1st Edition

To Kill a Spy Everyday Nationalism and Political Violence in Fin-de-Siecle Europe

By Zachary Mazur Copyright 2026
188 Pages
by Central European University Press

On an August afternoon in 1910, a Polish nationalist gunned down an alleged Russian spy on the streets of Kraków. Afterward the murderer claimed that he had done a great deed for “Poland,” though no such country existed at the time. The press lionized the assassin, justifying his act as necessary for the defense of the nation. When the defendant stood trial, a jury composed of local citizens... Read more

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Period Newspapers

Author’s Note

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Making a Murderer: Mass Politics and Nationalization in the Revolution of 1905

Chapter 3: A Tangled Web: The Revolution Beyond Russia

Chapter 4: Tinker, Teacher, Printer, Spy: Education as Nation Building

Chapter 5: Burn Notice: Spy Mania in Europe

Chapter 6: Chapter The Boy Who Played with Fire: Murder and Trial

Chapter 7: Die Another Day: The Aftermaths Index

Biography

Zachary Mazur is a historian of modern Europe with a PhD from Yale University. He is a Senior Historian at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. His main areas of interest are in the interactions between law, economics and nationalism.