BUSINESS ABROAD: Return of the Rochlings

The Röchling family is to the steel-rich Saar what the Fords are to Dearborn, Mich. Longtime producers of one-third of the Saar's steel, the Röchlings hold the key to the basin's rich economy, the deciding weight in the industrial balance of power between France and Germany. Both in 1919 and 1946, France took over the Röchling empire in an effort to swallow the Saar. Just 20 months ago Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay promised the French Senate, "The Röchlings will never return to the Saar." But six months after he spoke, the German-speaking Saarlanders voted down a French attempt to...