06-05-2025
The Dreyfus affair lives on in a new era of French antisemitism
More than a decade after being convicted of treason Alfred Dreyfus was rehabilitated when French officials conceded that he had fallen victim to injustice against a backdrop of antisemitism.
The Jewish army captain, whose case divided France in the late 19th century, never lost his patriotism despite spending more than four years in solitary confinement in the notorious Devil's Island penal colony off French Guiana. After the case against him had finally been recognised as void, he signed up again to fight for his country when war broke out in 1914.
But the French military establishment was less magnanimous, reinstating him 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.
