Paul Gorguloff (29 June 1895-14 September 1932), born Pavel Timofeyevich Gorgulov, was a Russian emigre who murdered President of France Paul Doumer at a book fair in Paris in 1932. Gorguloff's motive for the attack was his belief that France had failed to support the White Army in Russia against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War.
Biography[]
Paul Gorguloff was born in Labinsk, Kuban, Russian Empire in 1895, and he studied medicine before serving in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. He suffered a bad head injury during the war, but he would go onto serve in the White Army during the Russian Civil War, fighting against the Bolsheviks. Gorguloff then emigrated to Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he completed his studies; however, he was expelled from Czechoslovakia for practicing abortion. In 1931, he moved to Nice, France, but he was threatened with expulsion for carrying out illegal medical acts, and he moved to Monaco in 1932.
That same year, the mentally unstable Gorguloff decided to assassinate President of France Paul Doumer at a book fair at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris. On 6 May 1932, Gorguloff arrived at the hotel with a concealed Browning FN Model 1910 gun. Gorguloff approached the president from behind and fired three shots, with one hitting him in the back of the head and the other in the right armpit. He was wrestled by a Parisian author until police arrived, and he claimed that his motive was France's failure to support the Whites during the Russian Civil War. The Assize Court rejected the claim that Gorguluff was insane and sentenced him to death by guillotine. Gorguloff's last words were, "Russia, my country!"