Břetislav Benda (28 March 1897 – 19 August 1983) was a Czechoslovak

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, student of Josef Václav Myslbek and member of

Mánes Union of Fine Arts The Mánes Association of Fine Artists ( or ''S.V.U.''; commonly abbreviated as ''Manes'') was an artists' association and exhibition society founded in 1887 in Prague and named after painter Josef Mánes. The Manes was significant for its in ...

from 1923. He was born in Sepekov. Benda's bronzes often focused on the female body, being one of the few sculptors to focus on this almost exclusively. His architectural sculpture includes interior work at the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the Komerční banka in

Náchod Náchod (; ) is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. It is known both as a tourist destination and centre of industry. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and i ...

(with the architect Pavel Janák) and a relief for a 1935 savings bank in

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

. In 1968, the Council of Czech Jewish Religious Communities commissioned Benda to create a memorial sculpture at the former trade fair building in Prague where most of the

Jews of Prague The history of the Jews in Prague, the capital of today's Czech Republic, relates to one of Europe's oldest recorded and most well-known Jewish communities (in Hebrew, ''Kehilla''), first mentioned by the Sephardi-Jewish traveller Ibrahim ibn Yaq ...

were rounded up by the Nazis and deported to

Terezín Terezín (; ) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,900 inhabitants. It is a former military fortress composed of the citadel and adjacent walled garrison town. The town centre i ...

, onward to

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

and other concentration camps. The three-part sculpture included an inscription describing the function of the building during the Nazi regime, but the sculpture was never unveiled at the site due to government opposition. It was eventually placed in the town of Terezín itself, on the wall of the Theresienstadt fortifications adjacent to the road that leads to the crematorium and Jewish victims' cemetery. He died in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he is buried at the

Vyšehrad Cemetery Established in 1869 on the grounds of Vyšehrad Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, the Vyšehrad Cemetery () is the final resting place of many composers, artists, sculptors, writers, and those from the world of science and politics. The center ...

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Short Biography
1897 births 1983 deaths Czech architectural sculptors Czech male sculptors Czechoslovak sculptors 20th-century Czech male artists People from Sepekov {{Sculptor-stub