SISI ASSASSINATION
Austrian Empress Amalia Eugenia Elizabeth is known by the diminutive name Sisi and is a cult figure in three countries at once: Germany, Hungary and Austria. In Austria, in general, it seems that there is no one more popular in the world than her. In any souvenir shop, her images and her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph, are necessarily present.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter. «Elizabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria»
It can be said that the Empress Elizabeth of Austria was Princess Diana from the XIX century. Both were distinguished by their beauty, married monarchs and tragically died.
It is said that Sisi gained wide fame only after her tragic death in 1898, and turned into a cult figure after the release of the film trilogy «Sisi», «Sisi — the young Empress» and «Sisi — the years of trials» in which the role of the main character was played by Romy Schneider in the 50s of the twentieth century. The movie turned out fabulous, but good. They say that in Germany it is shown annually at Christmas, as in Russia the film «With a light steam» for the New Year.
FAIRY TALES AND BYL
Films about Sisi are beautiful fairy tales about the unearthly love of her and Emperor Franz Joseph of Habsburg. There really were a lot of fabulous things in her life. Starting with the fact that she was born in 1837 on the eve of Christmas on Sunday, which was considered a good omen. And most importantly, the newborn already had one tooth, which was considered a sure sign of a happy life. According to legend, Napoleon was born with a tooth. The omens did not fail.
When the 15-year-old Sisi was seen by the 23-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph, he fell in love with her without memory. And soon married her against her mother’s will. According to a common version, her husband’s mother, Archduchess Sofia, who was used to managing everything in the palace, immediately tried to subdue her daughter-in-law, despotically controlling her, ostensibly so that you would get used to etiquette. The mother–in-law even actually took away the older children from her daughter-in-law — daughter Gisela and son Rudolf and took care of their upbringing herself. And then Sisi, in order to escape from the power of Archduchess Sofia, set off to travel.
The coronation of Franz Joseph and Elizabeth.
If we discard the romantic fleur, then Sisi appears in an unfavorable light. It can be said that she sacrificed her children and husband to her independence. Vienna weighed her down, so Sisi constantly rode around the world, while carrying with her a retinue of 70 people and even goats to be guaranteed to drink fresh milk.
And more than any state affairs, the empress was worried about her own beauty. She did not return home even to celebrate Christmas with her husband and children. But she constantly groomed and cherished her knee-length hair. For many hours she washed them with a «shampoo» made of cognac and egg and forced the servants to show all the hair lost during combing, the number of which was recorded in a special notebook. In the palace pharmacy, creams were made for her according to special recipes. And the cooks were sophisticated in making dishes that would not threaten to increase her wasp waist.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter. «Elizabeth of Bavaria, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria»
One day during lunch, Franz Joseph became interested in what kind of wine of unusual color was served in the decanter to his wife. It turned out that it was not wine, but «freshly squeezed juice» from veal. After revealing the secret, the emperor somehow immediately did not want to eat.
Of course, Sisi would not have become a legend if she was beautiful only in body. It is believed that her beautiful soul was embodied in her favor for Hungary. Largely thanks to Sisi, the Austrian Empire was transformed into a dualistic Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and the Hungarians gained almost equal rights with the Austrians. And Elizabeth also helped hospitals and orphanages. And yet she became famous not because of the beauty of her soul and body, but because of her tragic death.
THE CURSE OF THE HABSBURGS
The enmity between the crowned daughter-in-law and mother-in-law was not the main drama in the imperial Habsburg family. In 1857, the two-year-old daughter of the imperial couple Sofia died of an illness. In 1867, Mexican Republicans shot his brother Franz Joseph Maximilian, proclaimed Emperor of Mexico. On January 31, 1889, the only son of Franz Joseph and Elizabeth, Rudolf, shot himself in the chambers of the Mayerling Castle. Being depressed, he first shot his young mistress Maria in the Evening, and then committed suicide. After the death of Crown Prince Rudolf, the emperor’s nephew Franz Ferdinand became the new heir to the throne, who in 1914 was killed along with his wife in Sarajevo. This event actually led to the First World War, as a result of which the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist. But this happened already in the twentieth century, and the end of the nineteenth was marked by the tragic death of Empress Elizabeth.
During her lifetime, she took care of orphanages. Ironically, her killer Luigi Lukeni was brought up in a Parisian orphanage, where his mother, who had gone to America, handed him over. Curiously, Lukeni really wanted to become the head of the prison. And during his service in the Italian army, he persuaded officers to attach him to this post. But they didn’t want to, or couldn’t. Frustrated, Luigi left for Switzerland, where he got a job at a construction site. And the further he worked, the more he hated the rich people who came to Switzerland not to work, but to rest. He found ideological fuel for his hatred in the anarchist party, to which he joined. Finally, he decided to draw attention to the injustice of the world by killing someone rich and well-born. At first, he chose Prince Henry of Orleans as his target, but he changed his plans and did not come to Geneva.
They say that Princess Diana was killed by paparazzi, not without them in the history of Empress Elizabeth. They printed in the newspapers that Sisi, traveling incognito, was arriving in Geneva. Lukeni watched the hotel where she was staying and waited for what he wanted.
FILE FOR THE EMPRESS
On September 10, 1898, the 61-year-old Empress, accompanied by Countess Irma Starai, set off from the Beau Rivage Hotel to the Mont Blanc embankment to take a ride on a pleasure steamer plying Lake Geneva. However, her walk was interrupted by 25-year-old anarchist Luigi Lukeni.
He jumped up to the exquisitely dressed Empress and with the words «Long live anarchy, death to society» hit her in the chest with a sharpened file. Everything happened with a large gathering of people, so the anarchist was soon captured.
After his blow, Elizabeth fell, but got up and continued on her way, complaining only that her chest hurt. Already on the deck of the steamer, she lost consciousness. It turned out that the anarchist’s sharpening entered her body by 8.5 cm, piercing the left chamber of the heart. But the blood oozed from the wound in drops. This allowed the Empress to live for some time after the attack. Countess Starai didn’t notice her injury either. Holding Sisi, who had fallen on the deck, she shouted for a glass of water, believing that the empress was having a heart attack.
But she has already passed away. Five days later, Empress Elizabeth was buried with honors in Vienna, in the century-old tomb of the Habsburgs. Four of her crowns were ceremonially placed on her coffin, which Sisi ignored during her lifetime. And even with her tragic death, she seemed to realize her whim. After the death of Rudolf’s son, Sisi said: «I would also like to die from a small wound in my heart, through which my soul will fly away, but I want it to happen away from those I love.»
THE FATE OF THE MURDERER
At the trial, Luigi Luceni said that «everyone should work,» and his mission was to destroy those who do not work. He said that he did not know who he had brought his file to, but he allegedly took one look at the woman to conclude: «She is aristocratic enough to deserve death…»
Lukeni clearly expected to become a hero-martyr in the eyes of others. But he didn’t. His crime caused a wave of anti-anarchist and anti-Italian sentiments. Instead of a solemn execution on the scaffold, which would have given him the aura of a martyr, Luigi was sent to rot in prison for the rest of his days. And there he was banally deprived of human communication, placed alone. At the same time, according to the rules of the time, they left him a leather trouser belt. Disappointed in life and tired of 12 years of loneliness, Lukeni made a loop out of a belt. He was found hanged in his cell, early in the morning, on October 19, 1910. After his death, scientists examined his brain, but found nothing abnormal in it. And his head was preserved in formalin and sent to the Vienna Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Oleg Loginov
*Translated using an electronic dictionary. The original text in Russian and much more on the criminal topic can be selected on the main page of the site — http://crimerecords.info/
