This is the front page of the newspaper L’Aurore printed on January 13, 1898. The main article “J’accuse…!” was an open letter to the president of France written by the influential writer Émile Zola. In this letter Zola accuses the government of anti-Semitism and of the unlawful imprisonment of Alfred Dreyfus.
Zola argued that Dreyfus’ conviction was based on a false accusation. He stated that the man behind the affair was Major du Paty de Clam and proved that the information that was passed onto the Germans could not have come from Dreyfus because it dealt with military secrets that Dreyfus was not privy to. He also claimed that the facts leading to Dreyfus’ conviction were based on imagination and anti-Semitism:
These, Sir, are the facts that explain how this miscarriage of justice came about. The evidence of Dreyfus’ character, his affluence, the lack of motive, and his continued affirmation of innocence combine to show that he is the victim of the lurid imagination of Major du Paty de Clam, the religious circles surrounding him, and the “dirty Jew” obsession that is the scourge of our time.
Émile Zola identified Major Esterhazy as the real traitor and claimed that the French War Office was covering up for him. According to Zola, the judges at Dreyfus’ court martial had all the information necessary for his acquittal but overlooked it due to religious prejudice.
In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a French-Jewish army officer was accused of spying for Germany. Dreyfus was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to deportation and imprisonment for life. The French public was divided on the Dreyfus Affair: the Dreyfusards fought to prove Dreyfus’ innocence, while the anti-Dreyfusards supported Dreyfus’ conviction on the anti-Semitic assumption that all Jews are traitors by nature.
Among those who supported Dreyfus was Émile Zola. Zola was a French novelist, playwright, and journalist. He was also involved in French politics and promoted the political liberalisation of France. In 1898, Zola risked his career when he published “J’accuse” on the front page of the Paris daily L’Aurore. In response to his article, Zola was brought to trial for libel. He was convicted and, facing imprisonment, he fled from France to England. Zola remained in London until June 1899 when he returned to France. In 1902 Zola died, supposedly of carbon-monoxide poisoning, however, there were many who believed that he was actually murdered.
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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.
