Alexandros Schinas ( el, Αλέξανδρος Σχινάς, c. 1870 – 6 May 1913), also known as Aleko Schinas, assassinated
King George I of Greece
George I (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, ''Geórgios I''; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was List of kings of Greece, King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913.
Originally a Danish prince, he was bor ...
in 1913. Schinas has been variously portrayed as either an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
with political motivations (
propaganda by deed
Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution.
It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pr ...
), or a madman, but the historical record is inconclusive. Schinas described himself as a
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
.
The details of the assassination itself are known: On 18 March 1913, several months after capturing
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
during the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
, King George I was out for a late afternoon walk in the city and, as was his custom, lightly guarded. Encountering George on the street near the
White Tower, Schinas shot the king once in the back from close range with a revolver, killing him. Schinas was arrested and tortured. He said he acted alone, blaming his actions on
delirium
Delirium (also known as acute confusional state) is an organically caused decline from a previous baseline of mental function that develops over a short period of time, typically hours to days. Delirium is a syndrome encompassing disturbances in ...
brought on by
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. After several weeks in custody, Schinas died by falling out of a police station window either as murder or suicide.
The details of Schinas's life before the assassination are unclear. His occupation and native Greek birthplace are unconfirmed. According to Schinas, he finished medical school but practiced medicine without authorization because he could not afford to pay for a medical degree. Several years before the assassination, Schinas may have left Greece for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, working in two hotels before returning in February 1913. Some contemporary sources reported that he advocated anarchism or socialism, and ran an anarchist school that was shut down by the Greek government. Other sources suggested he was mentally ill or exacting revenge against the king for denying a request for financial assistance. Conspiracy theories have claimed that Schinas acted as a foreign agent, but no evidence supporting these theories has emerged.
Early life
Very little is confirmed about Schinas's life before he assassinated King George I.
Schinas was born around 1870, reportedly in the area of
Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
or
Serres
Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki.
Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...
, both of which were under
Ottoman control at the time.
He had two sisters, one older and one younger, and may have had a brother named Hercules who ran a chemist shop in Volos where Schinas may have worked as an assistant. Schinas told an interviewer that he suffered from an unspecified "neurological condition" beginning at age 14, which he said began "torturing" him at age 25. He studied medicine, possibly at the
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
, where he may have also been an instructor. Lacking the funds needed to obtain a degree, Schinas left Athens and took a teaching job in the Greek village
Kleisoura. After a financial dispute with his sisters, he resigned and moved to
Xanthi
Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace.
A ...
, where he practiced medicine without a degree until stopped by authorities.
Schinas's life after Xanthi is the subject of some dispute. In a ''New York Times'' interview after the assassination, the Greek
consul general
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
for New York said that Schinas opened a school in Volos called the Centre for Workingmen with a doctor and a lawyer. The school was closed down by the government within months for "teaching anti-government ideas". The doctor and lawyer were sentenced to three months in prison but, for reasons unknown, Schinas was not punished. According to the consul general, during this period, Schinas also stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the office of
deputy
Deputy or depute may refer to:
* Steward (office)
* Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy"
* Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including:
** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...
from Volos in the
national legislature
This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included in ...
.
The New York-based Greek newspaper ''
Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
'' disputed the consul general's account, publishing a letter from an acquaintance of Schinas stating that the Schinas who ran for office in Volos was someone else. The letter, which was endorsed by the newspaper's editors as accurate, contested Schinas's involvement in the Centre for Workingmen school, writing: "Schinas had nothing to do with any school and had no idea of entering politics. He was known as a man who loved isolation and his backgammon. He wore a beard and was an anarchist." The
newspaper's founder suggested that the conflicting stories about Schinas may be due to the surname's commonality in Greece and the likely existence of multiple people named "Aleko Schinas".
Leaving Thessaloniki
According to Schinas, in 1910 he was deported from Thessaloniki by the
Young Turks for being "a good Greek patriot".
The Greek consul general in New York suggested another explanation for Schinas's departure: that he was evading the police following the closure of the Center for Workingmen school in Volos. The ''Atlantis'' letter, on the other hand, wrote that Schinas left because of a family quarrel with his brother Hercules.
Contemporary newspaper articles and Greek government officials reported that in the years prior to the assassination, Schinas lived in New York City,
working at the
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
and
Plaza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
Hotels. He studied socialism, frequented "radical circles"
in New York's
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
, and distributed copies of English socialist
Robert Blatchford
Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (17 March 1851 – 17 December 1943) was an English socialist campaigner, journalist, and author in the United Kingdom. He was also noted as a prominent atheist, nationalist and opponent of eugenics. In the early ...
's ''
Merrie England'' to his co-workers at the Plaza Hotel. The reports described Schinas as espousing "strange"
and "incomprehensible"
socialist views, and a general disdain for the monarchy.
No known immigration or other records document Schinas's deportation from Thessaloniki or arrival in New York in 1910. Immigration records document the arrival in 1905 of a man named "Athanasios Schinas", approximately the same age as Alexandros Schinas would have been at the time, but it is unclear whether they are the same person. In apparent contrast to reports of his emigration in 1910, a 1913 article in ''The New York Times'' reported that Schinas was still in Greece in 1911, stating that he applied that year for assistance at the king's palace but was refused and driven off by palace guards.
Although it is uncertain when, why, or even whether he moved to New York City, Schinas was back in Greece by February 1913. According to post-assassination press and government reports, about three weeks before the assassination, he traveled from Athens to Volos, then to Thessaloniki, possibly begging
and "subsisting almost entirely on milk".
A Greek diplomat said that Schinas "lived in a miserable inn giving two
kuruş
Kuruş ( ; ), also gurush, ersh, gersh, grush, grosha, and grosi, are all names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The variation in the name stems from the different languages it is us ...
a day for his sleep and spending another two kuruş for his food."
[: ]
The
Greek Minister of Justice
The Ministry of Justice ( el, Υπουργείο Δικαιοσύνης) is the government department entrusted with the supervision of the legal and judicial system of Greece. The incumbent minister is Konstantinos Tsiaras of New Democracy.
It ...
stated that Schinas stayed at the house of a local lawyer until he was kicked out over a dispute involving blackmail.
While in custody, Schinas told an interviewer that some weeks prior the assassination, he had contracted
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, and that a few days before the assassination, he was suffering from "severe high fevers" and "deliriums", overtaken "by madness".
First Balkan War
By the time Schinas arrived in Thessaloniki in February 1913, King George I had been staying there for several months, planning a celebration of the city's liberation from the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
.
Greece had been ruled by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
from the mid-fifteenth century until the 1820s, when it
won independence with help from Britain, France, and Russia, who installed a
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n prince named
Otto
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded fro ...
as the constitutional monarch of the new
Kingdom of Greece
The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label=Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, where ...
.
Thirty years later, the "much-reviled"
Otto was overthrown, and Britain, France, and Russia, chose as his successor a 17-year-old Danish prince, who was approved by the
Greek National Assembly
The Greek national assemblies ( el, Εθνοσυνελεύσεις) are representative bodies of the Greek people. During and in the direct aftermath of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832), the name was used for the insurgents' proto-parli ...
and crowned "
George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria ( fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgoruk ...
, King of the
Hellenes
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, other ...
".
In pursuit of the ''
Megali Idea
The Megali Idea ( el, Μεγάλη Ιδέα, Megáli Idéa, Great Idea) is a nationalist and irredentist concept that expresses the goal of reviving the Byzantine Empire, by establishing a Greek state, which would include the large Greek popul ...
'' ("Great Idea"), the
irredentist
Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...
belief that Ottoman-controlled Greek lands would be reclaimed and the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
restored, Greece recovered Volos and other parts of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...
in the
1881 Convention of Constantinople, but suffered a humiliating defeat in the
First Greco-Turkish War in 1897 under the military leadership of George's eldest son, Crown Prince
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
* Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...
. George survived an assassination attempt the following year and
a military coup in 1909, which ended with the appointment of a new prime minister,
Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos ( el, Ελευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος, translit=Elefthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movem ...
, who reorganized the Greek military and relegated Constantine to a ceremonial role. When Greece's
Balkan League
The League of the Balkans was a quadruple alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Eastern Orthodox kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the ...
allies Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro declared war against the Ottoman Empire in October 1912, George saw it as an opportunity to restore Greece's reputation following its defeat fifteen years earlier.
Early gains in the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
led to divisions among the allies over the spoils, especially the geographically and economically important port of Thessaloniki, the second-largest city of the Ottoman Balkans after
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
itself. In early November, Greek forces arrived in the city, mere hours ahead of their Bulgarian allies. Constantine rode at the head of the Greek army through the city to the
Konak, where he received the Ottomans' surrender. Greeks greeted the liberation of Thessaloniki with jubilation, and George and Venizelos rushed to the city to strengthen Greece's claims and plan a victory celebration coinciding with George's upcoming
golden jubilee
A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...
.
Assassination of King George I
![Le Petit Journal - 30 Mars 1913 - L'assassinat du roi de grèce (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Le_Petit_Journal_-_30_Mars_1913_-_L%27assassinat_du_roi_de_gr%C3%A8ce_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The liberation of Thessaloniki in November 1912 was followed by the recapture of
Ioannina
Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...
, another Ottoman-held Greek city, at the
Battle of Bizani
The Battle of Bizani (, ''Máchi tou Bizaníou''; tr, Bizani Muharebesi, italic=no) took place in Epirus on . The battle was fought between Greek and Ottoman forces during the last stages of the First Balkan War, and revolved around the forts ...
in early March. By the time of his assassination, George was a popular king, having brought the ''
Megali Idea
The Megali Idea ( el, Μεγάλη Ιδέα, Megáli Idéa, Great Idea) is a nationalist and irredentist concept that expresses the goal of reviving the Byzantine Empire, by establishing a Greek state, which would include the large Greek popul ...
'' closer than ever during his nearly-50-year reign. On 18 March 1913, George took his usual afternoon walk in Thessaloniki, accompanied by his
aide-de-camp,
Ioannis Frangoudis
Ioannis Frangoudis ( el, Ιωάννης Φραγκούδης; 1863 – 19 October 1916) was a Greek soldier, athlete and Hellenic Army officer who reached the rank of Colonel. He also competed in the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens as a shooter. F ...
. Against the urging of his advisers, the king refused to travel the city with a large number of guards; only two
gendarmes
Wrong info! -->
A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...
were permitted to follow at a distance. George and Frangoudis walked by the harbor near the
White Tower, discussing the king's upcoming visit to the German battleship ''
SMS Goeben
SMS was the second of two s of the Imperial German Navy, launched in 1911 and named after the German Franco-Prussian War veteran General August Karl von Goeben. Along with her SMS Moltke, sister ship, was similar to the previous German battlecr ...
''.
At approximately 5:15 p.m. on the corner of Vassilissis Olgas and Aghias Triadas streets,
Schinas shot George in the back at point-blank range with a revolver.
According to ''The New York Times'', Schinas had "lurked in hiding" and "rushed out" to shoot the king.
Another version described Schinas emerging from a Turkish cafe called the "Pasha Liman", drunk and "ragged", and shooting George when he walked by.
The bullet pierced the king's heart. He collapsed and was taken by carriage to a nearby hospital but died before arriving.
Schinas did not attempt to escape afterwards and Frangoudis immediately apprehended him.
Additional gendarmerie quickly arrived from a nearby police station. Schinas reportedly asked the officers to protect him from the surrounding crowd.
At the hospital, George's third son
Prince Nicholas
Nicholas Teo () is a Malaysian Chinese singer under Good Tengz Entertainment Sdn Bhd. (Malaysia)
Career
Pre debut
Before returning to Malaysia, Nicholas was studying in Taiwan, where he won the Best Singer in a competition among all the Tai ...
announced that his eldest brother Constantine was now king.
Death
![Alekos Schinas Arrested](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Alekos_Schinas_Arrested.jpg)
Schinas was tortured or "forced to undergo examinations" while in gendarmerie custody.
He did not name any accomplices.
According to Greek newspaper ''Kathimerini'', in a private meeting, Schinas told
Queen Olga he had acted alone. ''Kathimerini'' also reported that Schinas gave
depositions after his arrest but the transcripts were lost in a fire aboard a ship while being transported to
Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...
.
In a March 1913 jailhouse interview with a newspaper reporter, Schinas was asked if his assassination of the king was premeditated, to which he replied:
On 6 May 1913, six weeks after being arrested, Schinas died by falling out of a window from the gendarmerie's Examining Magistrate office in Thessaloniki.
He was approximately 43 years old.
The gendarmerie reported that Schinas, who was not handcuffed at the time, ran and jumped out of the window when the guards were distracted. Some suggest Schinas may have committed suicide to avoid further gendarmerie "examinations" or a slow death from tuberculosis; others speculate that he was thrown from the window by the gendarmerie, perhaps to keep him quiet.
After his death, his ear and hand were amputated and used for identification, then stored and exhibited at the Criminology Museum of Athens.
Impact and motives
, including film of George's funeral
, video2 =
The assassination caused "uproar", panic, and anguish among Greeks in Thessaloniki and beyond.
Greeks mourned the death of George but were nevertheless enthusiastic about Constantine's ascent to the throne.
In the ensuing years, division between Constantine and Venizelos led to the
National Schism
The National Schism ( el, Εθνικός Διχασμός, Ethnikós Dichasmós), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between Constantine I of Greece, King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizel ...
, a civil conflict some historians suggest might have been avoided if the popular King George I had not been assassinated by Schinas.
Although remembered as one of the early 20th century's "famous anarchist assassins" such as
Luigi Lucheni
Luigi Lucheni (April 22, 1873 – October 19, 1910) was an Italian anarchist and the assassin of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Early life
Luigi Lucheni was born Louis Luccheni in Paris on April 22, 1873. His father, unknown, and his mother, ...
and
Leon Czolgosz
Leon Frank Czolgosz ( , ; May 5, 1873 – October 29, 1901) was an American laborer and anarchist who assassinated President William McKinley on September 6, 1901, in Buffalo, New York. The president died on September 14 after his wound became ...
, the historical record of Schinas's motivations is inconclusive.
Prominent conspiracy theories suggested the assassin was an agent of the Ottomans, the Bulgarians, the
Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, or
Macedonian nationalists
Macedonian nationalism (, ) is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the late 19th century among separatists seeking the autonomy of the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Emp ...
.
No evidence has emerged supporting these theories
and no nationalist group claimed credit for the assassination,
with scholars noting that the assassination destabilized the "delicate and hard-won peace" between the Greeks and Bulgarians,
and that George had already decided to abdicate in favor of Constantine at his upcoming
golden jubilee
A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...
, rendering any intervention by the Dual Alliance unnecessary.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, Greece did not want to attribute a political motive to Schinas's actions.
Greek guards had killed a few Muslim and Jewish residents of Thessaloniki they thought were responsible.
To quell the public, the Greek government announced that the killer was Greek, describing Schinas as a "feeble intellect", "criminal degenerate", and "victim of alcoholism". This "state-issued narrative" of Schinas as a homeless alcoholic with anarchist beliefs has become the "accepted understanding".
Accordingly, his motivation for the assassination is commonly ascribed to his anarchist politics (as
propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution.
It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pro ...
)
or to mental illness (without political motivation).
, Clogg , 2002 , 5pp=83, 241 , 5ps=: "... madman ..."
, Gallant , 2001 , 6p=129 , 6ps=: "... madman ..."
In the jailhouse interview, Schinas was asked "Are you an anarchist?" to which he replied:
Other theories of the motive have emerged, such as that the assassination was revenge for the king's refusal of Schinas's 1911 request for government assistance, or that Schinas had lost an inherited fortune in the Greek stock market, was in poor health, or despondent prior to the attack.
A 1914 ''New York Times'' article describing recent political assassinations did not list Schinas among "anarchists who believe in militant tactics", instead describing George I's "murderer" as "a Greek named Aleko Schinas who probably was half demented". Writing in 2014,
Michael Newton described the gendarmerie's torture of Schinas as producing "a confused confession that mixed anarchist sentiments with a claim that 'he had killed the King because he refused to give him money.'"
Writing in 2018, Michael Kemp expressed doubts about Schinas's affiliation with anarchism and propaganda by deed.
He noted that both "socialism" and "anarchism" were
used interchangeably at the time, and that reports of Schinas as having run for political office or invested in a stock market do not support theories that Schinas was either a socialist or an anarchist.
Kemp wrote, "Rather than being part of a wider conspiracy, whether political or enacted by a state, Alexandros Schinas may have simply been a sick man (both mentally and physically) seeking an escape from the harsh realities of the early twentieth century."
As for Schinas himself, he blamed his own actions on "deliriums" brought about by tuberculosis, saying in the 1913 interview:
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schinas, Alexandros
20th-century Greek criminals
1870 births
1913 suicides
People from Serres
Greek anarchists
Greek assassins
Anarchist assassins
Greek regicides
Greek prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of Greece
Greek torture victims
Suicides by jumping in Greece
1913 murders in Greece