On May 21st, 1915, Dr. Kramarzh, the leader of the Young Czechs – the historic Czech party in the Austrian Parliament – was arrested on a charge of high treason.
[…]
Appeals for moderation fell on deaf ears. On December 9th, 1915, the official announcement was made in the Austrian Press of the confiscation of Dr. Kramarzh’s property, and on June 3rd, 1916, of his having been sentenced to death by court martial. […] It is political murder committed by a Government. If it is carried out – and there is still some hope that it may not be – one more Czech martyr will be added to the long list which extends through a stretch of many centuries. But in Dr. Kramarzh there would die at the hands of the Austrian-German Government clique, not merely a Czech patriot, but also a dreamer of a free Austria.
June 1916. Excerpts from ‘The Political Murder of Dr. Kramarzh’, Chapter I of Austrian terrorism in Bohemia. Chapter originally published in The New Statesman, 17th June 1916. [SPEC S/D525 (P.C. 114)]. This week’s war: 98.
