Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Juliána Trojánková-Bendová
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JULIANA TROJANKovA-BENDOVA
1 898—1986
Juliana Bendova, née Trojankova, was born on 19 November 1898 in Czechoslovakia. She first came in contact with the Bahá’í Faith in 1925 in the Carolinum, Prague, when she was called upon to translate a talk on the Faith which was being given by Martha Root. There had been some difficulties with making a translation from English so Martha spoke in Esperanto, which Juliana understood. Juliana wrote “It was my first public appearance and I felt very insecure. I asked myself whether I would be able to translate COITectIy, but then as Martha Root, in her fine and balanced way and with her mild friendly and loving smile began to speak with me, I realized that I understood her Esperanto very well... Martha Root spoke about the Bahá’í Faith with much love, devotion, and clarity, winning our hearts and becoming my teacher.”
The Bahá’í Faith was not unknown in Prague at that time. As early as 1852, a newspaper article about the Báb had appeared. In
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1912, Milos Svatopluk Wurm organized a Bahá’í book exhibition in Prague, gave public talks and wrote a book entitled Mz’rove’ hnutz’ na vychode (Peace Movement in the East) which was published before the first World War.
In 1926, the year after Juliana encountered the Faith, she became very ill and was thus prevented from taking part in the activities of the community for a long time. It was a difficult period of her life, during which She realized the importance of spirituality.
In the following years, Juliana came into contact with many friends from abroad, such as: Dr. I an Ude (Austiia); Valentin Bulgakow (U.S.S.R., secretary to Leo Tolstoy), Dr. Helmann Grossmann, Dr. A. Mfihlschlegel, and Erik Blumenthal (Germany); ‘Aziz Samandan’ (Persia); and Ludmila van Sombeek (U.S.A.). Above all, however, there was a very warm relationship between Juliana and the Austrian Bahá’í community. She Visited the friends in Vienna in 1968 and took part in the Austrian Bahá’í summer school that year. She loved very much to hear the friends chant prayers in the original language, even though she herself did not understand either Persian or Arabic.
A foreign language correspondent by profession, Juliana translated many of the Writings herself and was a motivating force in ensuring the publication of several Bahá’í books. Her translations into Czech included Words of Wisdom (Slova moudxosti); What is the Bahá’í Faith? (Co jest nabozenstvi Bahá’í?); The Divine Art of Living (Boské umeni ziti); The Book of Certitude (Kniha jistoty); and various articles, including “The Return of Christ” (Kristus a Jeho opetny prichod). She also translated many of the Bahá’í Writings into Esperanto, some of which appeared in issues of the Bahá’í News published between 1940 and 1950. Juliana worked daily on translating the Writings right up into her last years.
She was deeply interested in the history of the Slavs and sought to clarify a common misperception of them as having been
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Julidna T rojdnkovd—Bendovd
warlike while, she would point out, ethnology showed them to have been farming peoples. She liked also to speak of those great personalities of Czech history who had worked for peace, such as King George Podiebrad (Jixi z Podébrad) who, in the fifteenth century, suggested to the leaders of his time the convening of a peace conference, or Jan Amos Komensky (IA. Comenius) who wrote Via Lucis (published in 1668 in Amsterdam) in Which he showed four ways to eliminate the danger of war and ignorance: the publication of universal books from which recognition of God would come feith; access to schools for all; the establishment of an assembly of philosophers; and the creation of a universal language to facilitate communication~all of which are in the spirit of Bahá’í teachings.
Juliana did not lead an easyxlife; she
endured very severe tests but was never ‘
heard to complain of them, nor did she like friends to remind her of them. Since her youth, peace was her heart’s desire. Knowing that the Peace Message of the Universal House of Justice was sent to the leaders of
THE Bahá’í WORLD
the world and, through the United Nations, to her own Government, gave her immense comfort and happiness.
In her memoirs, Juliana wrote “I write these sentences with heartfelt gratitude, a sense of solidarity, and a lasting remembrance of our very precious Martha Root, whose love for us beginners as we came to know the Bahá’í Faith was unfailing.” Among her last words before she died were “1qén”, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá”, and “Bahá’u’lláh”. Juliana Trojénkové~Bend0Va died on 29 November 1986 in Prague.
Informed of the passing of her beloved soul into the Abhá Kingdom, the Universal House of Justice cabled the following:
GRIEVED PASSING STALWART DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT BAHA’U’LLAH IULIANA BENDOVA. FUTURE GENERATIONS CZECH BAHA’IS WILL REJOICE HER MEMORY BE INSPIRED BY HER HEROIC TENACITY UPHOLDING LIGHT CAUSE GOD. URGE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL SERVICE VIENNA. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
Based on an article by IULIANA BENDOVA, (translated title: “How I became acquainted with the Bahá’í Teachings”)