This is a postcard from Italy showing a female figure with the word Umanitas (humanity) written on her dress. The woman, who might be a nun, is holding the scales of justice and a sword and trampling on a snake. She is looking towards the sun that shows the words veritas (truth).
Next to the figure is a circle with the image of Dreyfus and the text: “I am innocent.”
Under the image of Alfred Dreyfus are three circles upon which are engraved the words: hope, persistence, courage.
This postcard was printed during the years of the Dreyfus Affair in which French-Jewish Officer Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly accused of treason. Dreyfus was found guilty of spying for Germany and sent to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. However, the story did not end there. In French society many were still fighting to prove Dreyfus’ innocence. Others, however, believed that Dreyfus was guilty and saw his treason as representative of the Jews. This postcard was printed during the years of public protests and shows the influence of the Dreyfus Affair on the public in other European countries.
Would You Like to Know More?
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.
