Dreyfus Affair

Background

Alfred Dreyfus was born in 1859 in Mulhouse, located in the Alsace region of France. The son of a Jewish textile manufacturer, Dreyfus entered the École Polytechnique in 1882, ultimately deciding upon a career in the military. Promoted to the rank of captain in 1889, by 1894, Dreyfus was assigned to the War Ministry. At that time, Jean Conrad Sandherr, the chief of the army's counterintelligence unit, became aware that someone was passing information regarding the new French artillery system to an attaché of the German embassy. Dreyfus, who was a member of the French General Staff and had access to the information, soon fell under suspicion. Arrested and charged with treason, Dreyfus was soon brought to trial.

Dreyfus's trial was highly irregular, and he consistently maintained his innocence. Dreyfus was ultimately convicted, with his verdict based upon a letter procured from the German embassy by a French agent that indicated Dreyfus's involvement in the scheme. This letter was brought forth by Major Hubert Henry, who indicated that it had been written by Dreyfus in his own hand. The French newspapers generally supported Dreyfus's conviction, with strongly anti-Semitic editorials welcoming the verdict and indicating that Dreyfus's actions were representative of the alleged disloyalty of French Jews. Stripped of his military rank, Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Devil's Island, a penal colony located off the coast of French Guyana.

Discovery of Dishonesty

Although the matter now seemed resolved, in 1896, Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, the head of French military intelligence, began to doubt Dreyfus's guilt. Picquart uncovered evidence that suggested that Major Ferdinand Esterhazy was engaged in espionage on behalf of the Germans, and he had the same opportunity to divulge military secrets regarding the French artillery as had Dreyfus. Picquart suggested that the incriminating letter that had helped convict Dreyfus was actually written by Esterhazy.

In response, Picquart was suddenly removed from his position because his superiors were staunchly anti-Dreyfussards (those who supported Dreyfus's conviction). While Picquart had uncovered evidence demonstrating that another person had committed the crime, the military preferred Dreyfus as the villain because he was Jewish and Alsatian. Dreyfus's cause, however, was quickly gaining support in important quarters, including journalist and future premier Georges Clemenceau and Senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner. As a result of these Dreyfussards (those who believed Dreyfus's innocence), Esterhazy was brought before a court martial because of Picquart's allegations.

Esterhazy's trial soon descended into chaos. Facing Picquart's charges, Esterhazy created new evidence for the court martial and spread a series of rumors that made their way into the newspapers, questioning the patriotism of those who supported Dreyfus. Henry, who had brought forth the original letter implicating Dreyfus, [Page 310]now produced new, more recently forged documents. Esterhazy's trial, which took place on January 10 and 11, 1898, resulted in his acquittal and sparked a series of anti-Semitic riots in Paris. In response to the acquittal, novelist Émile Zola hastily wrote an essay, J'accuse, which was printed on January 13, 1898, on the front page of Aurore, Clemenceau's newspaper. In this essay, which sold over 200,000 copies of Aurore in one day, Zola accused the French government of anti-Semitism, proclaimed Dreyfus's innocence, and demanded a new trial.

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