The publication “Jak se mluvi na enhačku” (The Language of the Ostrava Steelworks), which takes the reader on a tour through the Ostrava mill by means of slang expressions and pictures, has been put on sale at the visitor’s centre of the Science and Technology Centre of the Lower Vítkovice industrial heritage site. LIBERTY Ostrava will give the proceeds from sales of the book to Světlo autismu institution based in Ostrava, which currently provides care to six children with autism and hopes in the future to also provide them with a specialist home.

“We have decided to help the institution Světlo autismu not only because this type of activity definitely deserves support, but also because the institution takes care, among others, of a twelve-year old daughter of one of our employees,” explains Barbora Černá Dvořáková, who is in charge of Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility at LIBERTY Ostrava.

The book “Jak se mluvi na enhačku” was published by LIBERTY Ostrava on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the mill’s foundation.  Its aim is to preserve fragments of the plant’s unique language, formed by generations of Nová huť employees, for next generations. The language came into existence on the basis of the rough Ostrava dialect which was combined with specialist German technical terms and words added by the Polish spoken by workers from the border areas, who would work at the new factory.

“The “brief” language puts the slang expressions describing all kinds of tools, products and professions into the context of the production process and place them into particular operations. The text is drawn up in order to present all key workplaces and technologies of the Ostrava mill from blast furnaces where hot metal is produced, to the steel shop and the foundry up to the rolling mills where final products are manufactured,” said the expert advisor for the book Ladislav Zela, former R&D worker of the steelworks, who now works as an occasional guide at LIBERTY Ostrava.

The book also includes a mix of contemporary and historic photographs showing the plant’s supplemented by drawings by the famous Ostrava draftsman and caricaturist, Václav Šípoš, who enriched the book with drawings of typical workers. It can be bought for 80 crowns at the souvenir shop at the Science and Technology Centre at Lower Vítkovice site in Ostrava which is open daily from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. 63 crowns from the sale of each book will go to the Světlo autismu institution.

Světlo autismu was founded in Ostrava by Vladimíra and Vladimír Cígánek to provide a safe, welcoming and cozy haven for their daughter Leontýnka and for other five children who live with autism. The final goal is to create a community centre which will be a safe home to the clients when they come of age. Twelve-year-old Barunka, the daughter of Jiří Běčák, who works as a shift leader at the tube plant of LIBERTY Ostrava, is also taken care of by Světlo autismu. Due to a physical issue, as she was born without fingers on her right hand, Barunka’s parents hope the new centre will give here somewhere safe to live as she grows up.

“When Světlo autismu came up with the idea that they want to build a home for their daughter Leontýnka and a few other children with autism where they can live happily together, we didn‘t think twice and joined them in implementing the idea.  We want Barunka to have a comfortable and dignified life until the end of her days,” said Barunka’s father Jiří.

Further information:

LIBERTY Ostrava is an integrated steel business with an annual production capacity of approximately 3.6 million tonnes per annum serving primarily construction, machinery and oil & gas industries. The company is a domestic leader in the manufacture of road barriers and tubes. In addition to the Czech market, it supplies its products to more than 40 countries around the world. Together with its subsidiaries in Ostrava, the company has 6,000 employees. The company manufactures its products with a minimum possible environmental footprint. The mill is part of LIBERTY Steel Group. 

LIBERTY Steel Group is part of GFG Alliance, a collection of global businesses and investments owned by Sanjeev Gupta and his family. The Alliance is structured into three core industrial pillars: LIBERTY Steel Group, ALVANCE Aluminium Group and SIMEC Energy Group, independent of each other yet united through shared values and a purpose to create a sustainable future for industry and society. GFG Alliance employs c.35,000 people, across 30 countries and has revenues of >USD $20bn.

libertysteelgroup.com/cz/
www.libertysteelgroup.com
www.gfgalliance.com