# Walter Tausch

Walter Tausch was a 20th-century Austrian photojournalist known for capturing the final images of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, moments before their assassination on 28 June 1914. His photographs of the assassination's immediate aftermath, including the arrest of a Suspect in Sarajevo erroneously believed to be assassin Gavrilo Princip, became widely circulated around the world and contributed to public reaction and the historical record of the event. Tausch's images are part of the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina's permanent photography collection.

## Biography

In 1910, years after Bosnia and Herzegovina fell under Austro-Hungarian rule, Walter Tausch relocated to Sarajevo under the authority of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and established the Photographische Kunstanstalt Sarajevo, neben Apollotheater (Sarajevo Photographic Art Institute, next to the Apollo Theatre) on Kulovica Street. Shortly after, he became president of the "Association of Professional Photographers" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributing to the development of the region's photographic industry.

### Sarajevo

Tausch captured the arrival of the Archduke and the Duchess in Ilidža, occupied Bosnia, on their arrival at the train station, the greeting of the Duchess Hohenberg by the head of the state at Hotel Bosna in Ilidža, the departure of the couple from the city hall of Sarajevo after the first bomb attack and a few minutes before the fateful revolver attack on 28 June 1914, the journey through the streets in an automobile, including the scene of the first (bomb) attack by Nedeljko Čabrinović, and right after the assassination attempt, the escorting of the murderer Gavrilo Princip and his comrades to prison.
Walter Tausch is widely credited as the professional photographer who took pictures at the scene of the assassination. His professional reputation explains why he was able to secure an accreditation as an official photographer for the duration of the Archduke's visit to Sarajevo, and why he is most likely the author of the iconic image of the arrest of a suspect in Sarajevo, first published a week after the assassination in the Austrian weekly newspaper Wiener Bilder. The Österreichs Illustrierte Zeitung credited Walter Tausch on its 5 July 1914 front cover featuring the image of the arrest. Walter Tausch was one of the few Austrians who stayed in Sarajevo after WWI, in 1919 he took pictures of Sarajevo's old Bazar.

### Citations

* ↑ Historijski Muzej BiH 1944.
* 1 2 Photoinstitut Bonartes.
* ↑ Visual Archive Southeastern Europe 1964.
* ↑ Agstner 2013, p. 90.
* 1 2 3 4 Christoph Hamann.
* ↑ Wade 2020, p. 39.

## Sources

* Wade, J. (2020). Cameras at War: Photo Gear that Captured 100 Years of Conflict - From Crimea to Korea. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-5267-6013-5.
* "Wechselvolle Geschichten" [Changing stories]. Photoinstitut Bonartes (in German).
* Christoph Hamann. "Das Attentat von Sarajevo 1914: Visuelle Strategien der Zeitgenössischen Bildpresse Österreichs" [The Assassination Attempt in Sarajevo 1914: Visual Strategies of the Contemporary Austrian Picture Press]. Fotogeschichte (in German).
* "Visual Archive Southeastern Europe". VASE. 1964-09-06.
* Agstner, R. (2013). 1914: Das andere Lesebuch zum 1. Weltkrieg. Unbekannte Dokumente der österreichisch-ungarischen Diplomatie. Forschungen zur Geschichte des Österreichischen Auswärtigen Dienstes (in German). Lit. ISBN 978-3-643-50530-9.
* "Historijski Muzej BiH". Historijski Muzej BiH. 1944-05-25.