Alexandre Stavisky
Alexandre Stavisky, originally named Sacha Stavisky, was a prominent figure in early 20th-century France, known for his complex criminal enterprises and significant impact on the political landscape. Born in 1886 to Ukrainian Jewish parents, Stavisky moved to Paris as a child. His early life was marked by questionable ethics, including printing fake business cards and running a theater scam with his grandfather. By the 1920s, he had escalated his activities to large-scale fraud involving counterfeit treasury bonds and fraudulent stock transactions, leading to his arrest in 1927.
Stavisky’s most notorious scheme involved pawning overvalued and fake jewels, which netted him billions of francs and resulted in considerable financial losses for many investors. His ability to evade legal repercussions for much of his career was aided by connections with politicians and media manipulation. However, as the extent of his fraud came to light in 1933, he faced mounting pressure from law enforcement, leading to a desperate flight to Chamonix, where he died under mysterious circumstances—likely by suicide.
The fallout from the Stavisky affair had far-reaching consequences in France, igniting political turmoil that ultimately forced the resignation of Prime Minister Camille Chautemps and sparked riots. While some low-level associates faced legal action, significant political figures largely escaped accountability. The scandal also fueled anti-Jewish sentiments and contributed to the rise of the Popular Front, a coalition formed in response to the growing threat of fascism in France. The story of Stavisky's life and crimes has since been depicted in various cultural works, highlighting his lasting influence on French society.
Subject Terms
Alexandre Stavisky
French con man
- Born: November 20, 1886
- Birthplace: Slobodka, Ukraine, Russian Empire (now in Russia)
- Died: January 8, 1934
- Place of death: Chamonix, France
Major offense: Financial fraud
Active: Primarily 1928-1932
Locale: Orléans and Bayonne, France
Early Life
Alexandre Stavisky (sta-VIHS-kee), born Sacha Stavisky, was the son of Emmanuel and Dunia Stavisky, Jews from the Ukraine. In 1899 his dentist father moved the family to Paris, where Stavisky attended the prestigious Lycée Condorcet. When he was in his teens, he printed fake business cards in order to get free theater tickets. In 1909, he and his grandfather ran a theater scam in which they sold entrepreneurs bogus concessions in a theater development that was never built.
Criminal Career
In 1915 Stavisky served three months in prison for bilking an elderly woman out of twenty-five thousand francs. He also was charged with forgery in 1924 but escaped a jail sentence. In 1925 he met Arlette Simon (a model for fashion designerCoco Chanel), whom he married. As a result of dealing in fraudulent stock transactions and counterfeit treasury bonds, he was arrested in July, 1927, and spent months in La Santé prison awaiting his trial, which was postponed nineteen times. When he was released from prison in late 1927 on medical grounds, he had changed his name to Serge Alexandre.
Stavisky’s most significant scam began in 1928 in Orléans, where he pawned jewels at a cooperating crédit municipal, which overvalued the items in exchange for money. By June, 1928, he had taken more than twenty-five million francs for the overvalued and fake goods he had pawned. To cover the funds they extended to Stavisky, the crédit municipal issued bonds to investors who believed that the pawned goods were, in fact, worth what the pawn brokers had listed.
When suspicions were aroused, and before auditors and police were ready to act, Stavisky redeemed the jewels with cash raised from a similar but larger scam in Bayonne. The Bayonne scheme brought him hundreds of millions of francs. Stavisky then placed the relatively worthless bonds with insurance companies and banks in which thousands of unsuspecting people had their money. When in 1933 the Bayonne bonds were due for redemption, there were insufficient funds to pay the investors. To raise funds, Stavisky proposed a new scheme, one that would require the backing of the ministers of foreign affairs and finance and that called for issuing bonds to finance European construction projects.
His failure to gain the necessary political support led to an investigation of the Bayonne crédit municipal and the arrest of its treasurer. With the police at his heels, Stavisky sought to avoid capture by fleeing to Chamonix, where the police caught up with him. Although it was rumored that the police killed him, it is more likely that he took his own life.
Legal Action and Outcome
Aside from his 1927 arrest, few legal actions were taken against this high-profile con man until 1933, when the police followed him to Chamonix. By currying favor with politicians, some of whom were implicated in his schemes, and by buying favorable newspaper coverage, he was able to evade prosecution most of his life. After his death, he was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Impact
The Stavisky affair was the major political affair of the French interwar period. Not only did many people lose their savings, but the politicians who had abetted Alexandre Stavisky were called to account. Conservative governmental critics accused Prime Minister Camille Chautemps’s radical Socialist government of complicity in Alexandre Stavisky’s deals and forced his resignation. Although the new premier, Édouard Daladier, succeeded in suppressing the riots (February 6-7, 1934) that ensued after the French people learned the details of the scheme, he, too, had to resign and was replaced by Gaston Doumergue. Jean Chiappe, prefect of police in Bayonne, lost his job, but few influential politicians were charged with crimes. In 1935-1936 twenty defendants, none of whom were important politicians, were tried, and eleven of them, including Stavisky’s widow, were acquitted.
The long-term results were some anti-Jewish propaganda and the rise of the Popular Front to oppose the rising tide of fascism in France. Alain Resnais directed the film Stavisky, based on the life of the con man, in 1974.
Bibliography
Hyman, Paula. The Jews of Modern France. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Examines France’s evolving attitude toward its Jewish citizens.
Jankowski, Paul. Stavisky: A Confidence Man in the Republic of Virtue. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2002. Thorough discussion of the web of circumstances that allowed Stavisky’s fraud to occur.
Semprun, Jorge. Stavisky. New York: Penguin, 1975. Succinct review of the affair followed by a film script of the Alain Resnais film.