![]() The military was eventually forced to hold a court-martial for Esterhazy, but he was so well protected that the army quickly acquitted him of any crime.īy this point, France was completely divided as a nation: the anti-Dreyfusards, many of whom were antisemitic, believed that the army took precedence over any individual, while the Dreyfusards, often Republicans and far-left supporters, believed Dreyfus to be innocent and supported freedom of the individual and justice. 1898: Emile Zolaĭespite this, the wheels were already in motion and many Dreyfus supporters began to look into Esterhazy. Various members of the army tried to discredit Picquart and he was eventually sent overseas. He alerted his superiors to the evidence but they didn’t want to admit that they may have got it wrong, so they decided to launch a massive cover-up. He secretly began investigating and came to the conclusion that the actual guilty party was another French officer, Walter Esterhazy. In 1896, everything changed: the new head of the army intelligence unit, Georges Picquart, discovered new evidence which proved Dreyfus’ innocence. People questioned Dreyfus’ loyalty, as Alsace had only recently been annexed to the new German Empire. ![]() At the time, the public supported his conviction, as did many antisemitic figures like Edouard Drumont. Alfred Dreyfus was taken to trial, convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. In 1894, he was accused of sharing French secrets with the German Embassy in Paris and was arrested. ![]() The timeline 1894: The crimeĬaptain Alfred Dreyfus was a young Alsatian man in the French army who was of Jewish descent. This was particularly exacerbated by the publication of La France juive (Jewish France), an antisemitic publication by Édouard Drumont, the director and publisher of the newspaper La Libre Parole. The feeling of insecurity and doubt amongst people was high and the government moved towards an aggressive form of nationalism, giving rise to antisemitism in the country. Towards the end of the 19th century, France was experiencing several crises, like the economic crisis and the Panama Scandal. To understand this story, it’s important to first provide some context. Cast of characters, chronology, index, notes.The Dreyfus affair refers to a modern injustice involving a young army captain who was falsely convicted of treason. He asks whether each succeeding generation will have its own Zolas, “ready to defend human rights…against abuse wrapped in claims of expediency and reasons of state.” Begley’s riveting details and unremitting passion make this book a worthy successor to J’accuse. They wanted Jews out of the way.”īegley, writing in 2008, was struck by the parallels between the standard operating procedures for the Guantánamo prison camp and the instructions for the administration of Devil’s Island, where Dreyfus suffered solitary confinement under horrible conditions for some four years. …Emancipated Jews had fallen in love with the good news that they could be like other people, ‘other people’ did not want Jews to be like them. The French Jews, he writes, nonetheless had a “tendency to minimize the importance of anti-Semitism, remain passive, and avoid speaking out against outrageous behavior. Then he goes on to draw a straight line from the anti-Semitism of the Catholic Church and the French military in the 1890’s down to the present. In the spare language of his novels, Begley builds a devastating case against the conspirators who knowingly perverted the justice system as they made Dreyfus a scapegoat. Louis Begley insists that the lessons of the Dreyfus Affair, beyond the particulars of the historical episode, extend to abuses of power and anti-Jewish behavior at large today. History remembers Captain Alfred Dreyfus as a victim of French anti-Semitism who was convicted of espionage he did not commit, and exonerated thanks to the passionate support of the novelist Emile Zola. ![]()
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