Legie svobody - DAAK a akce Josef
The freedom legion – DAAK and the Josef operation

Summary/Abstract: The Freedom Legion was a resistance group that was created out of many groups in the autumn of 1952 and the spring of 1953 with the aim of establishing a control centre for domestic anti-communist resistance. It was headed by three people: Bohumil Kokrda, Miloslav Novák and Stanislav Cába. Surprisingly, the activity of this illegal group stirred up the American presidential campaign in the second half of 1952 and subsequently gave rise to broadcasts by Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, which reacted to it. The Republicans ran a campaign with a slogan declaring their intention not to pursue the containment of communism, but the liberation of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. They criticised the Democrats and Harry Truman for losing the important region of Eastern Europe and leaving it to its fate. The hopeful domestic resistance to communism began to actively operate against the regime. They organised hundreds of followers and prepared for a possible confrontation between the super powers. The Freedom Legion – DAAK resistance group was a very diverse resistance organisation that set itself the difficult goals of concentrating and unifying all anti-communist forces, primarily at home but also abroad. This did not happen, however. Instead, it marked the beginning of mass arrests of dozens of people, political trials and convictions that sent people to prison for decades.

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