Dreyfus Affair
Encyclopedia
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal
that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason
in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus
, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent
. Sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly having communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, Dreyfus was sent to the penal colony at Devil's Island
in French Guiana
and placed in solitary confinement
, where he was to spend almost 5 years under the most inhumane conditions.
Two years later, in 1896, evidence came to light identifying a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
as the real culprit. After high-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after the second day of his trial. The Army accused Dreyfus of additional charges based on false documents fabricated by a French counter-intelligence officer, Hubert-Joseph Henry
, who was seeking to re-confirm Dreyfus's conviction. Henry's superiors accepted his documents without full examination.
Word of the military court's framing of Alfred Dreyfus and of an attendant cover-up began to spread, chiefly due to J'accuse
, a vehement public open letter published in a Paris newspaper in January 1898 by the notable writer Émile Zola
. Progressive activists put pressure on the government to reopen the case.
In 1899 Dreyfus was brought back to Paris from Guiana for another trial. The intense political and judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus (the Dreyfusards), such as Anatole France
, Henri Poincaré
and Georges Clémenceau
, and those who condemned him (the anti-Dreyfusards), such as Hubert-Joseph Henry
and Edouard Drumont
, the director and publisher of the anti-semitic newspaper La Libre Parole.
Eventually, all the accusations against Alfred Dreyfus were demonstrated to be baseless
. In 1906 Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army. He served during the whole of World War I
, ending his service with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
The debate over falsely accused Alfred Dreyfus grew into a public scandal of unprecedented scale, and caused most of the French nation to become divided between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards.
on 13 January 1898. The letter was addressed to President of France Félix Faure
, and accused the government of anti-Semitism
and the unlawful jailing of Dreyfus. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper, and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted and found guilty of libel on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.
Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include Bernard Lazare's A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair (November 1896).
, novelists Octave Mirbeau
and Anatole France
, mathematicians Henri Poincaré
and Jacques Hadamard
, and Lucien Herr
, librarian of the École Normale Supérieure
. Constantin Mille
, a Romanian socialist writer and émigré in Paris, described the anti-Dreyfusard camp as a "militarist dictatorship".
Alfred Dreyfus was reinstated into the French Army, re-promoted to his prior rank of Major, and made a Chevalier
of the French Légion d'honneur
in July 1906. However, his health had deteriorated during his imprisonment on Devil's Island and, on his request, he was granted an honorable discharge in 1907. In 1908, at the burial of Zola at the Panthéon, he was slightly wounded in an assassination attempt. Célestin Hennion
, the head of the French Police, was on hand to arrest the would-be assassin, who was tried but found not guilty.
Dreyfus volunteered for military service again in 1914, at the beginning of World War I
, serving despite advancing age in a wide range of artillery commands, as a major and finally as a lieutenant-colonel. He was raised to the rank of Officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1919. His son, Pierre Dreyfus, also served in World War I as an artillery officer and was awarded the Croix de Guerre
. Alfred Dreyfus' two nephews also fought as artillery officers in the French Army during World War I but both were killed. The same artillery piece, secrets of which Dreyfus was accused of revealing to the Germans, was used in blunting the early German offensives because of its ability to maintain accuracy during rapid fire.
Dreyfus died two days before Bastille Day
in 1935. His funeral cortège passed through ranks assembled for Bastille Day celebrations at the Place de la Concorde
, and he was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery
.
. The coalition of partisan anti-Dreyfusards remained together, but turned to other causes. Groups such as Maurras's Action Française
, formed during the affair, endured for decades.
The despised Nazi collaborators of the Vichy Regime
contained many anti-Dreyfusards and their descendants. The anti-semitic Vichy Regime would later close its eyes to the arrest of Dreyfus's Jewish granddaughter, Madeleine Levy, by the Gestapo
. Madame Levy was imprisoned in Camp Drancy
on 3 November 1943, and on 20 November of the same year she was deported to Auschwitz, where she died of typhus
in January 1944.
had been assigned to report on the trial and its aftermath. Soon afterward, Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat
(The Jewish State, 1896) and founded the World Zionist Organization
, which called for the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. The antisemitism and injustice revealed in France by the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus had a radicalizing effect on Herzl, persuading him that Jews, despite the Enlightenment
and Jewish assimilation
, could never hope for fair treatment in European society. While the Dreyfus affair was not Herzl's initial motivation, it did much to encourage his Zionism
.
In the Middle East, the Muslim Arab press was sympathetic to the falsely accused Captain Dreyfus, and criticized the persecution of Jews
in France.
Not all Jews saw the Dreyfus Affair as evidence of antisemitism in France, however. It was also viewed as the opposite. The Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas
often cited the words of his father: "A country that tears itself apart to defend the honor of a small Jewish captain is somewhere worth going."
commissioned a statue of Dreyfus by sculptor Louis Mitelberg. It was to be installed at the École Militaire
, but the Minister of Defense refused to display it, even though Alfred Dreyfus had been rehabilitated into the Army and fully exonerated in 1906. Today it can be found at Boulevard Raspail, n°116–118, at the exit of the Notre-Dame-des-Champs metro station. A replica is located at the entrance of the Museum of Jewish Art and History
in Paris.
held an official state ceremony marking the centenary of Dreyfus's official rehabilitation. This was held in the presence of the living descendants of both Émile Zola and Alfred Dreyfus. The event took place in the same cobblestone courtyard of Paris's École Militaire
, where Capitaine Dreyfus had been officially stripped of his officer's rank. Chirac stated that "the combat against the dark forces of intolerance and hate is never definitively won," and called Dreyfus "an exemplary officer" and a "patriot who passionately loved France." The French National Assembly
also held a memorial ceremony of the centennial marking the end of the Affair. This was held in remembrance of the 1906 laws that had reintegrated and promoted both Dreyfus and Picquart at the end of the Dreyfus Affair.
bicycle race and the daily sporting newspaper L'Auto (now L'Équipe
) can be traced to the Dreyfus Affair. Le Velo
, then the largest sports daily in France, was Dreyfusard. In 1900 a group of anti-Dreyfusards started L'Auto to compete with Le Velo. L'Auto in turn created the Tour de France race in 1903.
The trigger for these events was a brawl between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards at the Auteuil
racetrack in Paris in 1899. In this incident, the President of France, Émile Loubet
, was struck on the head with a walking stick by Count Albert de Dion
, owner of the De Dion-Bouton
motor car company.
De Dion served 15 days in jail and was fined 100 francs. De Dion's behavior was savagely criticised by Le Vélo and its Dreyfusard editor, Pierre Giffard
. De Dion responded by starting L'Auto. He was supported by other wealthy anti-Dreyfusards such as Adolphe Clément
and Édouard Michelin
. (They were also concerned with Le Vélo because its publisher was their rival, Automobiles Darracq SA
.)
L'Auto was not the success its backers wanted. By 1903, its circulation was declining. To boost its circulation, L'Auto launched a new long-distance bicycle race, with distances and prizes far exceeding any previous race. This was the Tour de France.
Theatre
Films
Radio
BBC Radio 4, broadcast on 13 June 2009.
Television
ABC, broadcast on 11 November 1966.
Radio discussion
Political scandal
A political scandal is a kind of political corruption that is exposed and becomes a scandal, in which politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in various illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices...
that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent
History of Jews in Alsace
The history of the Jews in Alsace is one of the oldest in Europe. It was first attested in 1165 by Benjamin of Tudela, who wrote about a "large number of learned men" in "Astransbourg", and it is assumed that it dates back until around the year 1000 CE...
. Sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly having communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, Dreyfus was sent to the penal colony at Devil's Island
Devil's Island
Devil's Island is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located about 6 nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana . It has an area of 14 ha . It was a small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952...
in French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
and placed in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
, where he was to spend almost 5 years under the most inhumane conditions.
Two years later, in 1896, evidence came to light identifying a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was a commissioned officer in the French armed forces during the second half of the 19th century who has gained notoriety as a spy for the German Empire and the actual perpetrator of the act of treason for which Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully accused...
as the real culprit. After high-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after the second day of his trial. The Army accused Dreyfus of additional charges based on false documents fabricated by a French counter-intelligence officer, Hubert-Joseph Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry , French Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897 involved in the Dreyfus affair. Arrested for having forged evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, he was found dead in his prison cell...
, who was seeking to re-confirm Dreyfus's conviction. Henry's superiors accepted his documents without full examination.
Word of the military court's framing of Alfred Dreyfus and of an attendant cover-up began to spread, chiefly due to J'accuse
J'accuse (letter)
"J'accuse" was an open letter published on January 13, 1898, in the newspaper L'Aurore by the influential writer Émile Zola.In the letter, Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure, and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General...
, a vehement public open letter published in a Paris newspaper in January 1898 by the notable writer Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
. Progressive activists put pressure on the government to reopen the case.
In 1899 Dreyfus was brought back to Paris from Guiana for another trial. The intense political and judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus (the Dreyfusards), such as Anatole France
Anatole France
Anatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
, Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
and Georges Clémenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
, and those who condemned him (the anti-Dreyfusards), such as Hubert-Joseph Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry , French Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897 involved in the Dreyfus affair. Arrested for having forged evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, he was found dead in his prison cell...
and Edouard Drumont
Edouard Drumont
Édouard Adolphe Drumont was a French journalist and writer. He founded the Antisemitic League of France in 1889, and was the founder and editor of the newspaper La Libre Parole.- Early life :...
, the director and publisher of the anti-semitic newspaper La Libre Parole.
Eventually, all the accusations against Alfred Dreyfus were demonstrated to be baseless
Resolution of the Dreyfus Affair
-Trial of Esterhazy for forgery:On the same day as this arrest the examining magistrate Bertulus, disregarding the threats and entreaties directed at him, on his own initiative sent Major Esterhazy and his mistress, Marguerite Pays, to prison on the charge of forgery and of using forgeries...
. In 1906 Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army. He served during the whole of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, ending his service with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Picquart's investigations
While Alfred Dreyfus was serving his sentence on Devil's Island, supporters and the press in France began to question his guilt. The most notable of these was Major Georges Picquart, who brought evidence of a forgery to his superiors and when ordered to keep silent, leaked information to the Drefusard (pro-Dreyfus) press. Picquart was later court-martialed for his revelations. After Dreyfus was exonerated, Picquart was also cleared and restored to his military position.Other investigations
After Major Georges Picquart's exile to Tunisia, others took up the cause of Alfred Dreyfus.Public scandal
Émile Zola's open letter
The influential writer Émile Zola wrote an open letter published in the newspaper L'AuroreL'Aurore
L’Aurore was a literary, liberal, and socialist newspaper published in Paris, France, from 1897 to 1914. Its most famous headline was Émile Zola’s “J'Accuse”, concerning the Dreyfus Affair. It was published by eventual Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau.- External links:* Digitized issues of...
on 13 January 1898. The letter was addressed to President of France Félix Faure
Félix Faure
Félix François Faure was President of France from 1895 until his death.-Biography:Félix François Faure was born in Paris, the son of a small furniture maker...
, and accused the government of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and the unlawful jailing of Dreyfus. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper, and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted and found guilty of libel on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.
Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include Bernard Lazare's A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair (November 1896).
Aftermath
The affair saw the emergence of the "intellectuals" – academics and others with high intellectual achievements who took positions on grounds of higher principle – such as Émile ZolaÉmile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
, novelists Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau was a French journalist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde...
and Anatole France
Anatole France
Anatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
, mathematicians Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
and Jacques Hadamard
Jacques Hadamard
Jacques Salomon Hadamard FRS was a French mathematician who made major contributions in number theory, complex function theory, differential geometry and partial differential equations.-Biography:...
, and Lucien Herr
Lucien Herr
Lucien Herr was a French intellectual, librarian at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and mentor to a number of well-known socialist politicians and writers, including Jean Jaurès and Charles Péguy...
, librarian of the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
. Constantin Mille
Constantin Mille
Constantin Mille was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and socialist militant, as well as a prominent human rights activist...
, a Romanian socialist writer and émigré in Paris, described the anti-Dreyfusard camp as a "militarist dictatorship".
Alfred Dreyfus after the Dreyfus Affair
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the French Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in July 1906. However, his health had deteriorated during his imprisonment on Devil's Island and, on his request, he was granted an honorable discharge in 1907. In 1908, at the burial of Zola at the Panthéon, he was slightly wounded in an assassination attempt. Célestin Hennion
Célestin Hennion
Célestin Hennion CVO was a French police officer who rose to head the Prefecture of Police . He is notable for his reorganisation of the Préfecture and the introduction of the Tiger's Brigades...
, the head of the French Police, was on hand to arrest the would-be assassin, who was tried but found not guilty.
Dreyfus volunteered for military service again in 1914, at the beginning of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, serving despite advancing age in a wide range of artillery commands, as a major and finally as a lieutenant-colonel. He was raised to the rank of Officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1919. His son, Pierre Dreyfus, also served in World War I as an artillery officer and was awarded the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
. Alfred Dreyfus' two nephews also fought as artillery officers in the French Army during World War I but both were killed. The same artillery piece, secrets of which Dreyfus was accused of revealing to the Germans, was used in blunting the early German offensives because of its ability to maintain accuracy during rapid fire.
Dreyfus died two days before Bastille Day
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...
in 1935. His funeral cortège passed through ranks assembled for Bastille Day celebrations at the Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
, and he was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Cemetery is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, part of the city's 14th arrondissement.-History:Created from three farms in 1824, the cemetery at Montparnasse was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud. Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the closure, owing to...
.
Political ramifications
The factions in the Dreyfus affair remained in place for decades afterward. The far right remained a potent force, as did the moderate liberals. The liberal victory played an important role in pushing the far right to the fringes of French politics. It also prompted legislation such as a 1905 law separating church and state1905 French law on the separation of Church and State
The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1905. Enacted during the Third Republic, it established state secularism in France...
. The coalition of partisan anti-Dreyfusards remained together, but turned to other causes. Groups such as Maurras's Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, formed during the affair, endured for decades.
The despised Nazi collaborators of the Vichy Regime
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
contained many anti-Dreyfusards and their descendants. The anti-semitic Vichy Regime would later close its eyes to the arrest of Dreyfus's Jewish granddaughter, Madeleine Levy, by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. Madame Levy was imprisoned in Camp Drancy
Drancy internment camp
The Drancy internment camp of Paris, France, was used to hold Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps. 65,000 Jews were deported from Drancy, of whom 63,000 were murdered including 6,000 children...
on 3 November 1943, and on 20 November of the same year she was deported to Auschwitz, where she died of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
in January 1944.
Antisemitism and birth of Zionism
The Hungarian-Jewish journalist Theodor HerzlTheodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl , born Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl was an Ashkenazi Jew Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.-Early life:...
had been assigned to report on the trial and its aftermath. Soon afterward, Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat
Der Judenstaat
Der Judenstaat is a book written by Theodor Herzl and published in 1896 in Leipzig and Vienna by M. Breitenstein's Verlags-Buchhandlung...
(The Jewish State, 1896) and founded the World Zionist Organization
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization , or WZO, was founded as the Zionist Organization , or ZO, in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress, held from August 29 to August 31 in Basel, Switzerland...
, which called for the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. The antisemitism and injustice revealed in France by the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus had a radicalizing effect on Herzl, persuading him that Jews, despite the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
and Jewish assimilation
Jewish assimilation
Jewish assimilation refers to the cultural assimilation and social integration of Jews in their surrounding culture. Assimilation became legally possible in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment.-Background:Judaism forbids the worship of other gods...
, could never hope for fair treatment in European society. While the Dreyfus affair was not Herzl's initial motivation, it did much to encourage his Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
.
In the Middle East, the Muslim Arab press was sympathetic to the falsely accused Captain Dreyfus, and criticized the persecution of Jews
Persecution of Jews
Persecution of Jews has occurred on numerous occasions and at widely different geographical locations. As well as being a major component in Jewish history, it has significantly affected the general history and social development of the countries and societies in which the persecuted Jews...
in France.
Not all Jews saw the Dreyfus Affair as evidence of antisemitism in France, however. It was also viewed as the opposite. The Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas
Emmanuel Lévinas
Emmanuel Levinas was a Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic commentator.-Life:Emanuelis Levinas received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania...
often cited the words of his father: "A country that tears itself apart to defend the honor of a small Jewish captain is somewhere worth going."
Commission of sculpture
In 1985, President François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
commissioned a statue of Dreyfus by sculptor Louis Mitelberg. It was to be installed at the École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
, but the Minister of Defense refused to display it, even though Alfred Dreyfus had been rehabilitated into the Army and fully exonerated in 1906. Today it can be found at Boulevard Raspail, n°116–118, at the exit of the Notre-Dame-des-Champs metro station. A replica is located at the entrance of the Museum of Jewish Art and History
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme is a French museum of Jewish art and history located in the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan at 71, rue du Temple in the Marais district in Paris. The museum is open daily except Saturday . An admission fee is charged...
in Paris.
Centennial commemoration
On 12 July 2006, President Jacques ChiracJacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
held an official state ceremony marking the centenary of Dreyfus's official rehabilitation. This was held in the presence of the living descendants of both Émile Zola and Alfred Dreyfus. The event took place in the same cobblestone courtyard of Paris's École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
, where Capitaine Dreyfus had been officially stripped of his officer's rank. Chirac stated that "the combat against the dark forces of intolerance and hate is never definitively won," and called Dreyfus "an exemplary officer" and a "patriot who passionately loved France." The French National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
also held a memorial ceremony of the centennial marking the end of the Affair. This was held in remembrance of the 1906 laws that had reintegrated and promoted both Dreyfus and Picquart at the end of the Dreyfus Affair.
Tour de France and L'Auto
The roots of both the Tour de FranceTour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
bicycle race and the daily sporting newspaper L'Auto (now L'Équipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
) can be traced to the Dreyfus Affair. Le Velo
Le Vélo
-External links:*...
, then the largest sports daily in France, was Dreyfusard. In 1900 a group of anti-Dreyfusards started L'Auto to compete with Le Velo. L'Auto in turn created the Tour de France race in 1903.
The trigger for these events was a brawl between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards at the Auteuil
Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy
Auteuil and Passy are part of the 16th arrondissement of Paris. They are located near the Bois de Boulogne and the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine too....
racetrack in Paris in 1899. In this incident, the President of France, Émile Loubet
Émile Loubet
Émile François Loubet was a French politician and the 8th President of France.-Early life:He was born the son of a peasant proprietor and mayor of Marsanne . Admitted to the Parisian bar in 1862, he took his doctorate in law the next year...
, was struck on the head with a walking stick by Count Albert de Dion
Albert de Dion
Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion was a pioneer of the automobile industry in France.-His life:...
, owner of the De Dion-Bouton
De Dion-Bouton
De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1932. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton and his brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux....
motor car company.
De Dion served 15 days in jail and was fined 100 francs. De Dion's behavior was savagely criticised by Le Vélo and its Dreyfusard editor, Pierre Giffard
Pierre Giffard
Pierre Giffard was a French journalist, a pioneer of modern political reporting, a newspaper publisher and a prolific sports organiser...
. De Dion responded by starting L'Auto. He was supported by other wealthy anti-Dreyfusards such as Adolphe Clément
Adolphe Clément
Gustave Adolphe Clément-Bayard was a French entrepreneur...
and Édouard Michelin
Edouard Michelin
Édouard Michelin was a French industrialist. He was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Édouard and his elder brother André served as co-directors of the Michelin company....
. (They were also concerned with Le Vélo because its publisher was their rival, Automobiles Darracq SA
Darracq
Automobiles Darracq S.A. was a French motor vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq.Using part of the substantial profit he had made from selling his Gladiator bicycle factory, Alexandre Darracq began operating from a plant in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes...
.)
L'Auto was not the success its backers wanted. By 1903, its circulation was declining. To boost its circulation, L'Auto launched a new long-distance bicycle race, with distances and prizes far exceeding any previous race. This was the Tour de France.
Portraits of the affair in various media
Literature- The Dreyfus Centenary Bulletin, London/Bonn 1994; The Dreyfus Centenary Committee.
- The Dreyfus affair plays an important part in In Search of Lost TimeIn Search of Lost TimeIn Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its considerable length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." The novel is widely...
, by Marcel Proust, especially Vols. 3 and 4. - L´Affaire en Chanson, 1994 by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
; Paris Bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine BDIC; Paris, Flammarion. - A satirical take on the Dreyfus affair appears in L'ile Des Pingouins by Anatole FranceAnatole FranceAnatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
. - The Dreyfus Affair is mentioned several times in The Children's BookThe Children's BookThe Children's Book is a 2009 novel by British writer A.S. Byatt. It follows the adventures of several inter-related families, adults and children, from 1895 through World War I. Loosely based upon the life of children's writer E. Nesbit there are secrets slowly revealed that show that the...
by A. S. ByattA. S. ByattDame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...
. - The Dreyfus Trilogy by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, Inter Nationes, 1996. - The Dreyfus Affair, A Chronological History by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. - Admission is not Acceptance – Reflections on the Dreyfus Affair. Antisemitism. George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
. London Valentine Mitchell, 2007; Paris Editions Le Manuscript/Unesco 2008, Buenos Aires Lilmod 2009, Moscow Xonokoct 2010. - A Man in Uniform, by Kate TaylorKate Taylor (novelist)Katherine Mary Taylor is a Canadian critic and novelist, a cultural journalist at the Globe and Mail newspaper and author of two novels, Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen and A Man in Uniform....
, 2010 - Die Dreyfus Affaere – Die Macht des Vorurteils, Peter Lang, Frankfurt, 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60218-8
- The Dreyfus Affair – A Trilogy of Plays, Oberon Books, London, January 2011.
- Poems written by Philadelphia poet Florence Earle CoatesFlorence Earle Coates-Biography:She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Granddaughter of noted abolitionist and philanthropist Thomas Earle, and eldest daughter of Philadelphia lawyer George H. Earle, Sr. and Mrs. Frances Van Leer Earle, Mrs...
(1850-1927) about the affair:
-
- "Dreyfus" - published in Poet Lore (Sept 1898) and subsequently in Mine and Thine (1904).
- "Dreyfus" - a fugitive poem published in The Independent (16 February 1899).
- "Picquart" - published in The Century Magazine (July 1902) and subsequently in Mine and Thine (1904) and Poems Vol II.
- "Le Grand Salut" - published in The Living Age (25 August 1906) and subsequently in Lyrics of Life (1909) and Poems Vol II.
Theatre
- Seymour HicksSeymour HicksSir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
wrote a drama called One of the Best, based on the Dreyfus trial, starring William TerrissWilliam TerrissWilliam Terriss was an English actor, known for his swashbuckling hero roles, such as Robin Hood, and in Shakespeare plays, and for his murder outside a London theatre. His daughter was the Edwardian musical comedy star Ellaline Terriss.-Life and career:Terriss's real name was William Charles...
. It played at the Adelphi TheatreAdelphi TheatreThe Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
in London in 1895. The idea was suggested to Hicks by W. S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. The novelisation of this play (by Hicks himself) shows it to have been not a particularly inspired piece of drama. The plot has nothing to do (at least directly) with the Dreyfus Affair. - AJIOM/Captain Dreyfus, Musical. Music and text by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, 1992. - The Dreyfus Trilogy by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
(in collaboration with Luciano Berio, Jost Meier and Alfred Schnittke) comprising the opera "Dreyfus-Die Affäre" (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 8 May 1994; Theater Basle, 16 October 1004; "The Dreyfus Affair" New York City Opera, April 1996); the dance drama "Dreyfus-J´accuse´" (Oper der Stadt Bonn, 4 September 1994) and the musical satire Rage et Outrage (Arte, April 1994; Zorn und Schande, Arte 1994; Rage and Outrage Channel 4, May 1994. - "Dreyfus Intime" by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, Opernhaus Zurich, December 2008; Jüdisches Museum Berlin, May 2009. Also in German, English, French, Hungarian, Hebrew and Czech. - "Dreyfus: Prisoner of Devil's Island" Music, Book and Lyrics by Bryan Kesselman. World première in London on Wednesday 18 November 1998 at St Giles, Cripplegate, as part of the 9th London International Jewish Music Festival.
Films
- The court proceedings on the Dreyfus affair were the first to be documented in cinema.
- L'Affaire Dreyfus, Georges Méliès, Stumm, France, 1899.
- Trial of Captain Dreyfus, Stumm, USA, 1899.
- DreyfusDreyfus (1930 film)Dreyfus was a 1930 film on the Dreyfus affair, based on a novel by Bruno Weil. It was translated into English as Dreyfus.-Cast:*Fritz Kortner - Alfred Dreyfus*Grete Mosheim - Lucie Dreyfus...
, Richard Oswald, Germany, 1930. - The Dreyfus CaseDreyfus (1931 film)Dreyfus is a 1931 British film on the Dreyfus affair, translated from the play by Wilhelm Herzog and Hans Rehfisch and the 1930 German film Dreyfus.-Cast:*Cedric Hardwicke - Capt. Alfred Dreyfus*Charles Carson - Col. Picquart...
, F. W. Kraemer, Milton Rosmer, United Kingdom, 1931. - The Life of Emile ZolaThe Life of Emile ZolaThe Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
, USA, 1937. - I Accuse!I Accuse!I Accuse! is a 1958 biographical drama film directed by and starring José Ferrer. The film is based on the true story of the Dreyfus Case, in which a Jewish captain in the French Army is falsely accused of treason.-Plot synopsis:...
, José Ferrer, United Kingdom, 1958. - Prisoner of HonorPrisoner of HonorPrisoner of Honor is a 1991 British dramatic television movie made by Warner Bros. Television and distributed by HBO about the French Dreyfus Affair...
, directed by Ken RussellKen RussellHenry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
, historical advisor George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, focuses on the efforts of Colonel Picquart to have the sentence of Alfred Dreyfus overturned. Colonel Picquart was played by American actor Richard DreyfussRichard DreyfussRichard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
, who "grew up thinking that Alfred DreyfusAlfred DreyfusAlfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
and [him] are of the same family." USA, 1991. - L'Affaire Dreyfus (released in Germany as Die Affäre Dreyfus), Yves Boisset, 1995.
- The Majestic, Discussed by Jim Carey's character in this film. USA, 2001
Radio
- BBC Radio J'Accuse, UK, Hattie Naylor. Radio dramatisation inspired by a newspaper article written by Emile Zola in response to the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s.
BBC Radio 4, broadcast on 13 June 2009.
- L´Affaire Dreyfus´, interview with George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, France Culture, 25 March 1995. - J´accuse, George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, Canadian Broadcasting Service (CBS), 10 October 1998. - The Dreyfus Affair, interview with George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, BBC Radio 3. By John Pilgrim, 28 October 2005.
Television
- The Time Tunnel episode Devil's Island. Story in which Drs. Newman & Phillips encounter Captain Dreyfus, newly arrived on Devil's Island.
ABC, broadcast on 11 November 1966.
- Dreyfus in Opera and Ballet/The Odyssey of George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
, September 1994, WDR, Swedish, Hungarian and Finnish television. - Rage and Outrage- a musical satire by George R. Whyte, broadcast on Arte and Channel 4, May 1994.
- Dreyfus-J’Accuse Dance drama by George WhyteGeorge WhyteGeorge R. Whyte is an author, composer, and dramatist. Universities of London and Paris. Musical formation: piano: Paul Lichtenstern composition: Francesco Ticciati...
. Oper der Stadt Bonn, 4 September 1994. WDR, Sweden STV1, Slovenia RTV, SLO, Finland YLE.
Radio discussion
- BBC Radio 4, 8 October 2009, In Our Time, The Dreyfus Affair Downloadable discussion on BBC Radio 4. Melvyn Bragg; Robert Gildea, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University; Ruth Harris, Lecturer in Modern History at Oxford University; Robert Tombs, Professor of French History at Cambridge University.
- New Books in History, 17 June 2010 podcast interview with Ruth Harris about her book Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion, And the Scandal of the Century (2010).
See also
- Antisemitism
- Ferdinand Walsin EsterhazyFerdinand Walsin EsterhazyCharles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was a commissioned officer in the French armed forces during the second half of the 19th century who has gained notoriety as a spy for the German Empire and the actual perpetrator of the act of treason for which Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully accused...
the true perpetrator of the crime of which Alfred Dreyfus had been wrongly accused and convicted. - History of Jews in AlsaceHistory of Jews in AlsaceThe history of the Jews in Alsace is one of the oldest in Europe. It was first attested in 1165 by Benjamin of Tudela, who wrote about a "large number of learned men" in "Astransbourg", and it is assumed that it dates back until around the year 1000 CE...
- Dreyfus Society for Human Rights
- George R. Whyte and The Dreyfus Affair
Further reading
1906 : Dreyfus rehabilitated. Site of the French Ministry of Culture Site of the National Assembly- Oscar Wilde and the Dreyfus Affair from Victorian Studies, Vol. 41, 1
- The Dreyfus Affair Was A Rothschild Psy-Op by Henry MakowHenry MakowHenry Makow is a Canadian author, conspiracy theorist and the inventor of the boardgame Scruples.-Biography:Makow was born in Zürich, Switzerland and moved with his family to Canada as an infant, settling in Ottawa. At the age of 11, in 1960, he began to write the syndicated advice-to-parents...
- Text of J'accuse! (in French)
- Text of J'accuse! (in English and French)
- Alfred Dreyfus and "The Affair"
- America's Dreyfus Affair, by David Martin
- Complete Digital Bibliography on CD-ROM
- Greatest Newspaper Article of all Time (Journalistic retrospective of Zola's "J'accuse!")
- JewishEncyclopedia.com – Andre Cremieu-Foa
- Temporal and Eternal by Charles Péguy, translated by Alexander Dru
- The Dreyfus Affair Was A Rothschild Psy-Op in Illuminati 2, by Henry MakowHenry MakowHenry Makow is a Canadian author, conspiracy theorist and the inventor of the boardgame Scruples.-Biography:Makow was born in Zürich, Switzerland and moved with his family to Canada as an infant, settling in Ottawa. At the age of 11, in 1960, he began to write the syndicated advice-to-parents...
ISBN 1450553117 - Jean-Denis Bredin, The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus (1986), ISBN 0-8076-1175-1
- George R. Whyte, The Dreyfus Affair – A Chronological History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN 13: 978-0-230-20285-6
- Anya Rous The Rising Celebrity and Modern Politics—The Dreyfus Affair