Dreyfus Affair

The Dreyfus affair (1894‒1906) was one of the biggest scandals in French history. It involved Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army. Dreyfus was accused of being a spy for the German Empire, and was convicted of treason.^[1][2][3]

Émile Zola's letter J'Accuse to criticizing the racially motivated false conviction of Alfred Dreyfus

Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) was falsely convicted of treason in the Dreyfus Affair.

While Dreyfus was in prison, his brother and a high-ranking Army officer proved that another soldier was the spy. However, the Army refused to free Dreyfus. Finally, in 1899, the President of France pardoned him, and in 1906 Dreyfus was allowed back into the French Army.^[1][2][3]

History

Accusations

In 1894, Dreyfus was accused of being a German spy and committing crimes against France. People thought he wrote letters to the Germans telling them French Army secrets.

Dreyfus was convicted of treason. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life on Devil's Island. This was a penal colony (a prison island) in French Guiana.

Exoneration

However, not everybody believed Dreyfus was guilty. While he was in prison, his brother Mathieu and a high-ranking officer called Picquart proved that another soldier, Major Esterhazy, was guilty. However, the army did not want to admit that it had been wrong. They refused to free Dreyfus.^[1][2][3]

In 1898, Émile Zola published the famous letter J'Accuse to denounce the army coverup that led to Dreyfus' false conviction. Zola was found guilty of libeling the army and sentenced to imprisonment, but fled to England. He remained there until amnesty was granted. Meanwhile, the Catholic-dominated far right claimed that a "Jewish Freemason conspiracy" was trying to destroy France by discrediting its army.

Finally, the evidence that Dreyfus was innocent became so strong that the government had to demand a new trial. At the new trial, the army again found Dreyfus guilty. The President of France, who did not want an innocent man to suffer any more, pardoned Dreyfus in 1899, and he was released. Seven years later, he was officially declared innocent, and allowed back into the army.^[1][2][3]

Aftermath

The affair divided France. Many people believed Dreyfus really was a spy. In many cases, these people hated Jews and believed that Dreyfus was a criminal just because he was a Jew. They also believed that a Jew could not be a good Frenchman (these beliefs are called antisemitism).^[4] Others thought that the army could not be questioned.

On the other side, many people believed that Dreyfus was innocent and should not be imprisoned. Some feared that Dreyfus's enemies were also enemies of France. Meanwhile, the French military did not acknowledge that Dreyfus was innocent until 1995.^{[1][2][3][5][6]}

The impact of the Dreyfus Affair was far-reaching. Allegedly, it convinced Theodor Herzl (modern Zionism's founder) that Jews and Europeans were not compatible, and that a Jewish state was needed in the Land of Israel. Herzl later published the book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) and convened the first World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897.^[7]

Related pages

• Antisemitism in Europe
• Anti-Judaism and antisemitism
• The Protocols of the Elders of Zion