Münsterplatz is a square in Basel, in front of the cathedral, chosen as the initial meeting point for a covert interview with Richard Cuers. Its role in the plan was precise: it was the place where Cuers would be identified and discreetly passed from one officer to another before being taken to a private room at the Schweizerhof Hotel.

Setting and Role in the Plan

On the day Georges Picquart received a summons from Raoul le Mouton de Boisdeffre, he met with Captain Lauth and Tomps to arrange the Basel interview. The three officers, including Inspector Vuillecard, were to travel overnight and reach Basel on Thursday morning. Münsterplatz was set as their nine o’clock rendezvous, in front of the cathedral.

The Rendezvous

The plan divided the officers among separate locations. Vuillecard would wait at Münsterplatz holding a white handkerchief as a signal. Tomps, who knew Cuers by sight, would watch for him at the Badischer Bahnhof as he emerged from the Berlin train, check that he was not being followed, and then shadow him to the square. A prearranged exchange in French would establish that Cuers had reached the intended contact; Vuillecard would then escort him to Lauth, who would be waiting in a private room at the nearby Schweizerhof Hotel.

Operational Significance

Münsterplatz was therefore a transfer point rather than the site of the interview itself. The plan used the square’s public setting to bring the officers and their contact together without requiring Lauth to meet Cuers at the railway station. All three officers were to be armed, and the staged handoff—from surveillance at the station, to recognition at the square, to a private hotel meeting—made the location one link in a carefully coordinated operation.