December 12, 2023

The Dreyfus Affair. France's Shame

48 minutes

Liberté, égalité, fraternité. This is the French Republic’s motto. Liberty and equality are also in the first article of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" of 1789. The French are very proud of that heritage, of France’s struggle during and after the Revolution. They think of their homeland as the cradle of liberty in Europe, as a welcoming and understanding land, ruled by reason and intellect, rather than by prejudice and bigotry. Sadly, those clear and healthy waters of freedom and justice often got muddied over the years.

In the late nineteenth century, France was a wounded country. Her honour had been tarnished in 1870-71 and her population was deeply traumatized by the civil war that ensued. Fears of an enemy, and of traitors, was at an all time high. This very specific phase mixed with an element older than France herself: antisemitism. In 1894, captain Alfred Dreyfus would suffer greatly as a consequence of those elements. Although there are some saving graces, and some might even say a silver lining, this whole series of events really are France’s shame!

Timecodes:
Introduction
03:38 - La Belle Époque
08:48 - Alfred Dreyfus, Jewish French officer
14:28 - Dreyfus Arrested
21:17 - L'Affaire begins
26:07 - J'accuse...!
34:03 - The Rennes Trial
39:20 - Rehabilitation
44:10 - Conclusion

Music: Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs, composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, arranged and performed by Jérôme Arfouche.

Artwork: "The traitor: Degradation of Alfred Dreyfus, degradation in the Morland Court of the military school in Paris" front page of the illustrated supplement of the Petit Journal, Sunday, January 13, 1895.

Recommended link: The Siècle podcast by David H. Montgomery, available at http://thesiecle.com/