Josef Škalda

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Josef Škalda (born August 15, 1894 in Malé Petrovice ; † January 23, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a soldier in the Foreign Legion and then in the Czechoslovak Legions in France during the First World War . During the Second World War he was active in the Czechoslovak resistance by editing the most famous resistance magazine V boj . For this he was sentenced to death and executed in Berlin-Plötzensee .

Life

Josef Škalda, originally trained as a tailor, went to France before the outbreak of World War I and on July 29, 1914 he joined the French Foreign Legion, where he served in North Africa and took part in the fighting in Algeria and Morocco, among other things. After the establishment of the Czechoslovak Legions in France, he was transferred to their 21st Rifle Regiment. After the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, he took part in the fighting with Poland in the conflict over the Olsa area, as in Slovakia against Hungary. After 1921 he served in the police. His awards “Médaille Coloniale (Maroc)”, “Mutaj el Hafid” and “Médaille Commémorative Coloniale 1914–1918” came from his time in the Foreign Legion, and came after the end of the warCroix de guerre (1914–1918), Czechoslovak War Cross 1914–1918 and Czechoslovak Revolution Medal .

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the German troops in 1939 and after the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , Škalda, influenced by President Edvard Beneš's radio speech on March 19, 1939 in Chicago, began to distribute leaflets with this speech and other appeals. In March 1939, he and a group of like-minded people founded the magazine V boj , which adhered to the tradition of a legionnaire's magazine from 1917. The magazine soon gained further helpers, both for the editorial team (including well-known personalities such as Vojtěch Preissig , Milada Marešová or Milena Jesenská ) and for distribution, so that it quickly became the most important illegal resistance magazine in the occupied protectorate. His brother Václav Škalda also worked on issues of the magazine in the Hradec Králové region .

Škalda's group was broken up by the Gestapo in autumn 1939 , and he himself was arrested on November 10, 1939. He was found guilty of having committed high treason through his activities, sentenced to death and executed on January 23, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee.

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personal data
SURNAME Škalda, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak soldier and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Male Petrovice
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1942
Place of death Berlin-Plötzensee