This is a drawing from Graphic, an illustrated weekly newspaper, published in London in 1899. The title of the picture is “Dreyfus le martyr” – Dreyfus the Martyr.
The drawing shows the events of October 15, 1894. Depicted are Dreyfus himself, who is seated at the table, Colonel du Paty de Clam, who is dictating to Dreyfus, and M. Cochefert, head of the secret police, who subsequently arrested Dreyfus. Below the drawing is a short text in English describing the scene with the title “The Trap Set for Dreyfus.”
A month before this scene, a French housekeeper at the German embassy in Paris found a torn letter, a bordereau containing confidential information. The French General Staff were charged with finding the spy and proving his guilt. Due to the anti-Semitic atmosphere in France at the time, the blame fell almost immediately on Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer.
Dreyfus was summoned to the Ministry of War where he was asked to write a few sentences. His handwriting was later compared to the writing on the bordereau and was used to prove his guilt. Dreyfus was arrested and imprisoned at the Cherche-Midi military prison in Paris where he awaited a court martial.
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.
