- 1920-07-00 — Harlan and Grace Ober made a pilgrimage to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Haifa. They returned via Germany and England where they had the privilege of meeting Shoghi Effendi, then a student at Oxford.
In Germany, at the suggestion of 'Abdu'l-Bahá they went to Leipzig where they spoke about the Faith at the Theosophical Society where two persons accepted the Faith. One was future Hand of the Cause Dr Hermann Grossmann and the other was Frau Lina Benke who shared the message with her husband George Adam Benke, the first European martyr. [BW13p869]
- 1932-05-00 — Two Bahá'ís from Germany settled in Sofia, Bulgaria to assist Marion Jack. Lina and George Benke had become Bahá'ís in Leipzig after hearing of the Faith from Harlan and Grace Ober and Alma Knobloch. From June 1931 and later in May 1932 the couple travelled to Sofia and settled there as pioneers where their contacts were mostly in the Esperanto community. In the few months they were there George travelled to Stara Zagora, Varna and Plovdiv, all towns some distance from Sofia. He was elderly and in frail health and passed away in November, 1932. [SYH176]
- 1932-11-23 —
The passing of George Adam Benke (b. Fredericksfelt, south Russia in 1878) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Shoghi Effendi declared him to be "the first European martyr. [BW5:416–418, LDG1p263]
- He had become a Bahá'í as a result of the visit of Harlan and Grace Ober to Leipzig in 1920 and the further efforts of Miss Alma Knoblock. [BW5p416]
- He translated the works of Bahálláh that had been translated into Russian by Thomansky and Rosenberg.
- In June of 1931 he was called upon to help Marion Jack in Sofia where is knowledge of Russian facilitated his efforts. He stayed for three months.
- Again in 1932 he was asked to go to Sofia where he passed away after a very short period of discomfort.
- Shoghi Effendi called him the first European martyr. [LDG1:263; MC359]
- Photo 1 of his gravesite in Sofia.
- Photo 2 of his headstone.
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