Leopold Lojka

Leopold Lojka (alternative spelling Leopold Loyka; born September 17, 1886 in Teltsch , Moravia , † July 18, 1926 in Brno ) was an Austro-Hungarian chauffeur. Lojka was best known as the driver of the automobile in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 .

Live and act

Early life

Lojka, who came from Moravia, joined the Austro-Hungarian army as a young man. During a maneuver in 1909, he excelled when he recaptured a number of horses that had runaway in a panic, for which he was rewarded with 300 crowns. The Bohemian landowner and enthusiastic motorist Franz Graf Harrach , who witnessed this incident, hired Lojka as his driver - impressed by his courage and efficiency.

The Sarajevo assassination

Fantasy picture by Felix Schwormstädt in the Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung . Lojka on the valance. (1914)

The double phaeton (28/32 hp) from Gräf & Stift driven by Leopold Lojka during the assassination attempt in Sarajevo

In June 1914 Lojka accompanied his employer and his friend Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy, on a trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. There the Archduke took part in a maneuver of the Austro-Hungarian Army outside Sarajevo as an observer on June 26th and 27th, in his capacity as "Inspector of the entire armed forces" . A visit to the city itself was planned for June 28 to conclude the trip.

For this purpose Harrach had provided the heir to the throne with his car, a double phaeton (28/32 hp) from Graef & Stift , and driver. As a result, Lojka was given the task of picking up the Archduke and his companions on the morning of June 28 at the Sarajevo train station and driving them to the city center and to all other destinations on the daily program.

In Franz Ferdinand's column of seven vehicles, the “heir to the throne”, with Lojka at the front right (right-hand drive), drove in third place. On the way from the train station to the town hall there was a first assassination attempt: the young Nedeljko Čabrinović tried to throw a bomb on the heir to the throne's car. This attempt failed - not least thanks to Lojka's presence of mind. After a stay in the town hall, the journey was resumed. In order to prevent further attacks, however, those responsible had decided to change the route: instead of, as originally planned and announced in the newspapers, only drive back a little along the Appelkais, which they had come across, and then at the Franz-Josef- Turning right into the city center, they wanted to forego turning and instead cover the full distance along the Appelkai on the banks of the Miljacka . Lojka, who had not been informed of this, instead turned right at the corner of Appelkai-Franz-Josef-Strasse, following the “old” route he knew. Oskar Potiorek , the country chief of Bosnia, who was the Archduke's host and who was also sitting in Lojka's car, called to Lojka's car to stop, as this was “the wrong way”, and to turn around. When Lojka went back to be able to reverse the vehicle, it stood still for a few seconds, which the young Bosnian Gavrilo Princip , - like Čabrinović also a supporter of the nationalist movement Mlada Bosna  - who was standing on the side of the road where the Vehicle came to a halt, used to fire two shots at the occupants at close range. Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were fatally injured .

After the assassination attempt - the fatal outcome of which was overlooked for a few seconds because it was believed that the heir to the throne was only slightly injured and his wife passed out - Lojka turned the vehicle on Potiorek's instructions and drove it to his official residence, the so-called Konak . Once there, the Archduke and his wife died within a few minutes. Immediately afterwards, on behalf of the country chief Oskar Potiorek and / or Colonel Carl von Bardolff , Lojka sent three telegrams (to Emperor Franz Joseph , Kaiser Wilhelm II and the children of the Archduke) informing the world about the assassination attempt and the death of Franz Ferdinand was informed.

Life after the assassination

On June 29th, Lojka and Andreas identified Baron von Morsey Princip in a comparison as an assassin ("It is that one, the murderer"). He then appeared as a witness for the prosecution in the Sarajevo trial of the attackers and their assistants.

After the war Lojka settled in Znojmo, where he ran an inn, which he sold in 1925. Instead, he moved to Brno, where he opened a new inn, which he ran until his death in 1926. In addition, Lojka excelled at this time through a series of interviews and reports in which he described the events of June 28, and thus at times became a world-famous figure. In particular, the widespread tendency to ask “What if…” repeatedly led to the mind-playing question of whether world history would have been different if Lojka had acted differently in Sarajevo. For example, the British journalist John Dodd reflected in a feature article on Lojka for the Observer :

"I occasionally played with an idea of ​​writing a black comedy about him. Or imagined him guilt-ridden, blaming himself for not only the death of his future emperor but for all the dire consequences that flowed from it: the millions who died in two world wars; and those who perished under Stalin. I pictured him living to see the Cuban missile crisis, contemplating the final destruction of the world and thinking: All this? Just because I turned right? "

Based on the “world-historical” role that the “little man” Lojka played through his actions and neglect in Sarajevo, the term Lojka effect was coined , according to which not only “great men” but also less meaningful people through their actions and allow the "course of history" to be significantly influenced - even if it is by chance and without the will to become a "historical actor". The American Time Magazine captured Lojka's obscure "fame" in the interwar period - "famed as the chauffeur who drove the automobile which carried Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo to his assassination" - when it reported his death in 1926 , in his “People” section, between the notes of the engagement of the famous physicists Irene Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie and the execution of the failed Turkish coup leader Kara Kemal .

The Berlin journal for war guilt issues reported in 1926 that Lojka had settled down as an innkeeper in Brunn / Brünn after the war. In the same year, the Wiener Diözesanblatt knows a pastor named "Leopold Lojka" who is responsible for the 41st inspection district, the parishes of Neustift a. Wt, Pötzleinsdorf, Gersthof and Weinhaus XVIII was responsible. The assumption that was circulating at times that the chauffeur Lojka was identical to him can, however, be considered refuted.

After the Second World War , the formerly “popular” Lojka was largely forgotten. The respected writer William Manchester mistakenly said in his Churchill biography The Last Lion in 1983 : "The man who triggered the chain reaction was an ignorant chauffeur whose name has not been passed down." A rhetorical emphasis has been on since the late 1990s or questions about the person of Lojka, which are very similar to the "What if?" and "Why only ...?" - questions from the post-war period, to be found again more frequently. This is how author Martin Marix Evans begins his book Retreat, Hell! We Just Got Here! about the wars and battles of the 20th century with the words "Leopold Lojka was not told", which once again effectively pointed the reader to the far-reaching consequences of such a banal event as the failure to notify a chauffeur about a change in the route , to draw attention. For unexplained reasons, the misinformation circulates that the name of the “driver from Sarajevo” was Franz Urban . The earliest traceable identification of the driver as Franz Urban can be found in 1988 with Joe Julius Heydecker .

Historical obituary

The article “Der Chauffeur von Sarajewo. Das Rote Auto ", which appeared in the Deutsche Zeitung on August 1, 1926 :

“A few days ago the innkeeper Leopold Lojka died in Brno. The Brno people remembered his death as if he had been one of the first in their city. He was not one of the Brno highs, nor was he a political figure, just an innkeeper whom no one knew but the Brno people. But years ago his name was mentioned all over the world for the few short minutes for which fate had assigned him a place in the focus of world history: for the flames of the world fire were kindled right behind his back. He was the chauffeur of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, he drove his car on the day of the accident.

The emperor later took Karl Lojka into his service, and when the upheaval came he was compensated with 400,000 kroner, with which he bought an inn in Brno. His past made him well-known throughout the city, and some came to hear him tell of the terrible journey and to see the relics, the Archduke's bloody braces, a piece of the Archduchess' gold bracelet that had been given to him as a souvenir Appreciation for his brave behavior in those minutes; for with great skill he had dodged the first bombs that were thrown against the car, and now he was still convinced that his car could have hijacked the area of ​​the gunfire had it not been for the Archduchess's order from inside the car come: 'Go on!' "

literature

• John Dodd: “The man driving this car made the most disastrous mistake of the century. He took a wrong turning ", in: The Observer of December 21, 1997.

Web links

Commons : Leopold Lojka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

1. ^ While Aichelburg (Sarajevo, June 28, 1914, 1984, p. 66), Gerd Holler (Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este, 1982, p. 281) and John A. Vasquez (What do we Know about War ?, 2000, P. 34) choose the spelling "Loyka", use the Berlin monthly books (vol. 4, 1926, p. 706), Mieczysław Czuma (Austriackie gadanie czyli encyklopedia galicyjska, 1998, p. 389), Friedrich Würthle (documents on the Sarajevo process: A source report, 1978, p. 44), Nikola Đ. Trišić (Sarajevski atentat u svjetlu bibliografskih podataka, 1964, p. 187) and Albert Mousset (Un drame historique: L'attentat de Sarajevo, 1930, p. 439) the spelling “Lojka”. Since the latter sources were either closer to Lojka's / Loyka's lifetime (1926 or 1930) or reprint original sources (“Ein Quellenbericht”), their variant - ie “Lojka” - seems to be the more likely.
2. ↑ Book of the Dead of the Protestant Church in Brno 1907–1931, Folio 155, No. 39 ( online ).
3. ↑ The Time Magazine from 9 June 1926 noted Lojkas death in "Brno, Czechoslovakia" in its heading "Milestones". See also: Alfred von Wegerer / August Bach (eds.): The War Guilt Question, Berlin Monthly Issues for International Enlightenment, 4th year (1926), p. 706. There it is reported that “a few days ago (...) in Brunn ( !) the innkeeper Lojka (died). ”It goes on to say,“ The Brno people (sic!) remembered his death as if Lojka had been one of the first in their town. ”One can assume with great certainty that with“ Brunn ”that - yes also noted in Time Magazine - Czech Brno (in which "Brno" would live) and not one of the numerous German or Austrian small towns called Brunn (whose inhabitants would be "Brunner") is meant. This is also supported by the fact that Brno is located in Moravia, the region from which the Czech-born Lojka originally came: After all, it seems far more obvious that a man from Moravia would later live in a town called "Brunn / Brünn" in Moravia than in a town of the same name in Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburg or Austria.
4. ↑ The dates of life “1886–1926” are also confirmed by “Austriackie gadanie czyli encyklopedia galicyjska”, 1998, p. 389, as well as by the already quoted note in Time who identified Lojka as “40” at the time of his death.
5. ↑ Holler, p. 281. In addition, Franz Ferdinand, his wife Sophie Chotek von Chotkowa , Count Harrach, the “Landeschef” (governor) of Bosnia Oskar Potiorek and possibly the court chamber rifle wrench Gustav Schneiberg sat in the car .
6. ↑ He heard the bang of the detonator as the assassin armed the grenade by hitting a lamp post before throwing it, and then instinctively accelerated. The grenade missed the Archduke's car and exploded in front of a vehicle that followed. Occasionally there is also the claim that he saw the projectile flying towards him in the rearview mirror.
7. ↑ It may also have played a role that the vehicle of the Sarajevo police chief Gerde driving in front of him also turned into Franz-Josef-Straße.
8. ↑ See [1] .
9. ↑ Aichelburger, p. 66
10. ↑ For example, the article Conversation with the Chauffeur Franz Ferdinand in the New Vienna Journal of June 9, 1927. The "incongruence" with the year of his death is probably due to the fact that the conversation was written down earlier.
11. ↑ So the question was asked what would have happened if he had continued straight on at Appelkai and not turned into Franz-Josef-Straße. What if he hadn't braked on Franz-Josef-Straße, but “stopped”. And what if he had somehow "reacted faster" after braking. Frequently there were also rhetorical questions "Why didn't he ... (braked, accelerated, etc.)", mostly tinged with emotions: Usually people brooded irrationally, sadly, desperately and half reproachfully about why Lojka did not (please) make a decision May have done or not done things differently in Sarajevo.
12. ^ "The man driving this car made the most disastrous mistake of the century. He took a wrong turning ", in: The Observer of December 21, 1997.
13. ↑ The term Lojka effect is also occasionally used to describe the far-reaching consequences that seemingly banal actions can have if they trigger chain reactions that - like a snowball to an avalanche - expand from a tiny initial act to a huge result. It is argued that "nothing more" than a small missed foot movement by Lojka - a step on the gas pedal that would have caused his vehicle to "accelerate" - gave Princip the opportunity to shoot Franz Ferdinand at close range. This in turn resulted in the death of the Archduke, who in turn brought about the decision of the Austrian government to proceed against Serbia. From this action, the July crisis emerged, which culminated in the First World War.
14. ↑ Time Magazine, August 29, 1926.
15. ↑ For the problem of “Brunn / Brünn” and the activity as an innkeeper, see footnote 3.
16. ^ Wiener Diözesanblatt, 64th vol., 1926, p. 92
17. ↑ The Schematismus register of the KK Landwehr and the KK Gendarmerie of the kingdoms and states represented in the Reichsrathe of the Austrian Ministry for National Defense from 1905 noted on p. 695 a “Lojka, Leopold”, who was active as “World Priest of the Diocese of St. Pölten” and held his rank since October 24, 1898. Since the chauffeur Lojka was only twelve years old at the time, he can not possibly be identical to the Lojka from the schematic . Furthermore, the pastor of the inspection district from 1926 is probably identical with the Schematism -Lojka and not with the chauffeur Lojka.
18. ↑ Quoted from the German translation, Manchester: Winston Churchill. The dream of fame, Munich 1989, p. 581.
19. ↑ Martin Marix Evans: Retreat, Hell! We Just Got Here !, 1998, p. 6.
20. ↑ Joe Julius Heydecker: The Great War 1914-1918. From Sarajevo to Versailles . 1988, p. 24.