Blumenstein as he appears originally in The Shooting Star, and later becomes Bohlwinkel
Sweden, etc. Their rivals, the villains in the story,
are a group of American businessman. His accusers
claim this was done to appease, or avoid offending,
the German occupiers. Worst of all, their leader is a
financier who appears to be a grotesque antiSemitic caricature. He was originally named
Blumenstein, which Hergé thought of as a typical
American name, and claimed to be unaware was
actually Jewish. To remedy this, when the book was
revised he changed the man’s name to Bohlwinkel –
once again, he would later find out that is also a
Jewish name. In the post-war revision the villains
The revisions were not enough to clear Hergé’s
are also changed from Americans to citizens of the
reputation entirely. According to Martin Bright of
fictional Sao Rico.
the Guardian, regardless of the change of name, the