French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus (1859 – 1935), falsely accused of selling military secrets to Germany and imprisoned on Devil’s Island. (photo credit: Gerschel/Getty Images) via TJP
French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu signed the motion following a unanimous vote by the lower house of parliament in July.
France has officially promoted Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer in the army who was falsely convicted of treason more than a century ago, to the rank of brigadier-general on Monday.
According to The Jerusalem Post, French President, Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu signed the motion following a unanimous vote by the lower house of parliament in July.
The Dreyfus Affair, which erupted in 1894, became one of France’s most divisive political scandals.
Dreyfus, a French Jewish artillery officer, was wrongfully accused of passing military secrets to Germany, despite there being no evidence against him.
He was arrested, court-martialed, and imprisoned, igniting a bitter national debate that pitted supporters of justice and truth against rising waves of antisemitism.
Yael Perl Ruiz, the great-granddaughter of Alfred Dreyfus, told The Jerusalem Post in October of last year that the anti-Dreyfusards (as they were called) only believed in Dreyfus’s guilt because he was Jewish and, therefore, for them, he was the obvious traitor.
“Dreyfus’s only fault was to be born Jewish, and as such he was the ideal traitor for the antisemites of the army and the antisemitic nationalist leagues,” she said.
The new law seeks to symbolically correct what Macron has described as a historic “injustice.”
Alfred Dreyfus, circa 1894 (credit: Wikimedia Commons) via TJP
National day of commemoration for Alfred Dreyfus
In July, Macron also declared July 12 to be France’s national day of commemoration for Dreyfus. The date marks the anniversary of his exoneration in 1906, a full 12 years after his ordeal began.
The decision, Macron said at the time, honors “the victory of justice and truth against hatred and antisemitism.”
He stressed the importance of recognizing, preserving, and nurturing the “vital spirit of Dreyfusism.”
Mathilda Heller contributed to this report. – TJP
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