Revealing the deep ideological and political divisions in France before 1914, the Dreyfus Affair is at the origin of a serious political crisis which, from 1896 to 1899, caused a deep division of public opinion. It all started on October 15, 1894, when artillery captain Alfred Dreyfus, of Alsatian and Jewish origin, was arrested at the Ministry of War. The military authorities accuse him of having transmitted military secrets to the German embassy. They are based on writings (the famous bordereau) whose graphological study would have concluded that they were from the hand of Dreyfus. Back to a miscarriage of justice which made the Republic tremble.
The Dreyfus Affair
On the eve of the Dreyfus Affair, France is humiliated by the shameful defeat of 1870 and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. The army, the only bulwark against the German enemy and protector of the institutions, is sanctified and becomes untouchable. Spying is raging. At the end of September 1894, a housekeeper found in the wastepaper basket of Schwarz-koppen, military attaché at the German embassy, the pieces of a slip written by a French officer who had to leave for maneuvers.
Very quickly, suspicion fell on Captain Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian of Jewish origin. Passing before the war council in December 1894 , following a long investigation opened by General Mercier, Minister of War, Alfred Dreyfus sentenced to degradation and deportation to Guyan e. Despite the weakness of the elements used by the prosecution (in particular the handwriting analyses), the captain bore the brunt of a revanchist and anti-Semitic political atmosphere perfectly illustrated by the reactions of the Parisian crowd during its degradation:"Down with the traitor, down with the Jew!" .
Deported off the coast of French Guiana, kept incommunicado, Dreyfus will know the hell of the bagne , his health rapidly declining. His case will come back to the fore following the discoveries of the new head of the Intelligence Services, Lieutenant Colonel Picquart. At the beginning of 1896, the latter intercepted a document produced by a certain Major Esterhazy, who is known to be in contact with the German Embassy and whose handwriting is identical to that of the bordereau.
Discarded by General Staff to whom he shared his discoveries, Picquart who should have kept silent about these ends up revealing the truth to Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, Alsatian politician and close to Clémenceau . After initial reluctance Scheurer-Kestner will defend Dreyfus with the authorities.
At the end of 1897 it was Esterházy's turn to be judged after the filing of a complaint by the eldest brother, Mathieu Dreyfus. Despite the accumulation of evidence against him, Commander Esterhazy was acquitted in January 1898 …this decision, applauded by nationalist circles, is ardently contested by those who are beginning to be called “Dreyfusards .
A public opinion fractured between two camps
Opinion splits into two camps:the Dreyfusards, who demand a review of the trial, and the anti-Dreyfusards or anti-revisionists. Intellectuals get involved. Senator Trarieux founds the League of Human Rights. Lemaître and Coppée retaliate by creating the Ligue de la patrie française. Two value systems clash. The anti-Dreyfusards do not want to question the res judicata or doubt the army. It is about the integrity of the homeland, the maintenance of a social order too. According to them, the revisionists embody anti-France. They even absolve Colonel Henry of being the author of a "forgery" to support the official thesis (Henry ends up committing suicide). This negation of the fact stems from a new, antipositivist state of mind.
The Dreyfusards, on the other hand, by condemning the actions of some officers, affirm not to harm the army and give themselves for the true patriots, the guardians also of the traditions of the French Revolution. They advocate the defense of the individual; fight for justice, France having the mission of “being the professor of law of Europe”; also castigate the union of the "saber and the brush", the Church, in the majority, having taken sides against Dreyfus.
Emile Zola:I accuse...!
The "Dreyfusards" spokesperson for the writer and journalist Émile Zola who in his article "J'accuse" (published in the newspaper Aurore) of January 13, 1898 appealed to the President of the Republic Faure and denounced the injustice done to Dreyfus. The catchy-titled article was a publishing success and sold 300,000 copies within hours. As Charles Péguy wrote, “The shock was so extraordinary that Paris almost turned around”. The Dreyfus Affair then became a subject of public debate everywhere in France and unleashes fratricidal passions. The country is agitated by anti-Semitic riots (especially in Algiers), the Third Republic seems for a time to waver.
Faced with this unrest, the authorities overturn the first judgment de Dreyfus and the captain returns to France for his second trial. Once again justice will show a rare partiality by condemning the accused, this time to ten years in prison, supposedly benefiting from extenuating circumstances. On September 19, 1899, 10 days after the verdict fell, President Loubet pardoned Dreyfus , a way to finally do justice while not losing face.
The annulment of the judgment and the rehabilitation of Dreyfus
The case will not know its legal outcome until 1906, when the Court of Cassation annuls the judgment of the court of war of Rennes, acknowledging that the condemnation of Dreyfus had been pronounced "wrongly". The real culprits, including Esterházy , exiled in the United Kingdom, will never be condemned . Dreyfus reinstated in the army, will serve his country during the First World War and will reach the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Alfred Dreyfus died in 1935 , and it was once considered to transfer his ashes to the Pantheon alongside the brilliant herald of his cause:Emile Zola…
Bibliography
- The Dreyfus Affair by Eric Cahm. Reference pocket, 1994.
- The Dreyfus Affair, by Michael Winok. History Points 1998.
- Dreyfus, the French Judas – Antisemitic religious metaphor, by Christophe Stener.
External link
- The Dreyfus affair:chronology (BNF)
- The summary of the case on the website of the Ministry of Justice