His sword was snapped across the knee of a towering warrant officer, and his epaulettesĪnd stripes were unceremoniously torn from his uniform. “degradation” on the courtyard of the École Militaire. On 5 January 1895, two weeks after his conviction, Dreyfus was subjected to a humiliating Rife with anti-Semitism and hungry to avenge the defeat of 1871. His upbringing in a part of France long exposed to Germanic influences,Īs well as his Jewish ancestry, singled him out as an anomaly in a military culture Suspicion pointed to a spy on France’s general staff, with Dreyfus soon identifiedĪs the culprit. Outcome of a weapons test and plans to conquer Madagascar. Its contents divulged information on changes to French artillery regulations, the The note, addressed to the German military attaché, served to validate this paranoia. Ever since Germany’s annexation of France’s easternmost regions,Īlsace and Lorraine, in 1871, there had been deep mistrust between Paris and Berlin. The memoirs were published Souvenirs Et Correspondance and translated into English by Dr Betty Morgan.ĭreyfus was present at the ceremony removing Zola’s ashes to the Panthéon in 1908, when he was wounded in the arm by a gunshot from Louis Gregori, a disgruntled journalist, in an assassination attempt.The discovery, three months earlier, of a ripped-up, handwritten note – the bordereau – in a wastebasket by a French intelligence agent operating inside the German Embassy, On 15-10-1906, he was placed in command of another artillery unit at Saint-Denis. In 1937 his son Pierre had published his father’s memoirs based on his correspondence between 18. The day after his exoneration, he was readmitted into the army with a promotion to the rank of major (“Chef d’Escadron”).Ī week later, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour,and subsequently assigned to command an artillery unit at Vincennes. For 2 years, until July 1906, he lived in a state of house-arrest with one of his sisters at Carpentras, and later at Cologny. On 12-07-1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The government of the Republic has given me back my freedom. Had Dreyfus refused the pardon, he would return to Devil’s Island, a fate he could no longer emotionally cope with so officially Dreyfus remained a traitor to France, and pointedly remarked upon his release: However, due to public opinion, Dreyfus was offered & accepted a pardon by President Émile Loubet in 1899 and released from prison this was a compromise that saved face for the military’s mistake. Following a passionate campaign by Dreyfus’ supporters, including leading artists and intellectuals like Émile Zola, he was given a second trial in 1896 and again declared guilty of treason despite the evidence in favor of his innocence. Esterhazy was found not guilty by a secret court martial, before fleeing to England. When reports of an army cover-up and Dreyfus’ possible innocence were leaked to the press, a heated debate ensued about anti-Semitism, and France’s identity as a Catholic nation or a republic founded on equal rights for all citizens. Picquart was silenced by being transferred to the southern desert of Tunisia in November 1896. Colonel Georges Picquart (1854-1914) reported to his superiors that he had found evidence to the effect that the real traitor was a Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. In August 1896, the new chief of French military intelligence, Lt. Dreyfus cried out: “I swear that I am innocent. On 5 January 1895, Dreyfus was summarily convicted in a secret court martial, publicly stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island in French Guiana.įollowing French military custom of the time Dreyfus was formally degraded by having the rank insignia, buttons and braid cut from his uniform and his sword broken, in the courtyard of the Ecole Militaire before silent ranks of soldiers while a large crowd of onlookers shouted abuse from behind railings. Suspicion quickly fell upon Dreyfus who was arrested for treason on 15 October 1894. Colonel Jean Sandherr, became aware that information regarding new artillery parts was being passed to the Germans by a highly placed spy, most likely to be on the General Staff. In 1894, the French Army’s counter-intelligence section, led by Lt. Known today as the Dreyfus Affair, the incident eventually ended with Dreyfus’ complete exoneration. Buried: 00-00-0000 Montparnasse cemetery, Paris, France.Īlfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French history.Profession: French artillery officer of Jewish background.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |