Every American high school graduate who managed to stay awake for the 10-15 minutes that the standard curriculum devotes to the history of World War I can tell you who Archduke Francis Ferdinand was, and how his dramatic assassination was (at least according to the over-simplified account usually given) the catalyst that set Europe ablaze. While the high school curriculum for WWII is far more comprehensive, you are far less likely to have heard of King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou, whose assassinations1 contributed to the latter war's prologue .I found out about these historical figures, and their dramatic deaths, only after idly bouncing around from one video search to another on Youtube.
Although the instants of the bullets' penetration is not caught on film, and the ensuing melee prevents the photographer from focusing entirely on the dramatis personae, the footage is nonetheless suspenseful and mesmerizing. The closeup of King Alexander's face after he gets in the car , for instance, shows an uneasy man in need of deep breaths; as if he anticipates his demise and is now striving only to have his final minutes pass with some small measure of regal aplomb. The unscripted raw feeling is impossible to miss.
The unedited footage alone would be food for thought. What I find really fascinating, though, are the editorial perspectives of the Youtube clips in which the footage is set. The first clip is a Bulgarian nationalist propaganda film. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
The accompanying tune is really catchy... and morbid. The lyrics are thus
True and extraordinary but the extraordinary happens, In a far away city of Marseilles there are united autonomists and brother Croatians. Now a king departs on a luxury ship, from the town of Dubrovnik and he sleeps peacefully while he sails the wide ocean and destiny waits in Marseilles. There he is honoured by Minister Barthou and his mighty generals; where they all gather to hold a council of war against poor Macedonia. The people they gather the crowds enormous and they chant "long may he live" but from the crowd a lone voice is heard "Death to tyrants". For there stands also Vlado Chernozemski all the way from Macedonia, he starts to run alongside the automobile in his hand a pistol is seen. King Alexander starts to plead and to Vlado he begs: "please Vlado, don't do this Vlado, don't kill me". to the King Vlado replies proud and true, understand this you tyrant, I've been sent by Vancho Mihailoff himself to deliver our verdict. Now stand up, stand up you Serbian dog I'm going to execute you. the pistol fires the King he expires long live Macedonia! Somewhere it is known, known and remembered throughout all of Europe, that the Macedonians' oppression will not be forgiven Death to all tyrants!
The comments givent in response to this video take the preceding lyrics to heart, to say the least, and make one relieved to know that that neck of the woods is still under intense UN scrutiny.
The other setting in which this footage is found is an old-school WWII-era news reel, shown here.
The melodramatic narrative is typical of news reels of the time, I think. What I find especially lovely is the locution at 1:58 : "Oh , they've been shot!" . One is reminded of "Oh! the humanity!" from the narrative of the Hindenburg disaster. I think the "Oh" is what makes the delivery sound contrived. A more dramatic, and more slowly rendered, "They've been shot," would seem to command more gravity. Afterall, most of the Bulgarian nationalist comments probably could be translated with something along the lines of "Oh, they've been shot! (yay!)"
Don't know that I could draw comparisons between the two "Oh!" statements from the disasters you've cited. The raw and very real emotion expressed by the man narrating the Hindenburg disaster sounds as though his first born son was aboard. The narrator of the newsreel sounds just like that, a narrator; very "matter of fact"ly. More to your point, I think, the "oh" from the newsreel does sound disjointed.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article, thank you. I can't say I was familiar with this episode or even the Yugoslav monarchy (although I'm sure well documented).