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New York Times
2 days ago
- General
- New York Times
France Moves to Atone by Elevating Alfred Dreyfus as Antisemitism Spreads
For Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army captain arrested in 1894 on false espionage charges that were a reflection of virulent antisemitism in the French military, reparations have been a long time coming. The French National Assembly, or lower house of Parliament, took a big step in that direction on Monday when it voted unanimously to promote Dreyfus, who was publicly stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment, to the rank of brigadier general. It was an apparent acknowledgment that, after more than 130 years and at a time of repeated desecrations of Jewish sites in France, the Republic's atonement had been incomplete. The Senate must still vote for the bill to become law, but it is expected to pass with a large majority. 'We are very happy and moved,' Michel Dreyfus, the great-grandson of the officer, told RTL radio. 'He was rehabilitated judicially but never militarily, a wound that led him to leave the army.' Gabriel Attal, the centrist former prime minister who authored the bill, wrote last month, 'Accused, humiliated and condemned because he was Jewish, Alfred Dreyfus was dismissed from the army, imprisoned and exiled to Devil's Island,' a reference to a penal colony in French Guiana. Mr. Attal said the promotion would be 'a recognition of his merits, and a tribute to his commitment to the Republic.' The Dreyfus case split France down the middle, exposing divisions that had been festering since the Revolution a century earlier. A traditional Roman Catholic France strongly represented in the armed forces clashed with the ardent, secular believers in a Republic that had emancipated the Jews and that was constituted not by God but by the will of its equal citizens. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Alfred Dreyfus to be promoted 130 years after treason conviction
Alfred Dreyfus is to be posthumously promoted 130 years after he was wrongly convicted of treason. France's parliament on Monday unanimously backed a bill giving him the rank of brigadier general in a final 'act of reparation' for one of the most notorious acts of anti-Semitism in the country's history. Dreyfus, a 36-year-old Jewish army captain from the Alsace region of eastern France, was accused in October 1894 of passing secret information on new artillery equipment to the German military attaché. Despite a lack of evidence, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the infamous Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana - later to feature in the book and film Papillon, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman - and publicly stripped of his rank. Parliament's backing of the highly symbolic bill, which will be ratified by the senate at a later date, comes amid a surge of anti-Semitism in France following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023. The Representative Council of the Jewish Institutions of France registered 1,570 anti-Semitic acts last year, after 1,676 in 2023. In 2022 the figure was 436. In recent days, several Jewish and Israeli establishments in Paris, including a Holocaust memorial, were defaced with green paint. Gabriel Attal, the former prime minister who tabled the bill, said that the new law could not have come at a more important time. 'The anti-Semitism that targeted Alfred Dreyfus is not in the distant past,' he said, adding: 'Today's acts of hatred remind us that the fight is still ongoing'. 'Promoting Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits, and a tribute to his commitment to the Republic,' Mr Attal said. Just before the vote and in the presence of the Dreyfus family, Patricia Mirallès, the remembrance and veterans minister, said: ' Anti-Semitism is still striking in our democracy... this hatred must be fought resolutely.' The accusation against Dreyfus was based on a comparison of handwriting on a document found in the German attaché's waste paper basket. In 1894, he was put on trial, amid a virulent anti-Semitic press campaign that split France, and ultimately he was sent to rot on Devil's Island. But Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of the intelligence services, secretly re-investigated the case and discovered the writing on the incriminating message was that of another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. When Picquart presented the evidence to the general staff of the French army, he was kicked out of the military and jailed for a year, while Esterhazy was acquitted. That gave rise to writer Emile Zola's famous 'J'accuse' pamphlet to Felix Faure, the then French president, in which he slammed a 'terrifying judicial error' amid 'the hunt for 'dirty Jews' that is soiling our time'. A campaign to free him split the country between Dreyfusards, led by Zola, and anti-Dreyfusards such as Maurice Barrès, the far-Right political leader. Finally, in June 1899, Dreyfus was brought back to France, found guilty a second time, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, before being officially pardoned, though not cleared of the charges. Only in 1906, after many twists, did the High Court of Appeal overturn the original verdict, exonerating him. However, he was reinstated with the rank of chef d'escadron (major), a downgrade for an officer who had seemed destined for the highest posts until his wrongful conviction. Dreyfus left the army in 1907, but later signed up again when war with Germany broke out in 1914, and fought at Verdun. He died in 1935, aged 76. In April, Pierre Moscovici, the first president of France's Court of Audits; Frédéric Salat-Baroux, a prominent lawyer; and Louis Gautier, chairman of the Dreyfus Museum, signed an open letter calling for Dreyfus to be made a brigadier general. France was still blighted by anti-Semitism and the posthumous promotion was all the more important because 'part of the Left … is operating a terrible return to the past', they argued. Several dozen centrist Democratic MPs later warned the bill 'should not be used to buy a badge of honour' by parties with condemnable past or present stances on anti-Semitism, pointing the finger at Jean-Luc Mélenchon's Leftist France Unbowed (LFI) and Marine Le Pen's radical-Right National Rally (RN). 'It is in my family that we are descended from Dreyfusards, not in yours,' hit back LFI deputy Gabriel Amard, who condemned the 'double discourse of the RN' where, according to him, 'anti-Semitic remarks and behaviour are still rampant'. Hailing the law as 'fundamental for the Republic', Charles Sitzenstuhl, an MP from Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance Party in Alsace and rapporteur of the bill, joined calls for D reyfus to be interred in the Pantheon, France's temple to its great and good. Critics, including prime minister François Bayrou, argue that the Pantheon is for the country's 'heroes, not its victims', but others say the decade he spent in solitary confinement and his commitment to the French army proved otherwise. 'Dreyfus is a model of resistance and heroism for the nation. He is an example for younger generations, a great man,' said Mr Sitzenstuhl.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
France finally acts to deliver justice in infamous Dreyfus case
More than a century ago he was wrongly convicted of treason in a case that convulsed France and laid bare a rising tide of antisemitism. On Monday, French politicians took the first step towards remedying the injustice; unanimously backing a symbolic effort to promote Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French army captain, to brigadier general. It was the beginning of bringing Dreyfus a step closer to the title he was denied, said Gabriel Attal, the former prime minister who put forward the bill. 'Accused, humiliated and condemned because he was Jewish, Alfred Dreyfus was dismissed from the army, imprisoned and exiled to Devil's Island,' Attal wrote on social media last month, referring to the infamous penal colony in French Guiana. 'Promoting Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits, and a tribute to his commitment to the republic.' The roots of the case trace back to 1894, after a French counterintelligence officer found a torn-up document at the Germany embassy in Paris. As military officials scrambled to figure out who was passing military secrets to the Germans, they set their sights on Dreyfus, then a 36-year-old army captain from the Alsace region of eastern France. But Dreyfus was not the author of the note, as Charles Sitzenstuhl, a member of President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance party, told a parliamentary committee last month. He said: 'It was the antisemitism of a section of the military leadership at the time, perhaps combined with the jealousy over Dreyfus's exceptional qualities, all playing out against a backdrop of pressure from the press and nationalist and antisemitic movements, that led to him being accused without any proof and to the absurd persistence of this accusation.' Dreyfus was put on trial and convicted of treason. Publicly stripped of his rank, he was sentenced to life on Devil's Island. The case, however, was taken up by a new head of intelligence services, who noticed that the handwriting on the torn-up document matched that of another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. But when the evidence was presented to top brass the intelligence chief was driven out of the military and jailed for a year and Esterhazy was cleared. As Dreyfus languished in prison, his case began to gain traction. Author Émile Zola became one of his most ardent defenders, catapulting the case into the spotlight with the open letter, titled J'accuse, which accused the government of antisemitism and unlawful imprisonment. The case split French society into two bitterly opposed camps; the anti-Dreyfusards who were convinced of his guilt, and the Dreyfusards, who saw him as innocent. In June 1899, Dreyfus was brought back to France for a second trial. He was initially found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, before being officially pardoned, though not cleared of the charges. It would take until 1906 for the high court of appeal to overturn the original verdict and exonerate Dreyfus. Eventually he was reinstated with the rank of major, going on to serve during the first world war. He died in 1935 at the age of 76. For years, lawmakers had batted around the idea of posthumously promoting Dreyfus, culminating in the legislation presented on Monday. 'The bill before you is the result of a unique legislative approach aimed at resolving a unique situation,' Sitzenstuhl told the National Assembly's defence committee earlier this year. 'It is a symbolic recognition of an extraordinary case, without parallel in the history of the republic.' Sitzenstuhl also suggested that Dreyfus could be entombed in the Pantheon, the Paris mausoleum reserved for France's greatest heroes. The bill now heads to the senate for debate. The legislation makes it clear that the push to properly recognise Dreyfus was also a means of highlighting that France's Jewish community – one of the largest in the world outside Israel and the US – continues to wrestle with discrimination. 'The antisemitism that struck Alfred Dreyfus is not a thing of the past,' the legislation noted, describing it as a fight that is 'still relevant today'. France has seen a rise in hate crimes: last year police recorded an 11% increase in racist, xenophobic or antireligious crimes, according to official data published in March.
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
France to promote soldier at heart of infamous treason scandal, after 130 years
PARIS, June 2 — The French parliament is set on Monday to back a bill that would promote Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army captain wrongly convicted for treason in 1894, to the rank of brigadier general, in an act of historical reparation for one of the most notorious acts of anti-Semitism in the country's history. The lower house National Assembly is expected in a first reading to unanimously approve the legislation, which was put forward by former prime minister Gabriel Attal who leads President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance party. The bill will then head to the upper house Senate for debate on a date yet to be fixed. The symbolic promotion of Dreyfus, whose condemnation came against a backdrop of the late 19th century's rampant anti-Semitism in the French army and wider society, comes at a time of growing alarm over hate crimes targeting Jews in the country. 'Promoting Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of Brigadier General would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits, and a tribute to his commitment to the Republic,' said Attal, who was France's youngest prime minister during a spell in office that lasted less than eight months last year. 'The anti-Semitism that hit Alfred Dreyfus is not a thing of the past,' added Attal, whose late father was Jewish, adding that France must reaffirm its 'absolute commitment against all forms of discrimination'. 'J'accuse' Dreyfus, a 36-year-old army captain from the Alsace region of eastern France, was accused in October 1894 of passing secret information on new artillery equipment to the German military attache. The accusation was based on a comparison of handwriting on a document found in the German's waste paper basket in Paris. Dreyfus was put on trial, amid a virulent anti-Semitic press campaign. But novelist Emile Zola then penned the famous 'J'accuse' ('I accuse...') pamphlet in favour of the captain. Despite a lack of evidence, Dreyfus was convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment in the infamous Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana and publicly stripped of his rank. But Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of the intelligence services, reinvestigated the case in secret and discovered the handwriting on the incriminating message was that of another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. When Picquart presented the evidence to the general staff of the French army, he himself was driven out of the military and jailed for a year, while Esterhazy was acquitted. In June 1899, Dreyfus was brought back to France for a second trial. He was initially found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, before being officially pardoned – though not cleared of the charges. Only in 1906, after many twists, did the high court of appeal overturn the original verdict, exonerating Dreyfus. He was reinstated with the rank of major. He served during World War I and died in 1935, aged 76. But the backers of the new bill believe that in a society without discrimination he would have risen to the top of the French army. 'Still relevant today' The rapporteur of the proposed law, Renaissance lawmaker Charles Sitzenstuhl, said there remained an 'injustice' as Dreyfus had not undergone 'a complete career reconstruction'. Sitzenstuhl also suggested while the bill was being debated at parliament's defence committee – where it won overwhelming approval – that Dreyfus could be entombed in the Pantheon, the Paris mausoleum reserved for France's greatest heroes. Such a decision rests with President Emmanuel Macron but a source close to him, asking not to be named, told AFP that the head of state's priority 'at this stage is to bring to life the values of Dreyfusism, a fight that is still relevant today for truth and justice, against anti-Semitism and arbitrariness'. France is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, as well as the largest Muslim community in the European Union. There has been a rise in reported attacks against members of France's Jewish community since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 and the Israeli military responded with a devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip. France's Holocaust memorial and three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalised with paint overnight Saturday, in what the Israeli embassy denounced as a 'coordinated anti-Semitic attack'. — AFP
LeMonde
26-05-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Former French PM faces backlash over proposal to ban headscarves for children
Former French prime minister Gabriel Attal faces backlash from across the board after calling to ban Muslim headscarves for children under 15. Seeking media attention and to show "firmness" on state authority issues, Attal outlined his proposal on Tuesday, May 20, the day before a Defense Council meeting about a report on the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islamism in France. He also called for the creation of a "misdemeanor of coercion to wear a headscarf" to punish parents. His statements drew criticism from the left, the right and even from within his own party. His predecessor as prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, voiced her "deepest doubts about the constitutionality" and the "applicability" of the measure, speaking on Sunday to the news channel BFM-TV. "Can we really imagine police officers stopping and fining little girls?" she asked. While she argued that "in the face of a serious threat (...) no option should be off the table," Borne, now the education minister, advised "working to propose rigorous, constitutionally sound, and applicable measures." Marc Fesneau, the second-in-command of centrist Prime Minister François Bayrou's MoDem party, expressed concern about "an escalating one-upmanship" on matters of state authority within President Emmanuel Macron's coalition. "Within the 'central bloc,' we are now advocating the rhetoric, the ideas, the proposals of the right, or even the far right. But that is not what the center is about! That is not the adventure we wanted to build with Emmanuel Macron in 2017," said Fesneau, in the newspaper . "The original promise was one of moderation, unity, and reconciliation," he said.
