Alfred Dreyfus
1859 - 1935 - The cruelty of injustice
Rudyard Kipling (1865 to 1936) is perhaps best known for his poem “IF” and his works for children (The Jungle Book and Just So Stories). One of his lesser-known poems is “Danny Deever” which begins:
‘What are the bugles blowin’ for?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘To turn you out, to turn you out,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
‘What makes you look so white, so white?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘I’m dreadin’ what I’ve got to watch,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
For they’re hangin’ Danny Deever, you can hear the Dead March play,
The Regiment’s in ’ollow square—they’re hangin’ him to-day;
They’ve taken of his buttons off an’ cut his stripes away,
An’ they’re hangin’ Danny Deever in the mornin’.
Kipling touched on a military ceremony involving “degradation” of a convicted man.
A famous and real-life example of the practice is the French case of Alfred Dreyfus.
A statue of Alfred Dreyfus (1859 - 1935 ) is in Paris but, over the years, has been in various locations.
From 12 July 2026 it will be in Rue de Harlay on the Île de la Cité. It will stand in front of the Court de Cassation (France’s highest civil court) which finally exonerated Dreyfus, 110 years ago, on 12 July 1906.
Alfred Dreyfus was a French army officer whose trial for treason began a 12-year controversy, known as the Dreyfus Affair, that deeply marked the political and social history of the French Third Republic (1860 - 1940).
His story is one of military scandal, injustice, antisemitism and, eventually, rehabilitation - Britannica.
In 1894, Dreyfus was accused of selling military secrets to the German military attaché. He was arrested on 15 October and, on 22 December he was convicted by court martial and sentenced to life imprisonment. He entered the infamous penal colony of Devils Island, off the coast of French Guiana, on 13 April 1895.
The legal proceedings were based on specious evidence. Dreyfus denied his guilt and both he and his family consistently maintained his innocence. Nonetheless, within France generally, the conviction and sentence were welcomed. The newspaper La Libre Parole, edited by Édouard Drumont (1844 - 1917), used Dreyfus to symbolize the supposed disloyalty of French Jews.
Doubts grew. It was discovered that a Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy (1847 - 1923) was engaged in espionage and that his handwriting was on the letter that incriminated Dreyfus. Esterhazy was tried by court-martial in 1897 but was acquitted by his fellow officers. He came to England (Harpenden) where he remained until his death.
On 13 January 1898, the famous novelist Émile Zola (1840 - 1902) wrote an open letter with the heading “J’Accuse.” Zola accused the army of covering up its mistaken conviction of Dreyfus and of acquitting Esterhazy on the orders of the Ministry of War.
It took until 1906 before the Court de Cassation cleared Dreyfus. He was formally reinstated and received the Legion d’ Honneur. After further short service in the army, in which he attained the rank of major, he retired to the reserves. He was recalled to active service during World War I and, as a lieutenant colonel, commanded an ammunition column. After the war he retired into obscurity.
Remarkably, the French military did not publicly declare his innocence until 1995.
The case should stand as a salutary reminder of the cruelty of injustice.
Links:
Alfred Dreyfus statue to finally receive permanent home in central Paris | France | The Guardian 11 July 2026
Alfred Dreyfus | French Military Scandal, Antisemitism, & Rehabilitation | Britannica
Note:
In 1898 Zola intervened in the Dreyfus Affair—that of a Jewish French army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, whose wrongful conviction for treason in 1894 sparked a 12-year controversy that deeply divided French society. At an early stage in the proceedings Zola had decided rightly that Dreyfus was innocent. On 13 January 1898, in the newspaper L’Aurore, Zola published a fierce denunciation of the French general staff in an open letter beginning with the words “J’accuse” (“I accuse”). He charged various high-ranking military officers and, indeed, the War Office itself of concealing the truth in the wrongful conviction of Dreyfus for espionage. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty. In July 1899, when his appeal appeared certain to fail, he fled to England. He returned to France the following June when he learned that the Dreyfus case was to be reopened with a possible reversal of the original verdict. Zola’s intervention in the controversy helped to undermine antisemitism and militarism in France.