Alfred Dreyfus J'accuse…!

alfred dreyfus born in 1859 in city of mulhouse, located in province of alsace in northeast france. born prosperous jewish family, left native town paris in 1871 in response annexation of province germany following franco-prussian war. in 1894, while artillery captain general staff of france, dreyfus suspected of providing secret military information german government.

a cleaning woman , french spy name of madame bastian working @ german embassy @ source of investigation. routinely searched wastebaskets , mailboxes @ german embassy suspicious documents. found suspicious bordereau (detailed listing of documents) @ german embassy in 1894, , delivered commandant hubert-joseph henry, worked french military counterintelligence in general staff.

the bordereau had been torn 6 pieces, , had been found madame bastian in wastepaper basket of maximilian von schwartzkoppen, german military attaché. when document investigated, dreyfus convicted largely on basis of testimony professional handwriting experts: graphologists assertion lack of resemblance between dreyfus writing , of bordereau proof of self-forgery, , prepared fantastically detailed diagram demonstrate so. there assertions military officers provided confidential evidence.

dreyfus found guilty of treason in secret military court-martial, during denied right examine evidence against him. army stripped him of rank in humiliating ceremony , shipped him off devil s island, penal colony located off coast of french guiana in south america.

at time, france experiencing period of anti-semitism, , there few outside family defended dreyfus. in 1899, dreyfus returned france retrial, although found guilty again, pardoned. in 1906, dreyfus appealed case again, obtain annulment of guilty verdict. in 1906, awarded cross of légion d honneur, stated, “a soldier has endured unparallelled martyrdom.”