Stavisky affair

The scandal had political ramifications for the Radical-Socialist government after it was revealed that Prime Minister Camille Chautemps had protected Stavisky, who died suddenly in mysterious circumstances.

[1] Serge Alexandre Stavisky (1888–1934), who became known as le beau Sacha ("Handsome Sasha"), was a Russian Jew who was born in modern-day Ukraine; his parents had relocated to France.

Stavisky tried various professions, working as a café singer, a nightclub manager, a soup factory worker and as the operator of a gambling den.

Stavisky sold worthless bonds and financed his "hockshop" on the surety of what he called the emeralds of the late Empress of Germany, which were later revealed to be glass.

The distance that the bullet had travelled caused the newspaper Le Canard enchaîné to propose sarcastically that Stavisky had "a long arm".

The new Prime Minister was Édouard Daladier, and one of his first acts was to dismiss the prefect of the Paris police, Jean Chiappe, who was notorious for his rightist sympathies and suspected of encouraging previous anti-government demonstrations.

According to the historian Joel Colton, "The consensus among scholars is that there was no concerted or unified design to seize power and that the police lacked the coherence, unity, or leadership to accomplish such an end".

Fomented by several conservative, anti-Semitic, monarchist or fascist groups, including Action Française, the Croix-de-Feu and the Mouvement Franciste, the demonstration occurred on the night of 6–7 February 1934.

Colette, referring to the alleged inability of any of Stavisky's important friends to remember him, described the dead con artist as "a man with no face".

Hollywood released a depiction in 1937 with Stolen Holiday, featuring Claude Rains as Stavisky's fictional counterpart, Stefan Orloff, and Kay Francis as his wife.