czech inventor, industrialist and resistance fighter.
Josef Sousedík grew up in a poor family in Vsetín in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He opened his own workshop in 1919, using his patents and inventions. The workshop expanded into a factory employing over 200 people by 1934. The factory went bankrupt in 1934 during the Great Depression and was bought by Ringhoffer-Tatra, which employed Sousedík as CEO.
Sousedík was an anti-Nazi resistance leader during World War II. He was arrested in 1944 and shot dead after a fight during an interrogation. Sousedík was decorated with the Czechoslovak War Cross in memoriam by Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš.
The Communist dictatorship suppressed recognition of Sousedík's acts due to his collaboration with Western states and factory ownership.
The above information is condensed from the Wikipedia entry, accessed 4 May 2024.