{"id":20893,"date":"2022-12-22T09:44:18","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T08:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=221836"},"modified":"2022-12-22T11:35:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T10:35:21","slug":"the-dreyfus-affair-how-france-was-divided-over-a-miscarriage-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/the-dreyfus-affair-how-france-was-divided-over-a-miscarriage-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dreyfus Affair: how France was divided over a miscarriage of justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Danny Bird\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 22 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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On 22 December 1894, after a four-day trial at the Cherche-Midi prison in Paris, seven judges unanimously convicted Alfred Dreyfus, an artillery officer, of collusion with a foreign power. Born in Mulhouse, Alsace, Dreyfus was a patriotic and independently wealthy soldier of Jewish heritage. He was sentenced to the harshest penalty under French law: permanent exile in a walled fortification.<\/p>\n

The discovery, three months earlier, of a ripped-up, handwritten note \u2013 the bordereau<\/em> \u2013 in a wastebasket by a French intelligence agent operating inside the German Embassy, had shocked the nation. Ever since Germany\u2019s annexation of France\u2019s easternmost regions, Alsace and Lorraine, in 1871, there had been deep mistrust between Paris and Berlin. The note, addressed to the German military attach\u00e9, served to validate this paranoia. Its contents divulged information on changes to French artillery regulations, the outcome of a weapons test, and plans to conquer Madagascar.<\/p>\n

Suspicion pointed to a spy on France\u2019s general staff, with Dreyfus soon identified as the culprit. His upbringing in a part of France long exposed to Germanic influences, as well as his Jewish ancestry, singled him out as an anomaly in a military culture rife with anti-Semitism and hungry to avenge the defeat of 1871.<\/p>\n

Exile and conspiracy<\/h3>\n

Two weeks after his conviction, on 5 January 1895, Dreyfus was subjected to a humiliating \u201cdegradation\u201d on the courtyard of the \u00c9cole Militaire. His sword was snapped across the knee of a towering warrant officer, and his epaulettes and stripes were unceremoniously torn from his uniform. Baying crowds screamed \u201cJudas!\u201d and \u201cDeath to the Jews!\u201d, but Dreyfus remained stoic throughout the ordeal, exclaiming: \u201cInnocent! Innocent! Vive la France! Long live the Army!\u201d before being marched off.<\/p>\n

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Dreyfus was subsequently imprisoned on Devil\u2019s Island, French Guiana, where he endured hellish conditions. (Image by Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

That April, he arrived on Devil\u2019s Island, a former leper colony off French Guiana, to begin his sentence. There, he endured appalling mistreatment. Imprisoned within a purpose-built stone hut measuring a mere 4 x 4 metres, Dreyfus was fed rotting pork, manacled to his bed at night, and had his view of the sea obstructed by a palisade. Guards were ordered not to interact with him, and his ability to speak languished.<\/p>\n