These documents are the invitation to the wedding of Alfred and Lucie Dreyfus and their Ketubah (wedding contract). The Ketubah is written in both Hebrew and French. Its title states: Consistoire Israelite de Paris (the Jewish Consistory of Paris). The witnesses signed the Ketubah in Hebrew and Alfred Dreyfus, the groom, signed in French. The Ketubah states the names of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding — April 21, 1890 — and the various traditional legal clauses.
The text of the wedding invitation reads:
Monsieur Raphael Dreyfus has the honour of sharing with you the marriage of his son Monsieur Alfred Dreyfus, captain of artillery, adjutant at L’École Pyrotechnie, Bourges to Mademoiselle Lucie Hadamard. Please also attend the nuptial blessing which will be given to them on Monday, April 21 at precisely 2 o’clock at Temple Israélite, 44, Rue de la Victoire, Paris. Mulhouse (Alsace)
There are several details to note in this invitation. First, the invitation was sent only by Alfred Dreyfus’ father; his mother, Jeanette, had died a few year earlier. Another point of interest is the level of detail about Alfred’s military career. While this might have been a custom of invitations at the time, it probably also demonstrates the father’s pride in his son’s achievements. Even though Alfred was not a traditional Jew, he was married at the Great Synagogue of Paris on Rue de La Victoire. As can be seen on the Ketubah, the ceremony was officiated by Zadoc Kahn, the Chief Rabbi of France, who was later to advocate for Dreyfus' freedom. Finally, the invitation was sent from Mulhouse, Alsace. It seems that after moving from Alsace during the Franco-Prussian War, members of the Dreyfus family returned to Alsace. Alfred, on the other hand, stayed in Paris to pursue his military career.
These documents show the normal life that Alfred Dreyfus led before September 1894 when he was accused of treason.
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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.
Ketubah – The ketubah is the Jewish wedding contract that is signed as a central part of the wedding ceremony. Written in Aramaic, the text of the ketubah was codified in the first century CE. An entire tractate of the Talmud called Ketubot is devoted to discussing the purpose and requirements of wedding contracts. The ketubah outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom toward his bride: the amount of money he must pay, the contents of her dowry, and the settlement in case of divorce. While the text has been very consistent throughout history, ketubah designs are very varied and many have calligraphic text and are illuminated. The National Library of Israel features over 4,200 ketubot on its collections, spanning the entire Jewish world over hundreds of years.
Alsace - Alsace, the area from which the Dreyfus family originated, is situated in the east of France. To the west of this region is the Rhine river that separates France from Germany.
The history of the Jews in Alsace is one of the oldest in Europe, dating back to around 1000 CE. Although Jews in Alsace often suffered from pogroms and restrictions on business and movement, there has been a continuous Jewish presence in the region since the first records. At its peak, in 1870, the Jewish community of Alsace numbered 35,000 people. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war in 1871, Germany annexed Alsace until the aftermath of World War I when, under the Treaty of Versailles, the region was returned to France. In 1940, during World War II, Alsace was re-annexed to Germany, and many of its Jews were deported or fled to other parts of France and the world. The Dreyfus Affair occurred during Alsace’s annexation to Germany. The fact that Alfred Dreyfus was born in Alsace is seen as one of the reasons why he was suspected as a German spy.
