Dreyfus Affair
French treason scandal
The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal in late 19th-century France in which Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer, was wrongly convicted of treason.
The case exposed deep antisemitism and divided French society between those defending military honor and those demanding justice.
Dreyfus was eventually exonerated.
The term now serves as a touchstone for institutional injustice, antisemitism, and the power of public outcry to correct wrongful convictions.
- press coverageReporting by journalists
- antisemitismBigotry toward Jewish people
- treasonBetraying one's nation
- FranceWestern European republic
- militaryArmed forces collectively
Zola · scandal · injustice · espionage · Devil's Island · military trial · court-martial · conspiracy · forgery · nationalism · scapegoat · exile · wrongful conviction · innocence · army · newspaper · public opinion · accusation
- 1890s1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894
- French HistoryNapoleon Bonaparte, French Revolution, Napoleon, Bastille, Reign of Terror
- Jewish HistoryHolocaust, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon
- scandalsscandal, controversy, coverup, cover-up, disgrace
- antisemitismHolocaust, pogroms, blood libel, Kristallnacht, Nuremberg Laws
- French JewsFrench Jews, Dreyfus, Vichy, Vichy France, Chief Rabbi
Dreyfus Affairdue process
Guaranteed judicial fairness
judicial integrity · fair trial · Nuremberg Trials · justice served · exoneration