The Dreyfus Affair

Chapter – 4

The Facts of the Case

• The Dreyfus Affair occurred in France at the end of 1894.

• Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer of the French General Staff, was accused and convicted of espionage for Germany.

• The verdict was lifelong deportation to Devil’s Island, adopted unanimously.

• The trial was held behind closed doors, and only the “bordereau,” a letter allegedly in Dreyfus’ handwriting to the German military attaché Schwartzkoppen, was shown as evidence.

• In July 1895, Colonel Picquart became head of the Information Division of the General Staff.

• By May 1896, Picquart was convinced of Dreyfus’ innocence and the guilt of Major Walsin-Esterhazy.

• Picquart was removed to a dangerous post in Tunisia six months later.

• Bernard Lazare, on behalf of Dreyfus’ brothers, published the first pamphlet: Une erreur judiciaire; La vérité sur l’affaire Dreyfus.

• In June 1897, Picquart informed Scheurer-Kestner, Vice-President of the Senate, about Dreyfus’ innocence and trial facts.

• In November 1897, Clemenceau began fighting for case re-examination.

• Émile Zola joined the Dreyfusards in January 1898, publishing J’Accuse in Clemenceau’s newspaper.

• Picquart was arrested at the same time.

• Zola was tried for calumny against the army and convicted.

• In August 1898, Esterhazy was dishonorably discharged for embezzlement and confessed to forging the “bordereau” under orders from Colonel Sandherr.

• Colonel Henry, another officer, admitted to forging parts of the secret dossier and later committed suicide.

• The Court of Appeal ordered an investigation of the case following these revelations.

• In June 1899, the Court of Appeal annulled the original sentence against Dreyfus.

• The revision trial in Rennes in August sentenced Dreyfus to 10 years imprisonment due to “alleviating circumstances.”

• A week later, Dreyfus was pardoned by the President of the Republic.

• In May 1900, the Chamber of Deputies voted against further revision by an overwhelming majority.

• In December 1900, all related trials were ended with a general amnesty.

• In 1903, Dreyfus requested a new revision, ignored until Clemenceau became Prime Minister in 1906.

• In July 1906, the Court of Appeal annulled the Rennes sentence and acquitted Dreyfus, though legally it should have ordered a new trial.

• Dreyfus was never truly acquitted according to the law, and the case was never fully settled.

• The French public never fully accepted Dreyfus’ reinstatement, and tensions persisted.

• Even in 1908, Dreyfus was attacked publicly, and his assailant was acquitted by a Paris court, which expressed dissent from Dreyfus’ clearance.

• The Dreyfus Affair remained a divisive issue in French politics through the World Wars.

• The Action Française republished Précis de l’Affaire Dreyfus in 1924 as a reference for Anti-Dreyfusards.

• In 1931, the premiere of the play L’Affaire Dreyfus faced violent disruption by Anti-Dreyfusard groups, leading to its suspension.

• The government admitted inability to guarantee safe performances, a late triumph for Anti-Dreyfusards.

• When Dreyfus died in 1935, the press was divided: leftist papers upheld his innocence, right-wing papers maintained his guilt.

• The Dreyfus Affair continued to symbolize political divides; for example, the Petain case was linked to ongoing national division.

• The affair tested the 19th century’s ideal of equality before the law and impartial justice.

• A miscarriage of justice like Dreyfus’ case caused international outrage, with countries like Czarist Russia and even Germany criticizing France.

• The key figures reflected a 19th-century social drama:

  • Class-conscious generals protecting their clique.

  • Picquart as the honest and calm whistleblower.

  • Politicians fearful of exposure.

  • The morally ambiguous Dreyfus family and lawyer, uncertain and partly self-interested.

  • The adventurer and forger Esterhazy, who lived by deceit and blackmail.

  • The impassioned Émile Zola, whose moral fervor fueled the fight for justice.

• The passion and social conflicts of the affair were characteristic of the 19th century but survived into the 20th century.

• Over time, France lost much of its anticlerical and aristocratic fervor that had fueled the Dreyfusards.

• The General Staff’s power grew, shown by later political plots like the Cagoulard affair.

• The Catholic Church’s political influence waned, and attempts to make France a Catholic state were blocked by public indifference.

• The Dreyfus Affair survived politically in the twentieth century due to two growing elements: hatred of the Jews and suspicion of the republic, Parliament, and state machinery

• The public often blamed the Jews and the power of the banks for political issues, fueling Anti-Dreyfusard sentiment

• The term Anti-Dreyfusard became synonymous with being antirepublican, antidemocratic, and antisemitic, encompassing groups from Action Française monarchists to National Bolsheviks and social Fascists

• Despite their presence, these Fascist groups had minimal influence at the actual time of the Third Republic’s collapse

• France fell because it had no true Dreyfusards left who believed in defending democracy, freedom, equality, and justice under the republic

• The republic ultimately fell into the hands of the old Anti-Dreyfusard clique, which formed the core of the army

• The Petain clique was not a product of German Fascism but adhered slavishly to old formulas from forty years earlier

• While Germany destroyed its economy via the demarcation line, Vichy leaders weakened France further by promoting “autonomous provinces”

• Vichy introduced anti-Jewish laws faster than any German collaborator, claiming these laws differed essentially from the Nazi Reich’s

• Attempts to mobilize the Catholic clergy against Jews failed as the bishops and synods protested vehemently against Jewish persecution

• The Dreyfus Affair offers a foretaste of the twentieth century’s inhumanity, unbridled passions, and hate mixed with cold callousness, as noted by Bernanos in 1931

• France’s fall to Nazi aggression was partly due to the familiarity and persistence of the anti-republican, antisemitic language exemplified by the Dreyfus Affair

• The failure of Caesarism (Action Française) and nihilistic nationalism (Barres and Maurras) was due to lack of social vision and failure to connect with popular sentiment

• The focus here is on the political impact of the Dreyfus Affair rather than its legal aspects

• The Affair exposed key traits of the twentieth century, which became clearer over time:

  • After decades of mild anti-Jewish discrimination, it was hard to recall that “Death to the Jews” had once echoed widely in a modern state

  • Old antisemitic conspiracy legends had faded but were still a part of public discourse even before the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were known

  • The philosophy of spiritual self-hatred and nihilism waned during times of peace but resurged when conditions favored brutality and violence

  • Jules Guérin-style quasi-military movements had to wait decades before conditions allowed them to rise again

  • Economic and social changes produced large groups of disenfranchised (décasés) individuals who later became significant minorities fueling political upheaval

• The Dreyfus Affair is more than a scandal; it is a political drama whose real hero is Clemenceau, and whose origins trace back to the Panama scandal, not just the arrest of a Jewish officer

• The Affair foreshadows the rise of Nazism and political extremism that played out across Europe