When the dust of the scandal cleared, the lights went out and the newspapers dealt with other shocking topics - he was left alone on the stage. Alfred Dreyfus, accused of espionage for Germany after a famous scandal, tried to return to normal life. Has he succeeded?
On September 19, 1899, a decision was made to pardon Alfred Dreyfus, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island five years earlier. Such punishment was commensurate with the rank of the charges - the artillery captain was accused of espionage for Germany, and the proof was a manuscript allegedly written by a military man. The fact that he was an Alsatian of Jewish origin also proved to be the defendant's disadvantage. Anti-Jewish sentiment was growing in the Third Republic - the publication "Jewish France" by Édouard Drumont (who, incidentally, during the scandal represented the camp accusing Dreyfus of treason, and presented his views in his own newspaper "La Libre Parole") contributed to this. The Alsatian origin was also problematic - twenty years after the defeat at Sedan, the Alsatians were considered Germans who remained loyal not to the Republic, but to the German Empire.
Freedom means nothing without honor
When it was discovered after a few years that the spy was not Dreyfus at all, but Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, France faced quite a dilemma. And although they wanted to deny that there was the right man on Devil's Island (in the next sentence Esterhazy was acquitted and Dreyfus was sentenced to 10 years in Guyana), public opinion did not allow this to happen. Emile Zola also contributed to this in the article J’accuse! published on January 13, 1898 in the magazine "L'Aurore" accused high-ranking politicians and military men of covering up the scandal and called for the release of the wrongly accused.
Emil Zola himself stood up for Dreyfus
Zola's appeal contributed to international interest in the case which was reported in newspapers around the world. France, seeing that it was only losing out on the scandal, tried to save face - on September 19, 1899, the president of France, Émile Loubet pardoned Dreyfus. After his release, the defendant himself admitted:“The government of the Republic has given me freedom. It's nothing for me without my honor ”
Amnesty for all but not for Dreyfus
However, the end of the 19th century was not the end of the Dreyfus affair. Although the newspapers, which in the course of several years reported on an ongoing basis about the convict on Devil's Island, with the passage of time forgot about the subject. The life of the man whose name was on the lips of the whole world - a victim of the anti-Jewish witch-hunt and the scapegoat of the French army.
Alfred Dreyfus has been fighting for his good name for a long time
Meanwhile, canceling the sentence for Dreyfus himself did not mean a return to normalcy at all. True - he no longer lived on Devil's Island, but in 1899 it was decided to put him under house arrest. His sister took him in under her roof - first they lived in Carpentras, and then in Cologny. A few months after the pardon, Prime Minister Pierre-Marie-René Waldeck-Rousseau announced an amnesty for those who had committed "criminal acts or misdemeanors related to the Dreyfus affair". This act covered, inter alia, Emil Zola (who was convicted of publishing "J'accuse ...!") Or Georges Picquart (the officer who accused Esterhazy and who was transferred to the garrison in Tunis for such over-zealousness), but also those who were in fact guilty of covering up the French blame . Amnesty - to the indignation of many - did not extend to Dreyfus himself, who still had to fight for his honor.
Waiting for sentence
In 1902, Dreyfus attended Zola's funeral - the writer and his defender died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his own apartment. However, Dreyfus quickly gained another famous ally. Jean Léon Jaurès, the French socialist leader who was re-elected deputy in 1902, was ready to prove Dreyfus' innocence. Anyway, Jaurès had previously declared his views on the scandal in the French newspaper La Petite Republique. This time he forced the government to initiate another procedure aimed at the complete rehabilitation of Dreyfus. In February 1904, the defendant submitted his extensive explanations, but he had to wait two more years for the case to be resolved positively. His full rehabilitation took place in 1906 - only then the Supreme Administrative Court in France admitted that Alfred Dreyfus was innocent.
France improves PR
The French authorities knew that Dreyfus' rehabilitation could again harm the country's image and international relations - after all, it was finally confirmed that an innocent man had been sent to Devil's Island. Therefore, it was decided to act quickly. The very day after Dreyfus was declared innocent, he was re-admitted to the army on July 13, 1906, and to cover up the awkward situation, he was awarded the rank of major. A week later, in the courtyard of Ecole Militaire - a military college - Dreyfus was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. It was a symbolic event - in 1895 it was here that Dreyfus was publicly degraded. Then there were shouts - "Death to the Traitor" - in 1906 they were replaced by the shouting "Long live the Republic!" and "Long live Dreyfus!". As part of his image enhancement, Dreyfus also became artillery commander in Saint-Denis.
To cover up his awkward situation, Dreyfus was awarded the rank of major.
Unfortunately, five years on Devil's Island resulted in numerous health problems. R ok after being re-admitted into the ranks of the French army, Dreyfus has retired. Additionally, he was discouraged by the fact that there was no chance of further promotion in the military hierarchy. Public rehabilitation was playing to the public - in the eyes of many, Dreyfus remained a traitor. In June 1908, during the ceremonial transfer of Emil Zola's ashes to the Pantheon, Dreyfus was shot - luckily, harmlessly - in the shoulder. Behind the attack was the right-wing journalist Luis Grégori. However, his act was not punished - he was eventually acquitted by the court, and the attack on Dreyfus was quickly hailed by the right-wing press as an act of true patriotism.
Help for the Motherland
Discouraged by his service in the French army, Dreyfus spent time with his family, which was undoubtedly affected by the scandal. His wife, Lucie, never doubted her husband and stood guard over her family. In letters to her friend she wrote:
"If I have endured years of suffering, it was only because I owed it to my husband, my children"
However, when World War I broke out, the Dreyfuses decided they had to help their motherland - even if the motherland did not want to help them. Lucie volunteered, while Alfred returned to the army. Initially, he was assigned to the general staff in Paris, then he was commanded by an artillery supply column in 168 divisions. In 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and after the end of the war, in July 1919, for his service - promotion to an officer of the Legion of Honor. However, what particularly pleased Dreyfus after the war was that his native Alsace returned to his homeland - France.
The Patriot Who Loved France
After World War I, Dreyfus devoted himself to his family. He rarely appeared in public, discouraged by the presence of his name in the pages of newspapers. He made an exception in 1927 when he signed a petition against the execution of Ferdinand Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti - two American anarchists of Italian origin who were accused of bank robberies and murder. The fact that they were foreigners played a significant role in their trial - so it is hardly surprising to Dreyfus that their trial and sentence particularly affected him. This case ended worse than the Dreyfus affair - Sacco and Vanzetti lost their lives in the electric chair and they did not get rehabilitation until 1977.
Alfred Dreyfus returned to service in the French army after the revision process.
Alfred Dreyfus died in Paris of a heart attack on July 12, 1935. Two days later his body was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery. On his tombstone it was written:
Here it lies
Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Dreyfus
Officer of the Legion of Honor
October 9, 1859 - July 12, 1935
A few years after his death, his son Pierre released his father's memoirs based on correspondence from 1899-1906. Lucie died ten years after her husband - on December 14, 1945. Dreyfus' legacy - documents, letters, photos - was donated to the Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History. There is also a duplicate of the Dreyfus statue in front of the building - the original is located at the Notre-Dame-des-Champs metro station.
Alfred Dreyfus Monument in front of the Paris Museum of Art and History of Judaism
On July 12, 2006, in the courtyard of the Parisian École Militaire - the place where Dreyfus was first demoted and more than ten years later - rehabilitated - an official state ceremony to mark the centenary of Dreyfus' acquittal . During his speech, President Jacques Chirac called Dreyfus "a patriot who passionately loved France."