Biography

His body was racked by skeletal tuberculosis that ate away his bones so badly that his right arm had to be amputated.

Was too young to receive the Death Penalty under Austrian Law and was instead given a twenty year prison sentence.

His assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off a chain of events that started World War I.

Weighed only 88 pounds at the time of his death.

Grew up very poor.

Wherever I went people took me for a weakling, and I pretended that I was a weak person, even though I was not.

[carved in the wall of his prison cell] Our shadows will roam Vienna, haunt the court, scare the Lords.

If I hadn't done it the Germans would have found another excuse.

There is no need to carry me to another prison. My life is already ebbing away. I suggest that you nail me to a cross and burn me alive.My flaming body will be a torch to light my people on their path of freedom