FPL12082 – The Dreyfus Affair: What Really Happened?

On January 5, 1895, a shocking spectacle took place in the courtyard of the Parisian Ecole Militaire. Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish officer who had been court-martialed for allegedly passing military secrets to the Germans, was publicly humiliated, degraded and denounced in front of crowds shouting ÒDeath to the traitor!Ó and ÒDeath to the Jew!Ó Dreyfus was subsequently transported to DevilÕs Island off the coast of Guyana to serve his sentence of life imprisonment. Was Dreyfus guilty, or was this a miscarriage of justice? If he was truly innocent, then who was the actual traitor? Why did the case lead to murders, suicides, assassination attempts, and riots in the streets? How did this case contribute to massive Antisemitism and significant polarization in French society? What new evidence has come out since the trial of Dreyfus? Will we ever know the Òtruth?”