Josef Balabán

Josef Balabán

Josef Balabán (born June 5, 1894 in Obory , † October 3, 1941 in Prague ) was a figure in the Czechoslovak resistance against National Socialism from 1939 to 1945 . Balabán was a soldier, legionnaire and officer in Czechoslovakia . Together with Josef Mašín and Václav Morávek , he formed the leadership of the Tři Králové (Three Kings) resistance group , which, as part of the Obrana národa group, which also consists of military personnel, specialized in acts of subversion and sabotage not only in the area of ​​the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia .

Josef Balabán was arrested and executed in 1941. After the war he was promoted to major general in memoriam .

Life

After elementary school, Josef Balabán learned locks and in 1914 enlisted in the Austrian army. In 1915 he came to the Eastern Front , deserted, and after internment he enlisted in the Czechoslovak Legions , where he mostly served in the artillery and attended an officers' school. After taking part in some battles in central Russia and Siberia, he returned to Czechoslovakia on April 22, 1920 and from then on served in Prague as a career officer. He was promoted little by little, commanded various regiments and batteries, also outside of Prague. At the end of 1926 he became a staff captain. In 1929 he got a position in the artillery division of the Defense Ministry, was promoted to major and in 1936 to lieutenant colonel.

When it became apparent after the Munich Agreement of 1938 that Czechoslovakia should be destroyed as a state entity, Balabán began to build up a secret network of trustworthy employees to counter this. After the so-called smashing of the rest of the Czech Republic on 15./16. In March 1939 he was charged with the so-called "liquidation" of the Czechoslovak army in the Ministry of Defense. This made it possible for him to place reliable and credible military personnel in those (civilian) positions that would meet the later needs of the Obrana národa resistance group that had already been prepared . In order to be able to camouflage himself even better, he managed to get himself transferred to the pension.

resistance

Memorial plaque for Josef Balabán in Prague

Josef Balabán became one of the most agile organizers of internal resistance in the Protectorate, especially the Obrana národa group . In the summer of 1939 he joined their management group and made contact with Josef Mašín and Václav Morávek, with whom he soon founded the Tři králové (Three Kings) group, a kind of independent special department for special tasks. After the founding of the ÚVOD group, intended as the umbrella organization of the Czechoslovak resistance , Balabán was sent there as a representative of the Obrana národa .

Balabán was primarily responsible for the intelligence work, in particular for the transmission of the information obtained to the Czechoslovak government in exile in London. This information came not only from the Obrana národa, but also from other resistance groups, part of it from Paul Thümmel , the famous double spy "A 54", who also worked as an agent of the military intelligence service of Czechoslovakia and had contacts with the resistance. The concrete transmission of the information was incumbent on František Peltán , who worked as a radio telegraphist for both the Tři králové and Obrana národa groups and radioed to London using the Sparta I and Sparta II channels . Peltán was personally hired by Balabán to set up and maintain the operation of the Sparta II station.

Balabán, who was constantly looking for contact with other resistance groups, came across a Gestapo confederate. On the evening of April 22, 1941, he was arrested in Prague. Despite brutal interrogations, he did not reveal any names. He was sentenced to death by a court martial and executed on October 3, 1941.

Awards, honors

• Czechoslovak War Cross 1914–1918
• Czechoslovak War Cross 1939
• Russian Order of Saint George
• Order of the Crown of Yugoslavia

and other.

Josef Balabán was promoted to colonel in 1946, to brigadier general in 1947 and major general in 2005.

One of the main areas of operation of the Tři králové group was the Prague 6 district, where Balabán, among others, was arrested. In 2012 the district granted all three resistance fighters of the Tři králové group honorary citizenship.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} BALABÁN Josef , detailed curriculum vitae in: Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945 , publication of the Historical Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, AVIS, Prague 2005, p. 14, online (archived) at: vojenskaakademiehranice.ic .cz / ...
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Josef Balabán , detailed curriculum vitae on the server of the Prague 6 district on the occasion of the (since 2002) annual award of honorary citizenship to deserving citizens, here to all three members of the Tři králové resistance group in 2012, online at: praha6.cz/balaban
3. ↑ František Moravec : spy, jemuž nevěřili , translation (from English) Hana Moravcová-Disherová. Sixty-Eight Publishers, Vol. 32, Toronto 1977, ISBN 0-88781-032-2 (3rd edition: Academia, Prague 2002, ISBN 80-200-1006-8 ); English original edition: František Moravec: Master of spies. The memoirs of General Frantisek Moravec. Bodley Head, London et al. 1975, ISBN 0-370-10353-X (also: Time-Life Books, Alexandria VA 1991, ISBN 0-8094-8570-2 )
4. ^ Tři králové , report on the server of the Prague 6 district on the occasion of the (since 2002) annual award of honorary citizenship to deserving citizens, here to all three members of the Tři králové resistance group in 2012, online at: praha6.cz/tri_kralove

Web links

Commons : Josef Balabán  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature and other media by and about Josef Balabán in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic