One Man's Terrorist Is Another Man's Freedom Fighter

The tomb of Gavrilo Princip in Saint Mark;s Cemetery

Back around the time of the 9-11, one of the major news outlets -- might have been CNN or it might have been A.P. or someone else -- remarked that they would not call the 9-11 hijackers terrorists because, and I quote, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." I thought the statement was outrageous regarding the 9-11 terrorists. However, it is a very apt description of Gavrilo Princip.

Princip is one of the very few people in history who you can say single-handedly changed the world. His firing his pistol into the open car carrying Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and Franz Ferdinand's wife Sophie, and killing them both, sparked the conflagration of World War I, which changed everything in the western world.

Selfie at the tomb:

Even today Princip is a very controversial figure within Bosnia and Sarajevo. I think that might be the reason why the gates of Saint Mark's Cemetery, just north of the old city of Sarajevo, were locked. You can look inside and see the tomb, but you can't get too close. Because, to some, in Sarajevo 2026, Princip was a terrorist, and, to others, he was a freedom fighter. An assassin whose recklessness unleashed the horrors of one of the world's most brutal wars? Or the man who did more than almost anyone else to end the age of monarchy in the west? Your call.