France to promote soldier at heart of infamous treason scandal, after 130 years

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Captain Alfred Dreyfus (second from right) speaks with General Gillain (centre) after being awarded the Legion d’honneur (Legion of honour) during a ceremony marking Dreyfus’ rehabilitation, at Ecole Militaire in Paris, on July 21, 1906. — AFP pic

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