Anti-Semitism, Media and Zionism

Shira Pinczuk University of Winchester

HCJ - 2014

The Dreyfus Affair

What is the Dreyfus Affaire

• Anti-Semitic political scandal • France, 1894• Alfred Deyfus, a Jewish French

artillery officer, is accused of spying for Germany

• La Libre Parole first publishes the story

Why is it Relevant?

Dreyfus affair: Innocence projectPower of mass mediaAnti-SemitismJewish nationalism Zionism

Political context

1894 The Third Republic is twenty-four years old, very divided and broken

1870 France has been defeated in the Franco-Prussian war in and lost Alsace- Lorraine

1871 Paris Commune

1892 A major corruption scandal around the construction of the Panama Canal has erupted

1889 The Boulangisme

Military and French Society

• The army is seen by the traditional part of the society as the true symbol of French identity

• It is the “safe-keeper” of tradition

• Army is active in service and carries sentiments of a “pay-back” for itself and France

• The army is also racist and anti-Semitic– Captain Mayer, a Jewish officer, is killed in a

death duel - which triggers considerable emotion, far beyond Jewish circles

• There is a gap between army's values and the new republican society: democracy vs. hierarchy and obedience

Anti-Semitism

• Nationalism

• Jewish emancipation has evolved since the French revolution

• Concern about the sense of “French greatness”

• 1886: publication of Jewish France by Drumont

• The press is virtually free to write and disseminate any information, even when offensive or defamatory. Legal risks are limited if the target is a private person

Anti-Semitism in the Media

• L ’Eclair, Le Petit Journal, La Patrie, Intransigeant, La Libre Parole

• La Libre Parole “France is for French” allows

Drumont to further expand his audience to a popular readership

• La Croix magazine succeeds in bringing together

certain groups of Roman Catholics who are seeking to position themselves outside the party politics and ideologies (Hanna Arendt)

Hannah Arendt and the Roots of Antisemitism

Hanna Arendt

•Controversial German Jewish Journalist

•Researched Rahel Varnhgen Jewish German writer, who converted to Catholicism

•Deals with – Social discrimination– Political Antisemitism

The Power of Media

• Without media we wouldn’t have heard about the story

• Dreyfus file Dreyfus affair Dreyfus myth

• Media is the big winner of the whole affair

• Yellow journalism, rather then “eyes and ears for the public”

• Agenda, propaganda, public opinion

• Few facts, not accurate, circulation, big headlines, illustrations

The Events

• Sep 1894: Secret French military information is found in wastepaper basket at the German Embassy in Paris

• The counter-intelligence office immediately implicates Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish French- from Alsace, artillery officer

• Oct 1894: a secret martial court charges him with treason. He declares his innocence throughout

The Affair in The Media

October the 28th 1884

La Libre Parole publishes a letter with information about the case of a Captain Alfred Dreyfus: the source is an intelligence Officer, “Henry”.

October the 29th La Libre Parole publishes an article about the arrest: “Why do militaryauthorities keep the silence?” they ask. This marks the beginning of a very violent press campaign until the trial. The affair enters the field of anti-Semitism, and it does not leave until its finalconclusion November the 1st 1884

Big headlines: “Treason! Jewish officer Capitan Dreyfus has been arrested! “

La Petit Journal launches a personal attack on General Mercier :“ScarecrowGeneral, If he kept silent for 2 weeks it’s only because Jewish people putpressure on him“…

The Trial and the Sentence

Jan 1895: he is stripped of his military rank and sent to Devil’s Island (French Guinea) for life

The Aftermath

• Mathieu Dreyfus, the elder brother becomes the chief architect of the restoration of his brother’s name

• France is divided:

Against In Favor

ArmyCatholicsChurchMonarchistsJews

RepubllicansSocialistsJews

Piquard vs Estherazy

• 1896 French Army Major Esterhazy is identified as the real culprit by Lt Col Piquard

• High-ranking military officials suppress the new evidence, Esterhazy is acquitted and flees France.

• Piquard is sent to serve at the southern border of Tunisia

Emile Zola

1899 “Innocent Project”• November 1896

Bernard Lazare – pamphlet “Dreyfus Affair- A Miscarriage of Justice”– ending with the phrase

“J’accuse”

• 13 January 1899Emile Zola - J’ACCUSE– Strong provocation– 200,000 copies sold!– perfect timing – Metaphors– Repetitive key words– Rhythm– Naturalism/observational

journalism

The Reabilitation

• 1899: after a massive public campaign Dreyfus is pardoned but not acquitted of charges

• 1906: Dreyfus is acquitted in court, fully rehabilitated, reintegrated in the ranks with a promotion

The Circulation of Media at the Time of the Affair

Anti-Dreyfuss Dreyfussards

Title Readership Title Readership

La Libre Parole 500,000 L’aurore 200,000ParisIntellectuals

Le Petit Journal 1,500,000Roman Catholic

Herzl, Lazare and Zionism• Bernard Lazare was a French Jewish political journalist, and anarchist • 1894: Anti-Semitism, its History and Causes • In-depth study and critique of the origins of anti-Semitism.

– The Jewish assimilation and dissolution will stop the anti-Semitism .– “It is the oldest of all existing religions, and it would seem right that

it should be the first to disappear”– “The number of orthodox Jews is still great and as long as they exist

it would seem that anti-Semitism must exist”

• Doesn’t want to take part with the affair as “Dreyfus family is wealthy enough to sort themselves out - mainly if he is not guilty”

Mathieu Dreyfus shows him some of the documents he has, and Lazare joins the fight with passion

Bernard Lazare

Important for two articles1. Dreyfus Affair- A Miscarriage of Justice2. The New Ghetto

• Dreyfus affair convinces him that the solution for the Jewish problem is a land of their own

• Friend with Herzl, but later on departs from Herzl’s ideas, as he was bourgeois

• Dies in 1903• Jews in France didn’t like him • only few come to his funeral Mathieu Dreyfus arrive, Alfred

Dreyfus is absent.

Theodor Herzl

• Austro-Hungarian journalist and writer, secular Jew. • Considered the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the

foundation of the State of Israel

• Active in the debate on Anti-Semitism:

– Is proposing complete assimilation: asks the Pope to make a massive baptism for all the Jews in Europe

– Is also thinking that leaving Europe is a feasible : “It is essential that the sufferings of Jews…become worse…this will assist the realization of our plans…I have an excellent idea…I shell induce anti-Semites to liquidate Jewish wealth…” (diary)

• As the Paris correspondent for Neue Freie Presse, Herzl follows the Dreyfus Affair

• "In Paris, as I have said, I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-Semitism...

• Above all, I recognized the emptiness and futility of trying to 'combat' anti-Semitism"

• 1894 is involved in the The New Ghetto

• 1896 The State of the Jews - envisions the founding of a future independent Jewish State during the 20th century

• 1897 First Zionist Congress in Basel

The end?

• Strengthening of parliamentary democracy and failure of monarchist and reactionary forces

• The creation of the French League for Human Rights

• Anti-Semitism is still prominent.

• The Dreyfus affair created difficulties, blocking the way for improved relations between France and Italy as Italy was Europe's most Dreyfusard nation.

• The shock of the Dreyfus Affair also had an impact on the Zionist movement "which found fertile ground for its emergence".

Captain Dreyfus monument by Louis Mitelberg

The Legacy

Thank You

Sources