Background
Lojka was born on 17 September 1886 in the town of Telč in southern Moravia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of the Czechoslovakian Republic).
Lojka was born on 17 September 1886 in the town of Telč in southern Moravia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of the Czechoslovakian Republic).
Lojka accompanied his employer and the Archduke on their trip to Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 so as to serve as Ferdinand"s chauffeur. Shortly after leaving the military barracks where Ferdinand had been inspecting the local Imperial garrison, the car was attacked by a Young Bosnia member, who threw a bomb at lieutenant However, Lojka was able to swerve out of the way and the bomb bounced away, injuring several soldiers in the car behind.
However, this was off the planned route and Lojka had not been informed of the change in plans and was not familiar with the new route.
Consequently, as he was driving away from the hospital to head out of Sarajevo, Lojka took a wrong turn down a backstreet. Realising his mistake, Lojka began to reverse out.
However, it so happened that Young Bosnia member Gavrilo Princip was sitting in a café on the street just as Ferdinand"s car began to pull into lieutenant Princip seized his chance and ran out of the café with his Model 1910 7.65 mm FN Browning.
Spotting him, Lojka attempted to reverse faster, but his foot missed the accelerator pedal.
After the assassination, Lojka was given the task of sending three telegrams: one for the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph, one for the German Emperor Wilhelm II, and one for the children of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He also served as a witness for the prosecution in the Young Bosnia trial. Lojka was later awarded 400,000 crowns by Austro-Hungarian emperor Charles I, which he used to buy an inn in Brno in Czechoslovakia.
There he became an innkeeper, and would often show off the bloodstained braces of Franz Ferdinand and a piece of Sophie"s golden bracelet.
He died in Brno in 1926. Since his death, the role of chauffeur of Franz Ferdinand"s car has often been erroneously attributed to a "Franz Urban".