# Officially honored assassins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115 "2019-06-06T13:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/1 "2019-06-06T13:13:19Z")
I’m trying to think of assassins - preferably in modern history - who are now officially commemorated by a state for the act of killing a prominent political figure. Examples: - The Czechoslovakian partisans who killed Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich (monument built in their honor) [Operation Anthropoid Memorial - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Anthropoid_Memorial) - An Jung-geun of Korea, who killed Prince Itō Hirobumi of Japan (memorial halls built in his honor) [An Jung-geun - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Jung-geun) Can you think of others? ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/2 "2019-06-06T13:49:07Z")
[Gavrilo Princip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip#Legacy) kicked off WWI with the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand and has been honored by several plaques and statues. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/3 "2019-06-06T14:34:46Z")
The [home where Charlotte Corday was born](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_natale_de_Charlotte_Corday) is a national historical site of France. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/4 "2019-06-06T15:06:10Z")
The Soviet Union doesn’t exist any more of course, but Ramón Mercader, Leon Trotsky’s assassin, was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1940 and Hero of the Soviet Union in 1961. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/5 "2019-06-06T16:08:06Z")
I think [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Ayyash) meets the OP’s requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/6 "2019-06-06T16:21:01Z")
Soghomon Tehlirian, killed the former Vizier of the former Ottoman Empire in revenge for the Armenian Genocide. Considered a national hero in Armenia. > **[Soghomon Tehlirian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soghomon_Tehlirian)** > > Soghomon Tehlirian (Armenian: Սողոմոն Թեհլիրեան; April 2, 1896 – May 23, 1960) was an Armenian revolutionary and soldier who assassinated Talaat Pasha, the former Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, in Berlin on March 15, 1921. He was entrusted to carry out the assassination after having earlier killed Harutian Mgrditichian, who had worked for the Ottoman secret police and helped compile the list of Armenian intellectuals who were deported on April 24, 1915. > Talaat's assassination was a part... ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/7 "2019-06-06T16:27:27Z")
I believe that the group [Nokmim (Hebrew for avengers)](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/26/second.world.war) fits the criteria. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/8 "2019-06-06T16:52:00Z")
Several people who attempted to take out Hitler are commemorated, for example Georg Elser. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/9 "2019-06-06T20:52:32Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Several people who attempted to take out Hitler are commemorated, for example Georg Elser. Yes, I instantly thought of [Claus von Stauffenberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_von_Stauffenberg). > [@wiki](#): > > In 1980, the German government established a memorial for the failed anti-Nazi resistance movement in a part of the Bendlerblock, the remainder of which currently houses the Berlin offices of the German Ministry of Defense (whose main offices remain in Bonn). The Bendlerstrasse was renamed the Stauffenbergstrasse, and the Bendlerblock now houses the Memorial to the German Resistance, a permanent exhibition with more than 5,000 photographs and documents showing the various resistance organizations at work during the Hitler era. The courtyard where the officers were shot on 21 July 1944 is now a memorial site, with a plaque commemorating the events and a bronze figure of a young man with his hands symbolically bound which resembles Count von Stauffenberg. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/10 "2019-06-06T21:28:28Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Soghomon Tehlirian, killed the former Vizier of the former Ottoman Empire in revenge for the Armenian Genocide. Considered a national hero in Armenia. Speaking of Armenians, you might add [Ramil Safarov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramil_Safarov) to the list. He’s an Azerbaijani who in 2006 was convicted of assassinating an Armenian army officer in Budapest. Azerbaijan secured his transfer as a prisoner from Hungary, whereupon he was immediately pardoned, released, promoted, celebrated, and rewarded with money and an apartment. This caused a major international diplomatic incident and led (among other things) to the severing of diplomatic relations between Hungary and Armenia. Hungary claims it was legally obliged to honour the extradition and that it had no foreknowledge of the impending pardon. As far as I know the two countries still aren’t talking to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/11 "2019-06-07T00:54:17Z")
All of those involved in the Rainbow Warrior bombing – which killed one person – received promotions eventually. It was a kind of assassination (it certainly felt that way), and promotion is a kind of honour (it certainly felt that way). (On the other hand, the French government and military generally felt kind of shabby about it.) ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/12 "2019-06-07T02:49:10Z")
There are apparently streets in Israel named after [Sholom Schwarzbard,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholom_Schwartzbard#After_the_trial) who assassinated [Symon Petliura](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symon_Petliura), the former leader of Ukraine who was at the time living in exile in Paris. This doesn’t really seem appropriate to me, as the killing was apparently motivated by a personal vendetta and served no political purpose for Israel whatsoever, but obviously someone in Israel thought otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/13 "2019-06-07T03:12:26Z")
From what I can see, none of these were paid professional assassins, but men (and women) who did what they thought was right- for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/14 "2019-06-07T03:19:38Z")
Apparently, a town in Maryland has approved a [civil war memorial with a bust of John Wilkes Booth](https://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/cc-5-things-proposed-taneytown-war-memorial-20190219-story.html). Not built yet. I wonder if this inspired the OP. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/15 "2019-06-07T04:41:15Z")
[John Brown was a murderer who is commemorated in song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSSn3NddwFQ) I don’t know if he’s been “officially” honored, but there are monuments to him in Kansas, Ohio, New York, West Virginia and other states. An avenue in Haiti’s capital is named after him. Some claim that the Emancipation of America’s slaves is itself a monument to Captain John Brown. ([Orson Wells reads the words Brown spoke when he was sentenced to hang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxvwi-M3LTM).) ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/16 "2019-06-07T11:27:26Z")
[William Tell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell), although he is a fictional figure. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/17 "2019-06-07T15:57:34Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Some claim that the Emancipation of America’s slaves is itself a monument to Captain John Brown. Who are the “Some” who claim this? Nothing I’ve read about Abraham Lincoln’s reasoning in formulating the Emancipation Proclamation says he did it to honor John Brown. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/18 "2019-06-07T19:42:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Nothing I’ve read about Abraham Lincoln’s reasoning in formulating the Emancipation Proclamation says he did it to honor John Brown. Brown was a major inspiration to both the North’s intellectual elite and to the North’s common people. There’s much doubt whether the Northern appetite for war could have been maintained if succession were the only issue. Instead the North, after Brown’s famous martyrdom, saw themselves with a noble and moral purpose. Without the Union’s willingness to fight that horrific war, there could have been no Emancipation. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/19 "2019-06-07T21:56:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > From what I can see, none of these were paid professional assassins, but men (and women) who did what they thought was right- for the most part. The Rainbow Warrior bombers were paid agents of the French secret service. I don’t think they particularly felt what they were doing was “right”; they were acting on orders from their superiors. That the ship was going to disrupt French nuclear tests was probably none of their concern; it was much more a concern of higher-ups who wanted the military benefits of conducting the test along with only minimal civilian damage by sinking the ship when it was still in port. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/20 "2019-06-07T21:58:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > From what I can see, none of these were paid professional assassins, but men (and women) who did what they thought was right- for the most part. The Rainbow Warrior bombers were paid agents of the French secret service. I don’t think they particularly felt what they were doing was “right”; they were acting on orders from their superiors. That the ship was going to disrupt French nuclear tests was probably none of their concern; it was much more a concern of higher-ups who wanted the military benefits of conducting the test along with only minimal civilian damage by sinking the ship when it was still in port. However, they didn’t intend to kill anyone, and specifically set the charges to minimize the likelihood they would. Instead of the first charge causing people to evacuate the ship like they hoped, it caused a photographer to go somewhere he wasn’t able to escape from when the second charge blew. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115.md?page=2)