The Dreyfus Affair

INTRODUCTION

The Dreyfus file, commonly known as the Dreyfus affair, is about a Jewish French artillery officer who was wrongly accused of treason after secret French military documents were found in a bin at the German Embassy in Paris in 1894.

By 1895, Dreyfus had been stripped of his army rank and sent to Devil's Island for a life sentence.

France was now divided; the army, the monarchists and the Catholic church stood in one corner and the  republicans, the socialists and the Jews stood another. At the time France was materialistic and considered the army as a symbol of French identity, there was also hope for vengeance and the army became a status symbol both collectively and individually. The army became the safe keeper of a close tradition society and was racist and anti-Semitic.

In 1896, the real culprit of the crime is found, French army major named Ferdinand Esterhazy, by a man named  Lt Col Piquard. However, high ranking army officials were content with the way things were and suppressed the evidence. Piquard was then sent to serve at the southern border of Tunisia. 

In 1989 a story was written by Emile Zola called J'Accuse. This is one of the most vital happenings for the media in history. It was one of the first stories that actually got shit done; it brought to attention to happenings and unveiled a political scandal. 

The Dreyfus Affair within the media was one which sparked the very nature of investigative journalism. on 28th October a letter was received at Le Libre Parole with information about the Dreyfus case, they proceeded to publish the article about the arrest questioning as to why the military authorities sought to keep it silent, this resulted in a violent press conference and subsequently produced what we know as investigative journalism today.

It worked though, it worked well, and today it is still newspapers uncovering political scandals and world news. For example, the watergate scandal was uncovered by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, which saw the only American president ever to resign, Richard Nixon and many other arrests.

There is also the example of the Daily Mail when they printed a front page with the pictures of five males, with the headline "The Mail accuses these men of killing. if we are wrong, let them sue us". They blatantly identified the murderers of Stephen Lawrence with pictures and names; using the media in a significant way to appeal for justice.

Back to Dreyfus, in 1899 he was pardoned but not acquitted but after no end of public campaigning, seven years later in 1906, he was acquitted, and given his job back with a promotion.

Anti-Semitism and Zionism

The growth of antisemitism has been virulent since the publication of Jewish France by Édouard Drumont in 1886 (150,000 copies in the first year). Jewish emancipation has evolved since the French revolution. Jews were killed in street and the press is virtually free to write and disseminate any information, even when offensive or defamatory. Legal risks are limited if the target is a private person. La Libre Parole newspaper: “France is for French”  allowed Drumont to further expand his audience to a popular readership. 

Bernard Lazare was a French Jewish political journalist and anarchist. In 1894 he wrote about anti-semitism, its history and causes, an in-depth study of the origins of anti-semitism. He believed Jewish assimilation and dissolution would stop such hate. He didn't want to be involved in the Dreyfus affair and said “ the Dreyfus family is wealthy enough to sort themselves out – mainly if he is not guilty”.

Bernard Lazare wrote The State of the Jews in 1896 which envisioned the founding of a future independent Jewish State during the 20th century; the believed the end to anti-semitism could only be achieved if the Jews had a land of their own.

Theodor Herzl was an Austro-Hungarian journalist and writer and is seen as the father of modern political Zionism. and in effect the foundation of the State of Israel, despite being entirely secular.