Wooden cigarette box carved by Г. САВИНСКИ (?; G. Savinskiy), a Russian POW. The Grim Reaper strides across a field of skulls on the cover. The base includes an intricate carving of the years of war years, '1914' and, turning it 90 degrees, '1918.'

ПДМЯТЬ ВОИНЬ 1914-18



To the memory of the soldiers 1914-18



Reverse:

1914

1918

Г. САВИНСКИ (?)

G. Savinskaya

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Gavrilo Princip was the 17-year-old Bosnian Serb student who shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie on June 28, 1914, beginning the immediate events that led to the Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia a month later.

Princip had traveled from Belgrade, Serbia with Nedeljko Čabrinović and Trifko Grabez. Between them, the three carried four revolvers and six bombs. They were helped across the border, and were fed and sheltered both on their journey and during their stay in and around Sarajevo.

Of the seven assassins waiting for Franz Ferdinand, only two had the opportunity and nerve to strike at the Archduke. Princip did. When the days events - a bomb, injured members of the archduke's entourage, a change in plans to visit the injured in hospital, failure to tell the drivers of the changed plans, a wrong turn with the cars coming to a complete stop to change direction - put the Archduke's car directly in front of Princip, he stepped forward, averted his eyes, fired twice, and killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.

At the trial of the assassination team and those who had helped them on their way, Princip held to his belief in a Union of South Slavs, and the need to remove the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. He regretted killing Sophie von Hohenberg.

Because he was under the age of 20 at the time of the killings, Princip could not be executed under Austrian law. He died in prison of tuberculosis of the bones on April 28, 1918.

Birth Date: July 13, 1894

Date of Death: April 28, 1918

National Affiliation: Austria-Hungary