Miscarriage of justice: The Dreyfus Affair

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In the fall of 1894, a very serious problem emerged in the French military. A secret document had been sent illegally by a French military officer to the German embassy. Investigation suggested this treasonous offense was committed by Capt. Alfred Dreyfus.

Dreyfus was born in France on Oct. 9, 1859. He was one of nine children. His father was a textile manufacturer. By the mid-1890s he had attended military school in Paris, and by the late-1890s he had achieved the rank of captain in the French Army. Dreyfus was the only Jewish member of the French Army’s General Staff headquarters in 1893 — a time when antisemitism was on the rise in France, particularly within the army.

Although there was slim evidence that Dreyfus authored the traitorous memorandum, he was arrested on Oct. 15, 1894, based on handwriting analysis. In January 1895, he was found guilty at a secret hearing and court-martialed.

Due to the prevalence of Jewish prejudice, Dreyfus had no hope of a fair trial. The Ministry of War placed a file of secret documents before the tribunal that Dreyfus’ attorney was not allowed to see. Further, unverified and false testimony against Dreyfus was presented during the secret proceedings.

Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island — a tortuous life alone, deprived of even minimum comforts. He was not even allowed to have visitors. There was intense public outcry of both support and opposition to the verdict. The outcry intensified with a public military ceremony, including drums and bugles, where Dreyfus was stripped of insignias on his uniform.

He was officially dishonorably discharged and demoted. As his stripes were torn and his sword was broken, Dreyfus maintained his innocence, crying out: “Soldiers, they are degrading an innocent man! Long live France! Long live the army!” Still, the crowd that had gathered at the ceremony, incited by the antisemitic degradation with calls against Dreyfus and the Jewish people, did not withdraw or cease their condemnation.

Dreyfus was exiled to the penal colony on Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guiana in South America. He said to his lawyer, “ I shall approach this ordeal … worse than death with my head held high. …”

With Dreyfus suffering in captivity, his family continued to challenge the verdict. They enlisted the support of the impressive humanitarian and author Emile Zola, who launched many articles in the press titled “I accuse,” criticizing specific individuals for antisemitism and for causing Dreyfus to be imprisoned. Zola himself was then convicted of criminal libel. He fled to England, where he continued his written support for Dreyfus. He remained there until he was granted amnesty in 1899.

Interestingly, in 1896, Georges Picquart, the new leader of French intelligence, advised his colleagues that he discovered Dreyfus was not guilty. Picquart maintained that the guilty person was Walsin Esterhazy, a secret Russian agent. Nevertheless, his superiors instructed him to cease arguing the matter. He did not and was assigned to Tunisia. As the days and months marched on, Dreyfus remained in dreadful imprisonment on Devil’s Island.

The articles contributed to France by Zola divided the country into two camps. But public opinion began to shift in favor of Dreyfus. The Supreme Court ordered a retrial, based on an order of the Senate. At the retrial in August and September of 1899, Dreyfus was still found guilty of treason, but his sentence was reduced due to “extenuating circumstances.”

Subsequently, on Sept. 18, 1899, the president of the republic granted Dreyfus a pardon. However, he was not officially exonerated by a military commission until July 12, 1906, when he was readmitted into the army and promoted to the rank of major. A week later, he was made a knight of the Legion of Honor.

Despite the toll that the years of imprisonment on Devil’s Island had taken on his health, Dreyfus returned to serve in the French Army during WWI and was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the end of the war. Dreyfus died in Paris on July 12, 1935, at the age of 75.

Looking back on the Dreyfus case, I am saddened by the fact that antisemitism still exists throughout this country and around the world. However, I am thankful that if Alfred Dreyfus were alive today and confronted with similar charges here in the United States, he would be entitled to due process and a fair trial.

Fortunately, we do not have secret trials with corrupt evidence and corrupt judges presiding, preventing the defendant from attending.

(Sources: Jean-Denis Bredin, “The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus,” (George Braziller Inc., 1986). See also, “An Officer and a Spy,” a mesmerizing historical novel by Robert Harris (Knopf, 2014), and the 1937 movie “The Life of Emile Zola,” starring Paul Muni.)

Paul Mark Sandler, trial attorney and author, can be reached at [email protected].