Assassination of King Aleksandar Karađorđević: Ustasha terrorist act

Through the Yugoslav consulate in Marseilles, the Serbian intelligence service informed King Aleksandar about the intentions of Croatian terrorists. When it was suggested to discontinue his visit to France, the King's only comment was: 'It is too late now, we have to follow the schedule.' It was exactly four o'clock in the afternoon of October 9, 1934, when King Aleksandar left the deck of the Yugoslav destroyer and continued his way by a motor boat to the Belgian quay. Then he went on by car along the main street of Marseille where a large number of citizens gathered to greet him. As soon as the car entered the Stock Exchange Square, the assassin Veličko Kerin, alias Peter Kelemen, as was written in his fake passport, ran out in front of the Stock Exchange building with a flower bouquet in which an automatic pistol was hidden. Crying 'Long Live the King!', he approached the car, shot and killed King Aleksandar, seriously wounded General Joseph Georges, one of the most capable French soldiers, and lightly wounded Minister Barthou, in his arm, who soon died of blood loss