Princip
by Simon King

 

 

Terezin harboured the most dangerous, depraved and seditious criminals in the Habsburg empire. It was a large, imposing, dark citadel in which the most dangerous and unhinged criminals were shunted off to. It was a dingy, unpleasant place in which the most brutal hardships were executed. It was situated in the Labern region of the Czech Republic. It was originally built as a defence base during the Prussian-Austrian war. Granted, in the midst of the First World War, millions of people died in the trenches. Even innocent civilians were subjected to mordant, painful, excruciating pain. Still, the criminals in Terezin did not have it easy either.

 

One such prisoner was Gavrilo Princip. He had shot archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne. The archduke had been carrying out a military inspection in Sarajevo, a province of Bosnia, which had been annexed by Austria-Hungary. It had only been annexed six weeks earlier, so his visit was seen as a provocation for the Serb nationalists. This was because of the Serbian claims for Bosnia and the larger number of ethnic Serbs in the border. As such, a group of Serb nationalists decided to come together and assassinate the archduke. They were all teenagers and, as such, incompetent.

 

The group attacked the archduke and he decided to continue with the visit. His chauffeur did not know Sarajevo and took a wrong turn. He realised that he had made a mistake, stopped, reversed and came to a halt in front of Princip. He shot twice, killed the archduke and fatally wounded his wife.

 

He tried swallowing a cyanide capsule, but vomited it back up. He also tried to shoot himself, but the gun was wrested away from him. As such, he was shunted away to Terezin. He was nineteen and, as such, too young to receive the death penalty. He received the maximum sentence of twenty years in prison.

 

Princip himself was a student, son of a peasant. He was an auspicious young man, excelling in academic studies in a location which had an 88% illiteracy rate. He was drawn to socialism because he wanted to do something about poverty. The Habsburg Empire occupied Bosnia since 1878, having previously belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Bosnia was the last place in Europe in which serfdom persisted, having gone on until 1914.

 

The cell he was locked up in was dingy, with several rats scuttling across the mucky floor. He was chained to the wall. He wore dishevelled clothes, a torn shirt and trousers. He wore no socks or shoes. He had not bathed in years. His teeth were tawny and disfigured. He had lost an arm, so one of the chains that tied him to the wall had been rendered redundant.

 

Indeed, the conditions in the cell had led to him contracting skeletal tuberculosis. His arm had been amputated a few weeks before. He swayed his head, as this was one of the few parts of his body which he could move. He coughed and groaned. He sometimes mumbled to himself.

 

But so much weighed on his conscience. True, the Great War could have been instigated by something else. Tensions had been mounting for decades. Austria was looking for an excuse to invade Serbia anyway. However, there could no escape from the fact that it was Princip’s fateful bullet which tipped Europe into a world war. It was not a minor war either, it was a total war which consumed the resources of all the countries involved. Unlike the Napoleonic wars, it involved compulsory conscription. Princip told himself and others that he was convinced that the war would have happened anyway, but he still could not bring himself to feel complicit in its outcomes. He himself had helped to instigate something so momentous, so brutal, so destructive. Millions were dying in the trenches. Millions had lost their family, friends and their spouses. He could not help but feel that he had played a part in this grand war which was afflicting all of Europe.

 

A guard came in. He was wearing a blue uniform and a black helmet. His name was Fritz Schneider. ‘Still, there, Gavrilo?’ He asked.

 

Princip coughed and uttered, ‘Only… just.’

 

‘Well, you have been confined here, chained up, beaten and alienated… I am one of the only contacts with the outer world you have. It was not meant to be like this, you were meant to be completely isolated from the world. However, the world itself has been shaped by your act of wanton destruction, so… I cannot help but inform you about it.’

 

Princip timidly peered up: ‘What… what has happened?’

 

‘Well, you know most of it. As you know, Austria invaded Serbia and Russia joined Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia and France. The UK joined after Germany invaded Belgium. The Ottoman joined the central powers. As you know, large parts of Europe have consisted of trenches and neither side have gained an advantage. It has been a war of attrition,’ Schneider said, adjusting his hat.

 

‘I… I… knew all this…’ Princip uttered.

 

‘Yes, there have been new developments. The German army has been pushed back and its front line has almost collapsed. Its allies are capitulating, including ourselves and the Ottomans. It is all coming to an end, Princip, my friend. I felt compelled to tell you, since you initiated this sordid saga.’

 

Princip remained motionless. ‘Right, Shneider.’ As he said this, the officer left the room.

 

Yes, the war was coming to an end, but Princip knew that he was coming to an end, too. He had lost his right arm, but his whole body was deteriorating. He was certain that he would only live for a few more days, just before Germany was defeated on the battlefield. He may have initiated this great war, but just as it came to an end, he would expire, too. He was, in many ways, a self-righteous young man, driven by lofty ideals. He was a nationalist who was driven by a strong sense of justice. However, he had rotted away in this prison cell for the last four years and, just as this brutal war was coming to an end, he was about to die.

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