The Last Train to Basel

Stuart Ager

In 1974, Fritz and Hans Schlumpf had reached the peak of their wealth, becoming the sixth richest family in France. Two years later, a bank refused to honor a cheque for a few hundred Francs from one of their business accounts. This triggered a series of events which resulted in the French government accusing the brothers of embezzlement, and threatening to seize their collection of 500 vintage cars.

Rather than defend themselves in court, the brothers fled, taking the train to Basel, just over the Swiss border.Just a few weeks later - in the presence of a lawyer - the Schlumpfs were visited in Basel, by a delegation from Mulhouse. The group comprised senior officials from local government, banking and commerce. Briefed by Prince Michel Poniatowski, President Valery Giscard d’Estaing’s Minister of the Interior, the incumbent regime made its position clear: “Give us the cars, and this will all go away…”

What was the Schlumpf Affair really about? Without a satisfactory answer, I resolved to find out for myself. Little did I expect a tug-of-war over a collection of vintage cars to involve the President of France, let alone tyre company Michelin, Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, Adolf Hitler, General Franco, French Indochina, Renault’s ambitions to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race, the Common Market, Opus Dei, the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade, Cold War politics, the unsolved murders of French politicians, and the Bank of International Settlements in Basel…but it did.

• EAN: 9781916903647
• Hardcover, 21 x 29.7 cm, 208 pages
• 100 illustrations
• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Brodie Engineering Ltd.
• Retail price: EUR 47 - 52, 40 - 44 pounds

Review

The book gives an insight in the politics surrounding the Schlumpf affair. Stuart Ager primarily paints a picture of France in the 1970s, where politics held significant power over businesses, the press, and the judiciary. In that political atmosphere, it is conceivable that the French president played a role in acquiring the Schlumpf collection.

However, nothing about this is proven in the book.... That is as far as I could tell, because I stopped reading at a certain point... There is the constantly recurring stylistic trick of the right song on the car radio, which becomes very annoying after a few times, plus it just becomes too much of politics and all kinds of intrigues showing what the French politics could do, very far from the actual Schlumpf affair.

The textile industry collapsed throughout Europe. The Schlumpf brothers wouldn't have made it otherwise either, with their factories. It doesn't seem to me that the French government was deliberately trying to annex the collection, and there is no background in the book to prove it.

Thus: should you buy it? No, not unless you are incredibly interested in French politics of the 1970's.