Alexandros Schinas

Who was Alexandros Schinas?

Alexandros Schinas, was a Greek anarchist who assassinated King George I of Greece in Thessaloniki in 1913.

Schinas had worked in the pantry of the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City and a waiter remembered him as an avid reader of socialism-related literature and spending nights in Manhattan "making friends with radical and fervid thinkers". Schinas was against governments and especially against aristocracy and monarchy.

He started an anarchist school in his native town which the Greek government closed for spreading anti-government ideas. Two of the leaders of the school were sentenced to prison, but Schinas escaped without being imprisoned. The authorities also seized a number of books and pamphlets published by the school, which were deemed to contain anarchist doctrine and denounced the king.

On March 18, 1913, at around 5:15 PM, Schinas shot King George I in the back from a distance of two paces while the king was walking in Thessaloniki near the White Tower. Entering below the king's shoulder blade, the bullet pierced his heart and lungs and exited through his stomach. By the time the king arrived at the hospital, he was already dead.