Karel Sabela (1917–1949)
Karel Sabela was born in Český Těšín (Karviná District, Moravia-Silesia Region) on December 12, 1917. His father worked as a cooper master at a state farm in Český Těšín, his mother was a housewife. After finishing elementary school he went to study secondary school and finished it with a GCE in 1938. Later he also commenced studies of theology but did not finish them. Instead, he acquired military education at a reserve officer school.
When the Těšín region was occupied by Germans, Sabela left for Místek where he was sent to a labour camp. In June 1939 he fled abroad and via Poland and France (Foreign Legion) got to the Czechoslovak Foreign Army in England. As of 1944 he participated with Czechoslovak units in fighting in France as a Squad Commander. He received a number of awards for his war merits, including the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939, the Czechoslovak Medal for Bravery before the Enemy, The Czechoslovak Military Medal for Merit 2nd class, the Czechoslovak Military Commemorative Medal with Label F-VB).
When in England in 1943, Karel Sabela married a Czech girl of Jewish origin who had come to England before the war with a children’s transport. They had two children, but he divorced her after the war and got married again after some time. In 1946 he joined the Communist Party and became a career soldier, reaching the rank of Captain at the 21st Tank Brigade in Žatec.
As a high officer with Western experience, he soon fell victim to communist licence and was prosecuted for alleged involvement in a probably fictitious or provoked subversive military plot (Action Norbert). He was considered to be a commander of a tank unit whose task was to assist in assuming control over the Capital City of Prague. The State Court in Prague sentenced him to death on charges of high treason and espionage in June 1949, together with other convicts (Jebavý, Gonic, Hubálek, Sok). The death penalty was executed at Prague’s Pankrác Prison on July 18, 1949, following dismissal of appeal by the Supreme Court and non-granting of pardon by the then president Klement Gottwald.