115 years ago (November 1894) a young French officer of Alsatian and Jewish descent,
Captain Alfred Dreyfus, was charged with treason on forged evidence, and sentenced to life
imprisonment in solitary confinement on Devil’s Island in French Guiana.  Publicly disgraced, the
case against the dignified and innocent Dreyfus tore French society in half.  Duels were fought;
cartoonists and writers lampooned each other; Emile Zola wrote his famous “J’Accuse”;
and crowds of ordinary people displayed a vicious anti-Semitic hostility.

A new book just out, “Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters” by Louis Begley argues the
events are a warning and reminder of how quickly civilised behaviour
collapses in the face of a national panic.

Dreyfus was a hero.  Against all odds he kept his sanity and his life, and was eventually completely reinstated with full honours. He died in 1935.

TopFoto has hundreds of images and includes here just 30 to illustrate “the trial of the century”.

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