Republican activist and professional typographer, in 1935 Benci clandestinely emigrated to
France. In
Nice, where he had found work, he joined the
Communist Party and, at the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War, was among the first to rush to the nearby Republic, where he enlisted in the anarchist formations of the
POUM. Wounded in
Zaragoza and decorated for his bravery, Benci returned to France after
Franco's victory. French authorities
interned him at Gurs, but he managed to escape from the camp at the beginning of
World War II. With the
German occupation, Benci participated in the
resistance movement alongside French fighters. He then moved to
Belgium to continue guerrilla activities against the Germans. Captured by the Nazis along with two hundred other Belgian partisans in February 1943, Benci was executed by firing squad on 12 June 1943. ==Commemorations==