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The Dreyfus affair, topic of the brand new Roman Polanski movie which is premiering on the Venice Movie Pageant, triggered a nationwide disaster over anti-Semitism in France within the late 19th century.
Right here is an account of the scandal, which had huge worldwide repercussions.
– Accused –
Alfred Dreyfus was a 36-year-old Jewish French military captain, from the Alsace area of japanese France which was on the time occupied by Germany.
He was accused in October 1894 of passing secret data on new artillery gear to the German army attache.
The accusation was primarily based on a comparability of handwriting on a doc discovered within the German’s waste paper basket in Paris.
– On trial –
Dreyfus was placed on trial, towards the background of a virulent anti-Semitic press marketing campaign.
His household tried in useless to defend him and he protested his innocence.
Regardless of the dearth of proof, he was convicted of treason on December 22, 1894, and sentenced to life imprisonment on the notorious Satan’s Island penal colony in French Guiana and publicly stripped of his rank.
The scandal rocked the idea that Jews had change into an integral a part of French life — revealing the depths of anti-Jewish sentiment within the nation.
– Secret investigation –
Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of the intelligence companies, reinvestigated the case in secret.
In 1896 he found that the handwriting on the incriminating message was that of one other officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.
When he offered the proof to the overall workers of the French military they refused to confess there had been a mistake.
Esterhazy was court-martialled and acquitted after a farce of a trial in 1898, transferring to England.
Picquart was pushed out of the military and jailed for a yr. Rehabilitated, he was later made battle minister from 1906-1909.
– ‘J’accuse’ –
On January 13, 1898, the well-known French novelist Emile Zola printed his well-known “J’accuse” open letter to the president of the day.
He named officers who had framed Dreyfus and lambasted the French authorities for its anti-Semitism.
Such was the official backlash that the writer of ‘Germinal’ needed to flee into exile in England for about 10 months after being convicted of libel.
France was divided between liberal and left-wing supporters of Dreyfus and opponents on the Catholic proper — a lot of whom made no secret of their anti-Semitism. There have been frequent riots.
– Exonerated –
In June 1899, Dreyfus was introduced again to France for a second trial. He was initially discovered responsible and sentenced to 10 years in jail, earlier than being formally pardoned — although not cleared of the fees.
On July 12, 1906, after many twists, the excessive court docket of attraction overturned the unique verdict, exonerating Dreyfus.
He was reinstated with the rank of main. He served throughout World Battle I and died in 1935, aged 76, to basic indifference.
– Dreyfus and Herzl –
The younger Hungarian Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl, a Paris correspondent for an Austrian newspaper, carefully adopted the Dreyfus affair, and was disgusted by the anti-Semitism it revealed.
The person who turned thought to be the “Father of Zionism”, later stated that the Dreyfus affair had motivated his perception that Jews ought to transfer out of Europe and arrange their very own state as a substitute.
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