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After all, they reasoned, the credibility and honor of the entire French army were at stake. The writing on both appeared to be identical.Īs the case against Dreyfus began to unravel, the army officers responsible for his prosecution closed ranks. In November 1897, a newspaper published a copy of the original spy memo alongside samples of Esterhazy’s writing. Mathieu and a helpful army officer began to turn up evidence pointing to Major Esterhazy as the real spy and traitor.

He was sentenced to life on Devil’s Island, a fortified prison off the coast of South America, where he would be held in solitary confinement.īefore being shipped to Devil’s Island, the army put Dreyfus through a humiliating ceremony known as a 'degradation.' In front of assembled troops, scores of journalists, and 20,000 citizens, he was stripped of his military insignia and his sword was broken in half.ĭreyfus’ family, particularly his brother, Mathieu, refused to give up. Despite the weak evidence, seven army-officer judges unanimously found him guilty. It kept the written accusation against Dreyfus secret even from him. The military excluded the press and public from his trial. Drumont wrote on November 3, 1894, 'What a terrible lesson, this disgraceful treason of the Jew Dreyfus!'īy the time of the court martial, most of the public believed Dreyfus was a traitor. Leading this press frenzy were a number of anti-semitic journals like Drumont’s paper. Newspapers bombarded the public with details of supposed evidence, unfounded charges, wholly invented events, rumors, and gossip. News of Dreyfus’ arrest and upcoming court martial produced a storm of newspaper stories. To a large extent, the highly competitive French press created, continued, and finally brought to an end the Dreyfus Affair.

His court martial and the events that followed tore France apart for 12 years. The sensational revelations in the press pushed the army to prosecute Capt.

#Alfred dreyfus siblings full

Drumont wrote that Dreyfus had made 'a full confession' and that there was 'absolute proof that he sold our military secrets to Germany.' The newspaper’s editor, Edouard Drumont, stated that his information about Dreyfus had come from an anonymous source within the army. Dreyfus.' The newspaper, La Libre Parole ('Free Speech'), was well-known for its strong anti-semitic views. Then on November 1, 1894, a Paris newspaper broke the story with the headline, 'High Treason: Arrest of the Jewish Officer, A. They knew the case against Dreyfus was weak.

#Alfred dreyfus siblings how to

Dreyfus, but top army leaders were unsure how to proceed. The army secretly arrested and interrogated Capt. It was particularly strong in the tradition-bound military. Anti-semitism (anti-Jewish attitudes) infected much of French society. A stickler for military rules and regulations, Dreyfus had not gained many friends among the officer corps. Investigators saw a similarity in the handwriting on the memo and that of a 35-year-old officer assigned to the General Staff, Captain Alfred Dreyfus.ĭreyfus made an easy target for the investigators. Army investigators decided to compare the handwriting on the spy document with samples of writing from suspected officers. But they became alarmed that a spy, probably an artillery officer, was operating inside their own general staff. French military officials did not think the memo revealed important information.