Gavrilo Princip | Origin of Street Names

Gavrilo Princip (1894 - 1918) was a young Serbian revolutionary who, through the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, ignited a chain of fateful socio-political events in this part of Europe.

He was born on July 25th in the hamlet of Obljaj, near Bosansko Grahovo, as the second of nine children to his parents, Petar and Marija. Being born on the eve of the great Orthodox holiday of the Assembly of Holy Archangel Gabriel, he was named after the Annunciation's messenger.

Gavrilo completed four grades of elementary school in Bosansko Grahovo before being sent to Sarajevo for further education. While attending trade school, without any particular interest in pursuing it as a career, he developed a deep love for books and cultivated many other interests in Sarajevo.

It was in the house where Gavrilo Princip resided during his schooling years and where he formed a close friendship with Danilo Ilić, one of the prominent members of the youth revolutionary organization "Young Bosnia," that his crucial interest in national and liberation consciousness emerged.

Riding on the wings of Serbia's regained independence and under the pressure of overt oppression, this organization primarily advocated for the liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Austro-Hungarian rule (imposed after the Congress of Berlin in 1878), potential unification with Serbia, and the creation of a common state of the South Slavs, regardless of religion and nationality.

Indoctrinated with the ideas of political anarchism and simultaneously faced with brutal repressions by Austro-Hungarian annexers throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, the members of "Young Bosnia" acted against the authorities in a spontaneous and rebellious manner, with covert support from secret societies in Serbia (such as "Black Hand"), but without a serious organization and hierarchy.

A series of failed assassination attempts on Austro-Hungarian officials, initiated in 1908 (with Bogdan Žerajić shooting the then-governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina), finally fulfilled its mission on June 28, 1914, when Gavrilo Princip, during the visit of the Austro-Hungarian heir to Sarajevo, stepped out of the ceremonial procession and assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia.

The assassination of the heir to the throne of an empire that considered itself the successor of the Holy Roman Empire resulted in nothing but an almost immediate declaration of war against Serbia. Austria-Hungary, without any evidence, designated Serbia as the instigator and organizer of the assassination.

Aware of the consequences of his act, Gavrilo Princip attempted suicide shortly after the assassination but was unsuccessful. He was captured and sentenced to the maximum prison term according to Habsburg laws, which was 20 years.

Interestingly, an administrative error in the birth registry saved him from the death penalty. His date of birth was recorded as June 25. Since Austrian law imposed the death penalty only on those older than 20, Gavrilo Princip managed to avoid execution.

However, while serving his sentence in the notorious Terezin prison in present-day Czech Republic, Gavrilo Princip endured immense torture during his four-year imprisonment. After suffering, and following several unsuccessful suicide attempts, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 24.

While some consider him a hero and others view him as a criminal, in the collective consciousness of the Serbian people, Gavrilo Princip remains a symbol of the struggle for freedom against centuries of occupier's tyranny.

In connection with this, there are now nearly a hundred streets in Serbia named after Gavrilo Princip.