Note: We’re rerunning our previous posting about the Dreyfus Affair. To learn why, be sure to read the COMMENTARY below.
In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus — a 35-year-old French artillery officer — was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly communicating military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. Dreyfus, who eventually was proved to be innocent, spent nearly five years in the notorious Devil’s Island prison in French Guiana. It was a case of blatant antisemitism that sent shockwaves through the Jewish world and the Third French Republic.
Quote: “World Jewry was stunned that such an affair could occur in France, the cradle of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The fact that the public, including nobles and members of the clergy, saw Dreyfus — an assimilated Jew — as an outsider seemed to suggest that assimilation was no longer a defense against anti-Semitism.”
Sources: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning
Learn more about the Dreyfus Affair on Wikipedia. >>
Watch “The Dreyfus Affair and Anti-Semitism: AP Euro Bit by Bit” [4:16]. >>
Read “The Dreyfus Affair” >>
Photo: The Catholic Weekly
We welcome your comments. Click here.