jai
A Fixture
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
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One day like today, December 22, 1894, Alfred Dreyfuss, a French captain of Jewish origin, serving in the Army General Staff, wrongly accused of having passed secret information to the German Empire, a nation at that time strongly opposed to France , was accused of high treason.
In September of that year, the counter-espionage had come into possession of a letter addressed to a German officer, in which important French military information was revealed.
Alfred Dreyfus, whose handwriting resembled that of the letter, was quickly flagged as suspect.
The fears and political ambitions of war minister Auguste Mercier, as well as the anti-Semitism of the general staff, made Dreyfus the ideal scapegoat.
Although the trial was based on patently false documents, Dreyfus was convicted as the drafter of the letter after a summary judgment and was sentenced to life deportation to Devil's Island in French Guiana.
Émile Zola sided in favor of the officer through an article in which he accused the real culprits of this event and this false trial.
Because of the "J'accuse ...!", Zola was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of three thousand francs for insulting the armed forces in the trial that saw him accused.
Despite this, the open letter to President Félix Faure caused the case to be reopened.
The situation was resolved, however, only on 12 July 1906, when Émile Zola had already died for almost four years, and when the court of cassation revoked the sentence with which Dreyfus had been accused of treason and reinstated him in the army.
Due to physical weakness caused by captivity, Dreyfuss was discharged in October 1907 and placed in the reserve, but resumed service at the outbreak of the Great War with the rank of major in the artillery, and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.
On 9 July 1919 he acquired the rank of officer of the Legion of Honor, died in Paris and was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery: on his tomb in Hebrew and French we read
"Here lies Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Dreyfus, officer of the Legion of Honor"
In September of that year, the counter-espionage had come into possession of a letter addressed to a German officer, in which important French military information was revealed.
Alfred Dreyfus, whose handwriting resembled that of the letter, was quickly flagged as suspect.
The fears and political ambitions of war minister Auguste Mercier, as well as the anti-Semitism of the general staff, made Dreyfus the ideal scapegoat.
Although the trial was based on patently false documents, Dreyfus was convicted as the drafter of the letter after a summary judgment and was sentenced to life deportation to Devil's Island in French Guiana.
Émile Zola sided in favor of the officer through an article in which he accused the real culprits of this event and this false trial.
Because of the "J'accuse ...!", Zola was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of three thousand francs for insulting the armed forces in the trial that saw him accused.
Despite this, the open letter to President Félix Faure caused the case to be reopened.
The situation was resolved, however, only on 12 July 1906, when Émile Zola had already died for almost four years, and when the court of cassation revoked the sentence with which Dreyfus had been accused of treason and reinstated him in the army.
Due to physical weakness caused by captivity, Dreyfuss was discharged in October 1907 and placed in the reserve, but resumed service at the outbreak of the Great War with the rank of major in the artillery, and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.
On 9 July 1919 he acquired the rank of officer of the Legion of Honor, died in Paris and was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery: on his tomb in Hebrew and French we read
"Here lies Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Dreyfus, officer of the Legion of Honor"
