Henrik Rehr

With as much empathy for the victim as for the assassin, Mr. Rehr, a Danish Artist living the United States in New-York at the time of 9/11, fills us in on all the details of the motivations, personal and political, sentimental or revanchist that led a young Serb from Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip, to murder the unique heir to the Austrian Empire and his wife in that Bosnian town.

If one does not like European history or is unfamiliar with the complexity of the central Balkans, this graphic novel is an excellent starting point because it provides maps and snapshots of the revolutionary atmosphere at the eve of July 1914 when the world went at war.

Central to this novel and to the Author is the question asked to the reader: Can one man stop the course of history or in the case of Princip-who did not act alone- trigger it? He also shows how the greatest plans are acted upon with a mixture of strong will and absolute coincidence and pure luck. Very well described is how the Serbian Leader informed of the plot, tries to stop it at the last minute and then how the first bomb thrown by one of the Serbian anarchists destroys the car immediately following the open limousine of the Imperial couple and how courageously and recklessly the Archduke decides to go once more through this fatal road to visit victims at the hospital. Then Gavrilo goes buy himself a sandwich thinking he missed his target and sees the Imperial car drive past him because it took a wrong turn! Whenever you go to Sarajevo, see for yourself how narrow was the route that followed this motorcade. The black and white inks are sumptuously dark when they show the conspirators working in the shadows with few moments of light when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Duchess of Hohenberg share breakfast mirrored by brief encounters between Princip and his romantic interest Jelena.

It traces the animosity of the Serbs against the Turks to the 1448 Battle of Kosovo and the memory of this historical battle is then provided a new impetus when Austria, already an occupier, decides to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In more modern terms, the question is often raised if the assassination of an autocrat will stop events from happening or if they will give, as it was the case in Princip's successful act, the pretext needed to declare war.… (more)