Could you believe that an innocent mans life was ruined just because of his religion?
The Dreyfus Affair was blatant anti-semitism. An innocent French soldier was convicted for a dreadful crime, just because he was Jewish. It is clear he was only imprisoned as a result of anti-semitism for countless reasons. Firstly, Dreyfus was the only Jew in the French Army. Secondly, there was a lot of anti-semitic statements coming out at this time, displaying that there was influx of anti-semitism in France at this time. Thirdly, another letter was found in the same handwriting as the one that was supposedly Dreyfus’, showing it was not him since he was in jail at the time. Fourthly, Emilie Zola stands up for him and is accused of saying a false statement and ruining reputations. Lastly, Dreyfus is called back into court and had all the evidence proving he was innocent, yet he was convicted and incarcerated for another ten years. Alfred Dreyfus was born to a wealthy, Jewish family on October 9, 1859 in Alsace, which was the border between Germany and France. At that point in time, Alsace was part of France. In 1870, post Franco-Prussian war, Alsace was returned to Germany, causing Alfred and his family to leave Alsace. They moved to Paris, France. One of the reasons why Dreyfus was convicted was because people said that he may not be loyal to France, since he was born in Germany. They thought his loyalties were with the country he was born in. Alfred served in the French military when they fought the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. In this war, France lost very badly against the Germans. After six months of fighting, the French army surrendered. It was a great embarrassment to the French. They kept on wondering why they had lost and could not believe what had happened. They wanted to find someone to pin this loss on, so they could have somebody to blame. They thought they had the strongest and most powerful army, yet they lost terribly. The French believed the only way they could have lost was if a spy was leaking all of their secrets to the Germans. Dreyfus, the only Jewish officer in the army, was arrested in 1894 and accused of passing the French military secrets over to the Germans. The evidence the court used to accuse Dreyfus of spying was a piece of paper that said he will tell the Germans all of the French military secrets. This piece of paper was found in a German military garbage. The only issue was that the experts were not completely sure that it was Alfred Dreyfus’ handwriting, so they did not convict him yet. But along came Colonel Henry, a French military intelligence agent, who testified in court that he knew for sure that Alfred Dreyfus was guilty due to additional information that he was exposed to, but could not reveal the additional information to the public due to the fact that it contained important military secrets. After Colonel Henry testified, Alfred Dreyfus was found guilty of spying on the French for the Germans and was sent to Devil’s Island, a political prison in French Guiana off the coast of South America, for the rest of his life. Most people supposed Dreyfus was going to die in jail and not be able to show he was uninvolved in the crime, yet he lived through the extremely tough conditions in Devil’s Island. He was eventually called back to France for a retrial. Alfred Dreyfus was the only Jewish officer in the French army. The French had to find an individual to pin the crime on and the only Jew in the French army …show more content…
After the ceremony, the press called out to him, “You know well that you are not innocent. Vive la France! Dirty Jew!”. It is clear that throughout France, anti-semitism was becoming more common. Many people thought that Jews were not “normal” and therefore called them cruel names, such as “dirty Jew”. It would not be a surprise to the French if the Jew was the one that was passing France’s military secrets to Germany, which is why Dreyfus was framed for this crime. Convicting Dreyfus was an obvious act of
The Dreyfus Affair was blatant anti-semitism. An innocent French soldier was convicted for a dreadful crime, just because he was Jewish. It is clear he was only imprisoned as a result of anti-semitism for countless reasons. Firstly, Dreyfus was the only Jew in the French Army. Secondly, there was a lot of anti-semitic statements coming out at this time, displaying that there was influx of anti-semitism in France at this time. Thirdly, another letter was found in the same handwriting as the one that was supposedly Dreyfus’, showing it was not him since he was in jail at the time. Fourthly, Emilie Zola stands up for him and is accused of saying a false statement and ruining reputations. Lastly, Dreyfus is called back into court and had all the evidence proving he was innocent, yet he was convicted and incarcerated for another ten years. Alfred Dreyfus was born to a wealthy, Jewish family on October 9, 1859 in Alsace, which was the border between Germany and France. At that point in time, Alsace was part of France. In 1870, post Franco-Prussian war, Alsace was returned to Germany, causing Alfred and his family to leave Alsace. They moved to Paris, France. One of the reasons why Dreyfus was convicted was because people said that he may not be loyal to France, since he was born in Germany. They thought his loyalties were with the country he was born in. Alfred served in the French military when they fought the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. In this war, France lost very badly against the Germans. After six months of fighting, the French army surrendered. It was a great embarrassment to the French. They kept on wondering why they had lost and could not believe what had happened. They wanted to find someone to pin this loss on, so they could have somebody to blame. They thought they had the strongest and most powerful army, yet they lost terribly. The French believed the only way they could have lost was if a spy was leaking all of their secrets to the Germans. Dreyfus, the only Jewish officer in the army, was arrested in 1894 and accused of passing the French military secrets over to the Germans. The evidence the court used to accuse Dreyfus of spying was a piece of paper that said he will tell the Germans all of the French military secrets. This piece of paper was found in a German military garbage. The only issue was that the experts were not completely sure that it was Alfred Dreyfus’ handwriting, so they did not convict him yet. But along came Colonel Henry, a French military intelligence agent, who testified in court that he knew for sure that Alfred Dreyfus was guilty due to additional information that he was exposed to, but could not reveal the additional information to the public due to the fact that it contained important military secrets. After Colonel Henry testified, Alfred Dreyfus was found guilty of spying on the French for the Germans and was sent to Devil’s Island, a political prison in French Guiana off the coast of South America, for the rest of his life. Most people supposed Dreyfus was going to die in jail and not be able to show he was uninvolved in the crime, yet he lived through the extremely tough conditions in Devil’s Island. He was eventually called back to France for a retrial. Alfred Dreyfus was the only Jewish officer in the French army. The French had to find an individual to pin the crime on and the only Jew in the French army …show more content…
After the ceremony, the press called out to him, “You know well that you are not innocent. Vive la France! Dirty Jew!”. It is clear that throughout France, anti-semitism was becoming more common. Many people thought that Jews were not “normal” and therefore called them cruel names, such as “dirty Jew”. It would not be a surprise to the French if the Jew was the one that was passing France’s military secrets to Germany, which is why Dreyfus was framed for this crime. Convicting Dreyfus was an obvious act of