T. G. Masaryk’s bust. By Josef Mařatka. Marble.

T. G. Masaryk’s bust. By Josef Mařatka. Marble. The bust used to stand in the Petschek & Co. Banking House in Prague. During Second World War, this building was the headquarters of the German secret state police – the infamous Gestapo. The Nazi occupants used the marble bust for target practice. The considerably damaged part of the chin is probably due to its having suffered a hammer blow or a severe fall in the postwar years, when the palace was undergoing renovation. This bust testified to the dismal way T. G. Masaryk’s memory was treated during World War Two and under communism.