​This is a drawing from the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (Museum of Jewish Art and History) in Paris. The drawing shows two figures seated on a sofa: on the right, Alfred Dreyfus and on the left, Émile Zola. Standing to the right of the sofa is Theodor Herzl who is holding a notepad.

This is an imaginary illustration, since it is unlikely that these three figures were ever together in the same room. However, the drawing shows the strong connection between the lives of these characters. 

Alfred Dreyfus was a French-Jewish- officer who was wrongly accused of spying and treason. Following his conviction, Dreyfus was deported to Devil’s Island for life imprisonment. The Dreyfus Affair divided the French public; many supported Dreyfus’ conviction, while others fought to prove his innocence. Among Dreyfus’ supporters was the famous French writer Émile Zola. The Dreyfus Affair was an influential event for Theodor Herzl, and many believe it inspired him found modern political Zionism. 

Herzl was Paris correspondent for the Austrian newspaper Neue Freie Presse at the time of the Dreyfus Affair. He believed in Dreyfus’ innocence and was witness to the anti-Semitic protests against Dreyfus and the Jews of France during the trial. In June 1895 he wrote in his diary:

In Paris, as I have said, I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-Semitism...Above all, I recognized the emptiness and futility of trying to “combat” anti-Semitism.

Many believe that the Dreyfus Affair was the turning point that led Herzl to believe that the Jews must leave Europe and create their own state. The Austrian-Jewish writer Stefan Zweig wrote in his book The World of Yesterday:

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The Dreyfus Affair – Alfred Dreyfus was born in 1859 to a Jewish family in Alsace in the east of France. Dreyfus joined the French Army and was promoted to the rank of captain in the artillery corps in 1889. In 1894, the French Army’s counter intelligence section became aware of classified information being passed on to the German Army. Suspicion quickly fell on Dreyfus, and he was arrested in October 1894 and convicted of treason in a secret court martial. Dreyfus was stripped of his rank and military decorations before a large crowd of cheering onlookers in a “degradation ceremony” and was deported to Devil’s Island, a penal colony off the coast of South America. Throughout his trial Dreyfus claimed his innocence, and in the degradation ceremony he cried out: “I swear that I am innocent. I remain worthy of serving in the army. Long live France! Long live the army!” The many activists and intellectuals who supported Dreyfus were known as Dreyfusards. The famous French writer Émile Zola published an open letter titled “J’accuse” in a Paris newspaper, accusing the president and government of France of anti-Semitism and of the wrongful imprisonment of Alfred Dreyfus. The anti-Dreyfusards, on the other hand, saw the affair as an example of the unpatriotic views held by the Jews. They saw Dreyfus’ roots in Alsace (a territory still being disputed by France and Germany) as proof of his affiliation to Germany. The protests finally succeeded, and in 1896 Alfred Dreyfus was returned to France and given a second trial. Despite the evidence brought before the court, Dreyfus was again found guilty of treason. Public opinion, however, forced President Émile Loubet to grant a pardon, and in 1899 Dreyfus was released from prison. He, nonetheless, officially remained a traitor until his full acquittal in 1906. 

Theodor Herzl – Theodor (Binyamin Ze’ev) Herzl (1860–1904) was the visionary behind modern Zionism. Zionism was a political movement with the goal of re-establishing a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael. Herzl, born in Budapest, was a journalist and playwright. He was very affected by the events surrounding the trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in France in 1894, which he covered as a journalist. Witnessing the anti-Semitism around the Dreyfus affair, which included a mob yelling “Death to the Jews,” Herzl became convinced of the need for a Jewish state. In 1896 Herzl wrote The Jewish State (Der Judenstaat), and the following year he convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, with the aim to begin creating a modern, secular Jewish state. Herzl proposed that Jews around the world raised money for the Jewish State. The delegates of the First Zionist Congress adopted the Basel Program and declared that: “Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law.” The World Zionist Organization was formed as the political arm of the Jewish people, and Herzl was elected its first president. Herzl convened six Zionist congresses between 1897 and 1903. At the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903, Herzl proposed the Uganda Plan which stated that a temporary Jewish State would be created in Uganda for Jews in immediate danger. Although Herzl stated that the Uganda Plan would not replace the goal of creating a state in the Land of Israel, the idea was very controversial and nearly split the Zionist movement. After Herzl’s death, his Uganda Plan was officially rejected at the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905. Herzl died in 1904 in Vienna where he was buried. In 1949 he was reinterred on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.