Dreyfus affair

The bordereau (memorandum) which sparked the Dreyfus affair

This article is part of the Dreyfus affair series.

Investigation and arrest

Trial and conviction

Picquart's investigations

Other investigations

Public scandal

"J'accuse...!" - Zola

Resolution

Alfred Dreyfus

Fin de siècle
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The Dreyfus affair (French: l'affaire Dreyfus, pronounced: [a.fɛʁ dʁɛ.fys]) was a political scandal that divided France in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. 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.

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 owing to J'accuse, a vehement 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 to Rennes 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 Clemenceau, 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. The new trial resulted in another conviction and a 10-year sentence, but Dreyfus was offered a pardon and set free.

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.

Arrest, trial and cover-up

A 1898 cartoon by Caran d'Ache depicts a fictional family dinner. At the top, somebody remarks "above all, let's not discuss the Dreyfus Affair!" At the bottom, the family is fighting and the caption reads "they have discussed it."

In 1894, the French Army's counter-intelligence section, led by Lt. Col. Sandherr, became aware that new artillery information was being passed to the German embassy in Paris by a highly placed spy likely to be posted in the French General Staff. Suspicion quickly fell upon Captain Alfred Dreyfus who was arrested for treason on 15 October 1894. On 5 January 1895, Dreyfus was summarily convicted in a secret court martial, publicly stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment in a penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana.

In August 1896, the new chief of French military intelligence, Lt Colonel Picquart, reported to his superiors that he had found evidence to the effect that the real traitor was a Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. Picquart was silenced by being transferred to the southern desert of Tunisia in November 1896. When reports of an army cover-up and Dreyfus's possible innocence were leaked to the press, a heated debate ensued about anti-Semitism, France's identity as a Catholic nation and a republic founded on equal rights for all citizens. The influential writer Émile Zola wrote a famous open letter titled "J'accuse" ( "I accuse" ) published in the newspaper L'Aurore on 13 January 1898. The letter was addressed to President of France Félix Faure, and accused the government of the unlawful jailing of Dreyfus while also accusing certain highly placed members of the Army's general staff of being guilty of a cover-up. Zola also pointed out judicial errors and the lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of "L'Aurore" and caused a major commotion in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted and found guilty of libel on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, eventually 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).

A second trial, in 1900, again resulted in a conviction. However, he was pardoned the same year. In 1906 Dreyfus was, at last, fully exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army.

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 Zola, 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 after the Dreyfus Affair

Alfred Dreyfus stripped of rank, 5 January 1895.

L'Aurore's front page on 13 January 1898 features Émile Zola's open letter to the French President Félix Faure.

Alfred Dreyfus was reinstated into the French Army with 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, at 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, and served despite advancing age in a range of artillery commands, first as a major and finally as a lieutenant-colonel. Ironically he was the only soldier involved in the Affair to serve in the First World War. He was promoted 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's 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.

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 state. 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.

Antisemitism and birth of Zionism

The Hungarian-Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl 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.

However, not all Jews saw the Dreyfus Affair as evidence of antisemitism in France. 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."

Commission of sculpture

In 1985, President François Mitterrand 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.

Centennial commemoration

On 12 July 2006, President Jacques Chirac 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.

Tour de France and L'Auto

The roots of both the Tour de France 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 the Tour de France, a new long-distance bicycle race with distances and prizes far exceeding any previous race.

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 Time, by Marcel Proust, especially Vols. 3 and 4.
• L´Affaire en Chanson, 1994 by George Whyte; Paris Bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine BDIC; Paris, Flammarion.
• A satirical take on the Dreyfus affair appears in L'ile Des Pingouins by Anatole France.
• The Dreyfus Affair is mentioned several times in The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt.
• The Dreyfus Trilogy by George Whyte, Inter Nationes, 1996.
• The Dreyfus Affair, A Chronological History by George Whyte, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
• Admission is not Acceptance – Reflections on the Dreyfus Affair. Antisemitism. George Whyte. London Valentine Mitchell, 2007; Paris Editions Le Manuscript/Unesco 2008, Buenos Aires Lilmod 2009, Moscow Xonokoct 2010.
• A Man in Uniform, by Kate Taylor, 2010.
• The Dreyfus Affair is woven into the plot of Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery (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 Coates (1850–1927) about the affair:

"Dreyfus" – published in Poet Lore (September 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 Hicks wrote a drama called One of the Best, based on the Dreyfus trial, starring William Terriss. It played at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1895. The idea was suggested to Hicks by W. S. Gilbert.
• AJIOM/Captain Dreyfus, Musical. Music and text by George Whyte, 1992.
• The Dreyfus Trilogy by George Whyte (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 Whyte, 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 Theatre piece – Music and Lyrics by Bryan Kesselman, St Giles Cripplegate, London, November 1998; 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, France, 1899.
• Trial of Captain Dreyfus USA, 1899.
• Dreyfus, Richard Oswald, Germany, 1930.
• The Dreyfus Case, F. W. Kraemer, Milton Rosmer, United Kingdom, 1931.
• The Life of Emile Zola, USA, 1937.
• I Accuse!, José Ferrer, United Kingdom, 1958.
• Prisoner of Honor, directed by Ken Russell, historical advisor George Whyte, focuses on the efforts of Colonel Picquart to have the sentence of Alfred Dreyfus overturned. Colonel Picquart was played by American actor Richard Dreyfuss, who "grew up thinking that Alfred Dreyfus and [he] 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 Carrey'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 Whyte, France Culture, 25 March 1995.
• J'accuse, George Whyte, Canadian Broadcasting Service (CBS), 10 October 1998.
• The Dreyfus Affair, interview with George Whyte, 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.
• Affaire Dreyfuss, a television film broadcast in Germany on ZDF, 8 November 1968.
• Dreyfus in Opera and Ballet/The Odyssey of George Whyte, 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 Whyte. Oper der Stadt Bonn, 4 September 1994. WDR, Sweden STV1, Slovenia RTV, SLO, Finland YLE.
• In the first season episode "Rock-a-Bye Munster", of the TV show "The Munsters", Herman and Lilly mention meeting 'that charming Captain Dreyfus' on their honeymoon at Devil's Island.

Radio discussion

• "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.
• Interview with Ruth Harris about her book Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion, And the Scandal of the Century (2010).

See also

• Trial and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus
• Picquart's Investigations of the Dreyfus Affair
• Others look into the Dreyfus Affair
• The public scandal of the Dreyfus Affair
• J'accuse
• Resolution of the Dreyfus Affair
• Antisemitism
• Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
• History of Jews in Alsace

References

• General Andre Bach, 2004, "L'Armée de Dreyfus. Une histoire politique de l'armée française de Charles X a l'"Affaire". Tallandier,Paris, ISBN 2-84734-039-4
• Pierre Birnbaum,1998,"L'Armée Française était elle antisemite?", pp 70–82 in Michel Winock: "L'Affaire Dreyfus", Editions du Seuil, Paris, ISBN 2-02-032848
• Jean-Denis Bredin, 1986, "The Affair: the Case of Alfred Dreyfus." George Braziller, New York, ISBN 0-8076-1175-1
• Jean Doise, 1984, "Un secret bien gardé. Histoire militaire de l'Affaire Dreyfus." Editions du Seuil, Paris, ISBN 2-02-021100-9
• Vincent Duclert,2006,"Alfred Dreyfus",Librairie Artheme Fayard,ISBN 2-213-62795-9
• George R. Whyte, The Accused – The Dreyfus Trilogy, Inter Nationes 2006, ISBN 3-929979-28-4
• Adam Kirsch (11 July 2006), The Most Shameful of Stains, The New York Sun
• Stanley Meisler (9 July 2006), Not just a Jew in a French jail, The Los Angeles Times
• Ronald Schechter (7 July 2006), The Ghosts of Alfred Dreyfus, The Forward.
• George R. Whyte, The Dreyfus Affair – A chronological history, Palgrave Macmillan 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-20285-6
• Kim Willsher (27 June 2006), Calls for Dreyfus to be buried in Panthéon, The Guardian
• Pierre Touzin et Francois Vauvillier,2006, "Les canons de la Victoire 1914–1918.Tome1. L'artillerie de campagne". Histoire et Collections, Paris.ISBN 2-35250-022-2

Further reading

• (English) (French) 1906 : Dreyfus rehabilitated. Site of the French Ministry of Culture
• (French) Site of the National Assembly
• 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
• Greatest Newspaper Article of all Time (Journalistic retrospective of Zola's "J'accuse!")
• Prisoner of Honor at the Internet Movie Database
• JewishEncyclopedia.com – Andre Cremieu-Foa
• Temporal and Eternal by Charles Péguy, translated by Alexander Dru
• The Life of Emile Zola at the Internet Movie Database
• 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 978-0-230-20285-6
• Anya Rous The Rising Celebrity and Modern Politics—The Dreyfus Affair

External links

• Dreyfus Rehabilitated
• Dreyfus Society for Human Rights
• George R. Whyte and The Dreyfus Affair
• Ephemera and Original Art Documenting the Dreyfus Affair