Finding Gavrilo Princip at Terezin

How Did the Assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand End Up in a Czech Prison?

A display of inmates at Terezin includes a photo of Gavrilo Princip at the prison. Photo credit: L. Tripoli.

Visiting Terezin concentration camp in the Czech Republic, I am there to learn about World War II and to try to understand the atrocities that took place during that era. So I am surprised on my tour of the smaller prison in the town to discover that the inmate booked in cell no. 1 at Terezin was the fellow who triggered World War I: Gavrilo Princip.

This post may contain affiliate links in which I earn a small commission if you click on the link and make a purchase from the site.

Who Was Gavrilo Princip?

Gavrilo Princip, at the tender young age of 19, managed to become sufficiently disgruntled with his station in the world that he opted to assassinate the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, and Ferdinand’s wife Sophie, while they were on a working tour of Sarajevo. Looking at a little display about Princip at Terezin, I am reminded how little the world knows of this fellow.

Gavrilo Princip’s single destructive act, in something of a negative, evil butterfly effect, managed to defeat numerous empires (Austro-Hungarian, Prussian/German, Ottoman, and Czarist Russia).

While sitting in prison, Princip triggered a global war that resulted in millions of deaths.

This one young man, whose name is hardly a household word today, caused quite a bit of chaos for much of 20th century, and yet I don’t really know what his gripe was or where exactly he was from or what he really hoped would happen after he shot Franz Ferdinand.

Franz Ferdinand and Family. Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division [Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ggbain-17181 (digital file from original negative)].

How Did Gavrilo Princip End Up in a Czech Prison?

Gavrilo Princip’s detention at Terezin does not get a whole lot of attention, either. I learn that Princip was a member of a group called the Black Hand and that because he was a teenager he could not be sentenced to hard labor for killing the archduke. Princip managed to avoid the death penalty by a hair; had he been 20 at the time of his misdeed, that punishment could have been applied to him.

Because Princip was one month shy of his 20th birthday when he assassinated Franz Ferdinand, he instead was sent to Terezin, a political prison in what today is the Czech Republic. In 1914, Czech lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Princip spent some time in solitary confinement, contracted tuberculosis, had his arm amputated, and died at Terezin in 1918. And that is all that is really said about him by our tour guide at Terezin.

What Was Gavrilo Princip’s Back Story?

Seeing an old photo of Princip at Terezin and realizing that he was still in his teens when he apparently became radicalized, I remain curious about what could possibly anger someone so young. In short, what exactly had Franz Ferdinand done to him? What had anyone done to him? And was freedom from colonial rule his only goal, or did religious issues also color his acts?

Trouble in the Balkans: Shifting Borders in Bosnia and Serbia

How Sarajevo became the focal point of all of the world’s not-always-muffled rage a century ago is a bit complicated.

Princip was born in July 1894 in Obljaj, a small town in western Bosnia that was part of Austria-Hungary at that time. Bosnia, which had been in Ottoman Empire territory, in 1878 became part of the Austro-Hungarian empire thanks to the Congress of Berlin that followed an uprising in the region. In 1908, Austria took full control over Bosnia and ended the limited role that the Ottoman Empire had maintained in the region. Yet neighboring Serbia had gained its independence in the 1800s. Bosnians were not necessarily too keen on Austrian colonization, and some longed for the freedom that nearby Serbia enjoyed.

Meanwhile, the Austrians apparently were not all that kind to their Bosnian charges. Festers simmered.

Princip made his way from rural Obljaj to Sarajevo, also a part of Bosnia at the time, to go to school.

Exposed to the big city and ideas about Bosnian independence, Princip apparently began to believe the only route to freedom from Austria involved the elimination of the archduke.

Of course, what Princip actually thought and what was actually occurring in Bosnia and Serbia circa 1914 is much more nuanced. Journalist Tim Butcher, who covered the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, retraces Princip’s steps from Obljaj to Sarajevo to Terezin in his book, The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War. While recounting Princip’s journey, Butcher manages to explain a century’s worth of history of that area in an understandable way.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Photo credit: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.

Gavrilo Princip Did Not Act Alone

The Orthodox Christian assassin named for the Archangel Gabriel (who, interestingly enough, has a presence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and whose surname means prince did not end up standing before Franz Ferdinand’s open car on that day in June 1914 all on his own. Indeed, earlier that day, Franz Ferdinand had fended off a bomb thrown at his vehicle. Instead of canceling the rest of his schedule, though, Ferdinand persisted in his tour of the city of Sarajevo.

Princip, the peasant from farm country who knew how to use a gun at a time when hunting for food was still very much a thing, was a good shot. Weapons were supplied courtesy of the Black Hand, a group intent upon gaining liberation for all Serbians (not just those who happened to actually be in Serbia).

How Princip managed to be standing before Franz Ferdinand’s car that day was the culmination of a long journey stemming from his arrival in Sarajevo, where, something by happenstance, he ended up rooming with a politicized young man intent upon fomenting revolution. Butcher maintains that, ultimately, Princip did not just want freedom from Austria for Bosnia but freedom from colonial rule for all south Slavs.

After shooting and killing Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, Princip intended to commit suicide by taking cyanide, but this plan was foiled when a crowd gathered around him.

Off to Terezin

Princip and a number of others faced trial. After being convicted, Princip was sent to Terezin, where he died on April 28, 1918. While Princip was in custody, Austria declared war on Serbia, Russia defended Serbia, Germany sided with Austria, and so it went, on and on. World War I officially ended on November 11, 1918. Although Princip did not live to see his goal accomplished, Bosnia became a part of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later to be known as Yugoslavia.

As for Princip, after being buried at Terezin, his remains were exhumed and sent to Sarajevo after World War I ended. Today, some people see him as an assassin, some consider him to be a freedom fighter of sorts, and many do not know even know the name of this 20th century influencer who very much impacted the world.

—Lori Tripoli

Lori Tripoli is the editor and publisher of Bashful Adventurer. Based in the New York City vicinity, she writes about travel for a variety of publications.