The First Assassination on Film

On 9 October 1934 the first political assassination to be  caught on film took place in Marseilles, France.  When the smoke and crowd (who beat the assassin so severely he not only died, but he was unidentifiable other than his tattoo) cleared, Alexander I Karađorđević had been killed. The French Foreign Minister had also been killed, as well as the chauffeur assigned to drive the two men from Alexander’s ship.

The assassination wasn’t exactly a surprise, but it did virtually guarantee that the Kingdom of Yugoslavia would not be able to stand strong during the war that those with open eyes were beginning to understand was inevitable.  

For more information on the events leading to the assassination of Alexander I Yugoslavia, see here.  

See our archive for more on World War II in the Balkans.