Partizánske

Partizánske (meaning approximately partisan town, formerly: Baťovany) is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia.

Geography
It is located in the northern part of the Danubian Hills around 55 km from Nitra, on the Nitra River, near the Tribeč mountains.

History
Partizánske is a relatively young town. Its history starts in 1938–1939, when Jan Antonin Bata of Zlin Czech Republic and his powerful network of companies built a shoe factory in the cadastral area of Šimonovany municipality. The newly created settlement for workers carried the name of Baťovany and was part of Šimonovany. With the growth of the factory, so grew the settlement. The whole municipality was renamed to Baťovany in 1948 and given town status. As a sign of recognition of local inhabitants fighting in the Slovak National Uprising, the town was renamed Partizánske on 9 February 1949. The factory was renamed by communists to ''Závody 29. augusta'' (29 August works) and it produced 30 million pairs of shoes and employed around 10,000 people. However, after a failed privatisation in the 1990s, only fraction is left now.

Demographics
According to the 2001 census, the town had 24,907 inhabitants. 97.71% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 0.69% Czechs and 0.35% Roma. The religious makeup was 73.88% Roman Catholics, 18.07% people with no religious affiliation, and 2.95% Lutherans.

Notable natives and residents

 * Miroslav, Jaroslav, Peter and Pavol Dvorský, four brothers who are all successful opera singers.