The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus

by Jean-Denis Bredin

Recounts the case of Alfred Dreyfus, discusses the historical background of his trial, and examines its influence on French history

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, European History, 19th Century

628 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a huge book so as you can imagine it goes into every aspect of the famous case of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, one of the most celebrated events of the late 19th century. It would appear that this type of detail would begin to get a bit boring since the author covers every memorandum, letter, verifiable conversation and the trial itself but his research is impeccable and he keeps it interesting. I could almost guarantee that the reader who is familiar with the Dreyfus scandal will find out events that s/he did not know prior to reading this book. I noticed that one reviewer said it was "dense" and that is true....it takes some concentration to keep up with the behind the scenes machinations that brought a guilty verdict down on the head of an innocent man. And, of course, one of the most famous things that is remembered is the article "J'Accuse" by Emile Zola. But there is so much more and Dreyfus spent nine years on the hell of Devil's Island before being vindicated. It is a blot on the history of the French Army and an indication of the anti-Semitism that was rampant within the ranks. Highly recommended.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honor, loyalty, duty, and faithfulness to one’s country are thought by some to be the highest of virtues. What if such patriotic pride is founded on lies, deceitfulness, and persecution of the innocent? Are the higher, transcendent virtues of truth and justice more important? Such a moral dilemma is posed in Jean-Denis Bredin’s The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus.

The Dreyfus Affair happened in France at the end of the 19th century. The Section of Statistics, a military intelligence bureau, got hold of a document meant to be delivered to a German diplomat stationed in Paris. The diplomat was engaged in espionage and the letter provided information that only an officer in the artillery division could provide about weaponry in the army. The French officials realized that a traitor was in their ranks. Since the letter was signed “D” they quickly identified it as having been written by Alfred Dreyfus, a low-ranking captain of a squadron. This particular officer was also an Alsatian Jew who chose French citizenry after Germany annexed Alsace during the war of 1870. With no other evidence than that, a military tribunal sentenced Dreyfus to life imprisonment on a Caribbean penal island off the coast of French Guiana.

It did not take long for Mathieu Dreyfus to figure out that his brother Alfred did not write that document. Further investigation revealed that an ethnic Hungarian commandant in the army named Esterhazy was, in fact, working as a spy for the Germans and it was he who wrote the letter. The French intelligence officers protected the treasonous Esterhazy, mostly because they feared losing credibility with the French public and admitting to making such a mistake would dishonor them in the eyes of their nation. The officers were also deeply associated with a proto-fascist uprising of anti-Semitism sweeping France at that time. Their loyalty to the nation, the military, and the Catholic church resulted in a blind faith in their own dogma; the release of Dreyfus would prove that their loyalty was not absolute. At a symbolic level, the persecution of Dreyfus was a test of their patriotism even though, in truth, Dreyfus was innocent.

In French society, Alfred Dreyfus took on a figurative role that was larger than himself. In public opinion, the center majority did not hold and society split into two camps, the leftist progressive liberals fighting for truth and justice and the conservative, reactionary right wing, fighting for tradition, authoritarianism, xenophobia, and a return to monarchy and feudalism. The right wing was dominated by a hysterical press and a sect of Catholic, anti-Jewish extremists called the Assumptionists. For them, the Jew Alfred Dreyfus represented everything they hated: a foreign element disrupting the French status quo. France had seen a lot of turbulence in the past 100 years from the French Revolution to the Napoleonic Wars to their defeat at the hands of Germany in 1870. The conservatives had lost and won then lost again and could not fit comfortably into a modern world with a progressive agenda. They needed a cause to rally around and Alfred Dreyfus, the falsely accused traitor, was just what they wanted.

Jean-Denis Bredin gives an extremely detailed, and by extremely detailed I do mean extremely detailed, account of the Dreyfus Affair. He shows how Dreyfus was convicted without any hard evidence and how the lie of his disloyalty was perpetuated through deception, forgery, the alteration of documents, and an over-the-top character assassination campaign conducted by the right wing media. The Dreyfus Affair also became a rallying point for all French leftists of varying political affiliations. As time went on and closer inspection of the case occurred, the right wing plot unraveled and science and rationality prevailed. Bredin gives a complete picture of the events but sometimes it is too complete. Some discussions of political tensions and disruptions in military affairs veer off into barely relevant sidetracks. A lot of literary space gets devoted to people with peripheral roles in the central drama so much so that they sometimes overshadow the most important players of the affair. So many characters get introduced without any clear explanation of who they are or why they are being mentioned that the narrative gets a little disorienting at times; an appendix with a list of people and what their significance was would have been helpful for maintaining clarity. Alfred Dreyfus himself, an introverted man with a wooden personality, gets buried in the story and details but then again, the Dreyfus Affair was never really about him anyways, a fact that Bredin does a sufficient job of demonstrating at the end of the book.

The Affair is a good but very long book and a convincing portrayal of the banality of evil. Aside from the societal conflict it portrays, it also serves as a good reference point for us in the 21st century. The French political situation in the 1890s bears a strong resemblance to America and Europe in 2020. We are faced with a similar political divide that has happened for many of the same reasons. As social justice has recently moved into the forefront of American issues, we can look back at the Dreyfus Affair to see how progressive values and justice eventually prevailed. That victory can also be taken as a warning since it preceded the rise of more anti-Semitism and eventually fascism during World War II. Western society has been through this territory begore and, no doubt, we will go through it again.

https://grimhistory.blogspot.com/

[Sabine N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livre remarquablement renseigné sur l’affaire Dreyfus, affaire qui deffraya la chronique et agita les passions les plus viles comme les plus louables à la fin du 19es en France. C’est passionnant. L'analyse est très fine, les grands sentiments omniprésents et le travail de recherches historiques impressionnant ! Le tout servi par une très belle plume. Je recommande!

[Alan Zwiren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I selected this book to read believing that a better knowledge of the Dreyfus Affair would lead me to a better understanding of the environment that led to Theodore Herzl's actions. Although I did not expect Herzl to be a main thread throughout the book, I was surprised to see him mentioned in passing only 3 times. What was further unanticipated was the parallels between the socio-political environment to the turn of the century France between 1890 to 1905 and the United States today.

Before I get into any discussion, I have to admit this is an amazing book with an incredible amount of detail that was almost too much for me to get through. I had wished I had a stronger background of French history and some of the personalities, who I have heard of overtime but I simply not as familiar as I should be. Although I always appreciate a well researched and annotated book, this one was almost too overwhelming. I say that as a criticism of my capabilities, not the authors.

In addition, I greatly appreciated the author's approach to presenting this history. Where clear and definitive conclusions could be made from primary sources that lacked any motivation, the author was happy to make a strong point. However, if the reasoning was not clear, or there were no facts to support the hypothesis, the author would sometimes share his speculation; however, present it as such. Thus, he attempted to apply his vast knowledge of French history, law, and personalities to his narrative; however, he was extremely careful to label the discussion as his perspective.

In 1789 under Napoleon, France's National Constituent Assembly passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. This document emancipated French Jews. The French motto, first expressed by Maximilien Robespierre in a speech in 1790 was officially adopted in 1848; liberté, égalité, fraternité. So the obvious question becomes how could such blatant Antisemitism rear it's ugly head almost 100 years later.

This is where the author presents his amazing research and understanding. He presents a society going through transition under the last influence of the Nationalists, Monarchists, and the Catholic Church versus the emerging powers of the Socialists and the Republicans. He demonstrates how the French Army, recently defeated in Alsace-Lorraine by the Germans was demoralized. The French Army was still tied to France of an earlier time, although accepting of Jews in its ranks, still harbored Antisemitism. As a matter of fact, the author shows there was Antisemitism in all aspects of French society; however, most were found within the ranks of the Army, Catholics, Nationalists, and Monarchists.

This author then shows how history and politics led to the events between 15 Oct 1894 to his exoneration after two previous military trials on 12 Jul 1906. What shocked me more than the actual conspiracy and intrigued was the role the media played in The Affair. The author covers media involvement in great detail including of course the entire arc of Emile Zola's story with the famous by-line J'Accuse…!

I read this book with two thoughts going through my head. The first was the uncanny similarities between France then and the US today. I see the same forces at work between the Nationalists and the Progressives. I see the media playing a similar role of perpetuating conflict instead of reporting the news. I think much can be learned by studying this period of French history on how to respond to current events.

I also read the book with a Zionist's eye. Theodore Herzl did witness what was going on and came to the conclusion that Jews could only be safe in their own country. The events he set in motion publishing "The Jewish State" and convening the First Zionist Congress in Basil in 1897 eventually led to the creation of the State of Israel. And yet, in the many waves of immigrants that have arrived since the First Aliyah, it is only until recently that French Jews have begun emigrating en mass. Again, I see the parallels between France and the United States.

Although the ultimate knowledge and experience I gained from reading this book was vastly different from my original intention, I have to admit it was one of the most rewarding books I have read. When you unexpectedly derive knowledge you had no idea about on a subject you perceived through one set of lenses only to discover there was so much more there than you anticipated, to me, it is akin to finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

[Herb Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and comprehensive history of the Dreyfus Affair. In the 1890's France lost it's mind. Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, is falsely accused, tried, convicted, and imprisoned on Devil's Island as a traitor and spy. It was said he gave important information to the Germans. First, as a trickle then as a torrent, information questioning his guilt emerges. This doubt is met with raging anti-Semitism, and the French army commanders bolstering the conviction with forgery, perjury and a public relations blitz. They even uncovered the true traitor and protected him. When it became impossible to continue hiding his existence they held a rigged court martial in which he was acquitted and practically declared a national hero. Needless to say he was not Jewish.

This is a frightening story which I found to be echoed in the political climate of contemporary America. Facts ceased to be important and what one believed was more important than finding the truth. When most people give a though to malignant anti-Semitism, France is not the first country that comes to mind. Rather it is Nazi Germany or maybe Tsarist Russia. But the Anti Jewish publications of this period in France, were just as virulent as the worst of the Nazi years. The same can be said of some entries on the internet.

This book at times reads like a novel that would be unbelievable if not for the fact that it is true. I recommend this book both as a history and as an object lesson.

[Chevron Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I ran across this book in a used bookstore, I suddenly realized that although I’d heard of the Dreyfus affair, I had no idea what it was. So I decided to fill that gap in my education. I’m glad I did. Bredin’s account, published in France in 1983 and in the United States in 1986, is a shocking example of the depths to which people can sink in order to rationalize injustice.

Alfred Dreyfus was the son of a respected middle-class Jewish family from the Alsace region. Though he grew up in an anti-Semitic environment, he rose to the rank of French army captain before being arrested and accused of treason in 1894. The only evidence against him was a letter implying that he was a spy for the Germans. Despite conflicting conclusions by handwriting analysts, Dreyfus was convicted by a military court, publicly stripped of rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, where he languished for more than three years.

Thanks to the efforts of Dreyfus’s brother Mathieu and a group of sympathizers, an investigation revealed that the incriminating letter was actually the work of Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, an amoral officer perpetually in trouble with creditors. Nevertheless, military officials conspired to cover up the injustice, going so far as to warn Esterhazy, the actual traitor, that he risked being arrested. Gradually, the case against Dreyfus began to crumble, especially when a French officer discovered that a second document incriminating him was a forgery, and the man responsible confessed and committed suicide.

Even these revelations were not enough to dampen the anti-Jewish outrage that arose in 1899 when Dreyfus was brought home for a retrial of his case. The atmosphere of prejudice and a bungled defense resulted in a second conviction. Ultimately, the prime minister pushed through a pardon for Dreyfus and a general amnesty for the conspirators, in order to put the controversy to rest and salvage the honor of France. But a pardon is not an acquittal. Dreyfus pressed to have his own honor restored. It was not until 1906 that the High Court of Appeal overturned his conviction. As Bredin summarizes it, “It had taken France twelve years to vindicate an innocent man.”

The eagerness with which the French embraced Dreyfus’s guilt simply because he was a Jew is reminiscent of Nazi Germany. The ideals of the French Revolution evaporated as Dreyfus was jailed and intimidated for almost a month before learning what he was charged with. His trial took place in closed session. Colonel Georges Picquart, upon discovering evidence in Dreyfus’s favor, was reassigned to other duties and eventually jailed himself. When novelist Emile Zola circulated a pamphlet critical of the military establishment and the Dreyfus judges, he was charged with slander and convicted. For the most part, those who conspired to implicate Dreyfus went on with their careers.

At times, Bredin’s meticulous narrative requires patience. So many military officers, government officials, clerics, journalists and others were instrumental players in the affair that I found myself flipping back and forth to remember who was whom. His excellent documentation of French social and political conditions in Dreyfus’s time is both illuminating and complex. My conclusion is that a work of such great scholarship deserves more than one reading. I know I’ll return to this book one day for a clearer understanding of events.

Sadly, echoes of the Dreyfus case resound today with the resurgence of racial prejudice and white supremacy around the world. Bredin’s valuable documentation reminds us that the spirit of evil never rests, that the only solid foundation of a just society is one of love and tolerance of each other, regardless of our differences.

[Jeremy Kriewaldt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explains the Affair - so long as you understand the French nation

A very detailed consideration of the events of the Dreyfus Affair which admirably disentangles fact, speculation, special pleading, conspiracy theories and lies.
The book reveals both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Annales approach. The analysis of facts is rigorous and Occam's razor is wielded with surgical precision. The first mistake is shown to be "innocent" and that the great crimes occurred as those implicated in that mistake seek to prevent that mistake being revealed. It shows again that the real crime was not the original misdemeanour but the subsequent and escalating criminal conspiracies to cover up?
The synthesis and generalisations tend in my view to seek too often to proceed by dialectical opposition. This tends to increase the impression of "sides" which remain discernible even while mutating. Perhaps the better analysis would have adopted as a starting point with the general acceptance by most French people of a set of "self-evident truths", and the social disruption created when bad actors act contrary to some (or in some cases, all) of those truths. Those bad actors were not only the General Staff officers. They include the generals, ministers and other authorities who were willingly blind to truths which were uncomfortable for them, journalists and others seeking to increase their power and influence by wilful distortion of facts, and opportunists who sought to take advantage of the confusion and dislocation of the Affair to achieve their own unrelated goals.
However, perhaps a better conclusion is to be found in the explanation advanced that the Affair shines a light on how the French people have the capacity to be both coldly logical and incandescently emotional almost contemporaneously and still be consistently French.

[David Shelton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over vacation to France. It’s a fascinating, in-depth examination of the entire saga of the Alfred Dreyfus case from late 19th century France. I’ve been getting into French history lately and ‘the affair’ had come up in many books as being a significant historical milestone. I didn’t really understand why this would be the case, which led me to be interested in checking out this book. In a nutshell, the French army found evidence of treason in the form of a short note called the ‘bordereau’. Based on the handwriting alone, the army decided that Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish-French officer, was the traitor and convicted him through a shameful miscarriage of justice. As Dreyfus and his family continued to appeal, more and more people began to see the lack of evidence and become convinced of Dreyfus’s innocence. At the same time, antisemites and supporters of the army fought with incredible tenacity and increased criminality to keep the truth from coming out. The book does a great job of laying out the evidence and the many people involved. Dreyfus was finally acquitted after 12 years of fighting in courts, but not without a number of setbacks and the country becoming deeply divided. The narrative gets dense at times, but I thought the writer did a superb job of trying to explain such a complex narrative. The conclusion is very persuasive and helpful as well. I’m not sure how many people would be interested in this book, but I loved it.

[John Buttell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So comprehensive that I felt like I was living through the twelve years covered and in some ways as much a labyrinth as the course of events itself. Ultimately, this is the story of the breaking and remaking of the French state and society at the end of the 19th century. The army and the church engaged in a desperate struggle with the new political and intellectual layers thrown up by the consolidation of industrial capitalism. The bourgeois right and left were transformed and joined on the national level by a rising workers movement. And all of this happened through and around the case of a reserved, somewhat narrow minded but fiercely honorable Jewish artillery officer versus the con man and traitor who the leadership of the army, the Church and the New Right supported and defended.

[Terry Quirke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd heard long ago about the Dreyfus Affair and wated to read in more detail about it. A huge miscarriage of justice at the turn of the century saw an anti-semitic and reactionary French army bungle affairs and then frame a Jewish officer of treason to become the scapegoat for their failures. The book, whilst detailed and following every twist and turn of the affair (and there are several of them) turns into a bit of a slog to read and at times diverts off into areas that seem to have little bearing on the actual case itself and are more to do with cultual or political mores of the time.

[Ari Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant book: not only is the prose phenomenally artful and clear, but the presentation of information in the context of a nonfiction is truly unparalleled. Bredin shares what the people said at the time, evaluates the veracity of their statements, and discusses how other historians have missed the mark. He presents the story with detail and nuance, and I felt like I got to see the Affair from multiple different angles at once.

Bredin also is aware of the length of this book, and regularly provides refreshers to ensure that you can remember who's who in the zoo.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a prodigious effort to explain the very confusing and intricate affair of Alfred Dreyfus. While this was a translation from French, I have no interest in plowing thru this book in its original language. It is quite long and filled with endless details which were hard to keep track of. My read may have suffered also from a break in reading midway but the thread was not challenging to pick up. I found it quite interesting in the end and look forward to better understanding and exhibit I will see next week filled with artifacts and photos of that time.

[Linda Evans]

Too detailed. Too many dates and French names to remember. I found it difficult, boring. I'm obviously not a history or non-fiction reader. Just thought I'd give it a try.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading Proust's classic novel, In Search of Lost Time, I was impressed with the importance and pervasive nature of the Dreyfus Affair. While Proust abstained from politics most of his life, he made an exception of the Dreyfus Affair, when he actively took up the defense of Captain Dreyfus. Traces of this appear throughout his masterpiece. In a letter to his friend Mme Geneviève Strauss (née Halévy), daughter of the composer Jacques Fromental Halévy, widow of Georges Bizet, model for the Duchesse de Guermantes in Proust’s roman fleuve, and whose salon was a center of Dreyfusard activity, Proust attempted to enlist her aid in the fight. Ultimately most of the major characters were identified with one side or the other of the Dreyfus Affair.

It was the author Emile Zola, however, whose article, "J'Accuse", was the most memorable moment of the Dreyfus Affair and it sits at the center of Jean-Denis Bredin's detailed study entitled The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus. The article electrified France and reinvigorated the Dreyfusards, as the supporters of the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus were called. While both monumental and essential, coming as it did two days after the scandalous acquittal of Commandant Esterhazy, it was only a single moment among many important moments and details that are recounted in Bredin's comprehensive history. Even for readers living more than a century later who know the outcome of the Dreyfus Case, this book reads like a detective mystery with twist and turns, double-dealing, missing documents, forgeries and more. It contains the details from the earliest moments when Dreyfus is first identified as a suspected traitor due as much to his race as to anything else and certainly not because he ever had any dealings that were remotely traiterous since he was, ironically, a model soldier and a patriot.

Bredin's artistry lies in his ability to weave the many sometimes disparate details together in a narrative that maintains the reader's interest. This he does ably with a lucid style that betrays the underlying complexity of the actual events. Other commentators have noted the suspense and drama that the author is able to portray with this lucid style. I agree with them but also admire his choice to go beyond the details to share the meaning of the affair for the family, the participants, their nation and the world. The era he covered was the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the next. It was one that saw much turmoil in both national and international cultural history. The Dreyfus Case was an important part of that history as this book makes eminently clear.

[Isaac Murtha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dreyfus affair happened on another continent in another century— but it feels as though it could happen in the present day. The story is of a national fight in France over an innocent officer wrongly convicted of spying because of his Jewish identity, and a series of frauds perpetrated by the French Army to secure his conviction— and how a battle in France was waged for his freedom.

The book chronicles every twist and turn of the Dreyfus Affair in exhaustive detail. It notes the lawsuits, the press campaigns, the political wars, the attempted coup, the frauds, the forgeries, the court-martials, and every other twist and turn. It vividly paints its characters, even as a huge cast of people entered and exited the affair.

And importantly, it’s as well-written as it is well-researched. I highly recommend reading this book.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've read on the Dreyfus Affair so far. Bredin does an excellent job keeping track of the numerous forged documents, the complex case against Dreyfus and the ways that the press and politics eventually brought about Dreyfus's exoneration. Mehlman has translated this from French. It is extremely readable and the footnotes and endnotes were a huge help in tracking down primary documents for the Dreyfus collection at Penn.

[Chip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story, and highly readable book. Dreyfus, a captain in the French Army, was unjustly convicted of being a spy almost solely because he was a Jew. He was then imprisoned for years on Devil's Island, despite members of the French government and military being fully aware of his innocence, eventually resulting in a scandal as significant as modern-day Watergate.

[zeynep · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very comprehensive account of the Affair. Bredin consulted a lot of sources, which was great. However, the author(a Frenchman) has an annoying habit of occasionally interrupting the historical narrative and waxing poetic about how great it was that France managed to absolve Dreyfus in the end, but informative overall.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading enough European history that referred to "The Dreyfus Affair", I had to read about it. Jewish officer accused of treason because the French bungled their military affairs and then needed a scape goat. It was good to finally get the whole scope on "The Affair" but it was a pretty tedious read.

[Guera25 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My failure to finish this was not an indictment of the book. Rather, I found the subject so grindingly depressing that I could not bear to "watch" a cabal of individuals and a government too proud to admit its egregious mistake pervert justice simply to save face. Well worth the read, but a bit of emotional preparation might be necessary before you take it up.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bredin's account of the Dreyfus affair (excellently translated by Jeffrey Mehlman) and its effects on the politics and intellectual climate of France of the time, is clear-eyed and detailed, and written as compellingly as any thriller. I will return to this book again.

[Anthony Zupancic · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a full and thorough account of the Dreyfus Affair, this is a great book to go to.