I’m writing this confession letter to reveal the truth behind the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on June 28th.I am Gavrilo Princip a son of a postman, born on July 25th, 1894 in Obljaj Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I was one of the 9 children, back when I was a kid, my health was poor and suffered from tuberculosis. When I left Bosnia and went to Serbia in May 1912 to continue my education, I joined a secret military society named the Black Hand, it is a secret military society formed in 1911 ruled by Dragutin Dimitrijevic and there are 6 other members. It formed this group with the aim of uniting all of the territories. Vojislav Tankosic and a spy named Rade Malobabic trained us with bombs and pistols at the park. When it was announced that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian Empire was visiting Bosnia with his beloved wife in June 1914. The chief of Intelligence Department in the Serbian Army and head of the Black Hand sent Nedjelko Cabrinovic, Trifko Grabez, and I to Sarajevo to assassinate him. I was given a revolver, two bombs and a small container of cyanide and they instructed to commit suicide after Mr.
Ferdinand had been killed. On June 28th, 1914 in Sarajevo. The day of the assassination of Mr.
Ferdinand, I used a pistol that they have provided me with and fired seven shots in total into the royal couple’s car five feets away from myself. The first shot attacked Mrs. Ferdinand’s heart and I saw with my eyes, Mrs. Ferdinand spitting out her blood from her boy and falling between her husband’s knee and heard Mr. Ferdinand clearly saying his last words towards his fading wife saying “Sophie, Sophie stay alive for our children.
” before he also passed away right beside her. The leader told us that our main objective to assassin Mr. Ferdinand was to break off Austria-Hungary’s south slav provinces because he was very conservative and referred the Serbs as pigs and Bosnia wanted independence. I sincerely regret the assassination that I have caused, I didn’t expect that it would cause a war to break out.
I am deeply sorry and I seek your forgiveness. Would like to see Bosnia gets it independence before the day I get out from this prison.
