"NEW ZEALAND'S ‘J'ACCUSE…!’"
The 'What I'm reading' column of the “EVENING
POST” (Wellington, NZ) of 9 November 2001 interviews Elric Hooper.* He
says: "I've just finished Lynley Hood's 'A City Possessed' which
I thought was wonderful, a terrific book. I think it will be New Zealand's 'J'accuse'."
*
Elric Hooper: Artistic Director, Court Theatre, Christchurch, 1979-2000;
Director, Canterbury Opera Trust Productions, Christchurch, 1985-; broadcaster
and writer on cultural matters.
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"J'accuse...!" is the
"open letter" by Emile Zola, published 1898 in L'Aurore, to
the President of the Third French Republic, Félix Faure, that turned the famous
French Dreyfus treason case on its head.
"J'accuse...!" is often
referenced in free speech/press freedom issues.
The development of the Peter Ellis/Civic Crèche
case ran a similar course to that against Alfred Dreyfus. Ellis supporters hope
the ending for Peter Ellis and his co-accused will have a similar outcome – an
admission from New Zealand’s highest that they got things so wrong – in much
less than the hundred years it took for Dreyfus (see below).
[A]
J'ACCUSE!: Emile Zola, Alfred Dreyfus and the Greatest Newspaper Article
in History.
[B]
Chronology of the Dreyfus Affair.
__________________________________________________________________________
Flagpole
Magazine [University of Georgia] 2.11.98
By
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr
"J'ACCUSE!"
EMILE ZOLA, ALFRED DREYFUS AND THE GREATEST
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE IN HISTORY
Last month marked the centennial anniversary of
the greatest newspaper article of all time. Strangely, the American print and
broadcast media barely mentioned the article or its importance or the
astonishing story surrounding it.
The article, by Emile Zola, the great French
novelist, appeared in a Paris literary newspaper, L'Aurore (The Dawn) on
Thursday, Jan. 13, 1898, "an essential date in the history of
journalism,'' according to historian Jean-Denis Bredin. Written in the form of
an open letter to the President of France, the 4,000 word article, entitled "J'Accuse!"
(I Accuse!), rightly has been judged a "masterpiece'' of polemics and a
literary achievement "of imperishable beauty.'' No other newspaper article
has ever provoked such public debate and controversy or had such an impact on
law, justice, and society.
The appearance of Zola's article was the
greatest day of the Dreyfus Affair, which tormented France for twelve years.
The Affair, "one of the great commotions of history,'' in the words of
historian Barbara W. Tuchman, arose out of the 1894 arrest and conviction for
treason of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French army.
Dreyfus, who was completely innocent, received an unfair trial at his court
martial; the prosecution's case had no substance, and the conviction was based
on false, supposedly incriminating documents, not introduced into evidence or
disclosed to Dreyfus, which were secretly delivered to the trial judges after
they had retired to consider their verdict. Dreyfus was sentenced to life
imprisonment and expelled from the army. He was incarcerated off the coast of
South America on Devil's Island from 1895 until 1899.
At the time of the arrest and trial the army
officers responsible for the prosecution truly believed Dreyfus was guilty of
the crime charged. By 1896, however, they knew they had made a catastrophic
mistake. Nevertheless, high-ranking officers on the army's General Staff and
officers in military intelligence, fearful that public exposure of the
injustice done Dreyfus would embarrass the army, engaged in a gigantic coverup
which featured perjury, forgery, and obstruction of justice. The conspirators,
including at least eight generals, even protected and assisted Commandant
Ferdinand Esterhazy, the army infantry officer who, as they knew by 1896, had
actually committed the crime for which Dreyfus had been wrongfully convicted.
Zola's article was published two days after another
court martial had, as part of the coverup, acquitted Esterhazy of the
treasonous offense for which Dreyfus was being unjustly punished. The author
gave a detailed explanation of it how had happened that Dreyfus had been
convicted of a crime he never committed; showed that the real culprit was
Esterhazy and blasted his acquittal; revealed the immensity of the coverup;
named the officers known by Zola to have been involved in perpetrating the
coverup, and accused them of "one of the greatest iniquities of the
century;'' accused the tribunal that convicted Dreyfus of "condemning an
accused person on the strength of a secret document''; and accused the tribunal
which had found Esterhazy not guilty of having, "in obedience to orders...
knowingly acquitt[ed] a guilty man.''
Written in sparkling and mellifluous prose,
imbued with a tone of outrage, the article contains many beautiful sentences
and phrases. The most memorable: "la verite est en marche et rien ne
l'arretera'' (truth is on the march and nothing can stop it).
Zola had two purposes in mind when he wrote his
article. First, he hoped to provide the public with a succinct overview of the
facts of the Dreyfus case and thereby mobilize public opinion in Dreyfus's
favor. Second, he hoped to provoke authorities into criminally prosecuting him
for having written the article, so that at his trial new evidence could be
produced and made public concerning Dreyfus's innocence and Esterhazy's guilt.
Zola succeeded in both his objectives. As one
historian puts it, "Zola... achieved a miracle.''
The article was an instant sensation,
electrifying France and stimulating a gradual but inexorable shift in public
opinion in favor of Dreyfus. It also brought the Dreyfus case worldwide
attention; a respected writer of international renown had accused the French
military of enormous wrongs. From then on, the entire civilized world marveled
at the French spectacle, with very few people outside France believing that
Dreyfus was guilty.
Less than three weeks after his article was
published, Zola was put on trial on a charge of criminal libel. The accusatory
instrument filed by prosecutors focused on only one sentence of Zola's article,
wherein he had asserted that the tribunal that found Esterhazy not guilty had
known he was guilty and had acquitted him on command. The charges plainly were
an attempt by the government, spurred on by the military, to silence a heroic
man who was bravely laboring to undo a hideous miscarriage of justice. As the
amazed London Times noted: "Zola's true crime has been in daring to rise
to defend the truth and civil liberty... [and] for that courageous defense of
the primordial rights of the citizen, he will be honored wherever men have
souls that are free...''
Hundreds of reporters from all over the world
covered Zola's criminal trial, which lasted two weeks and occurred in a
circus-like atmosphere. The trial judges treated Zola and his attorney
shabbily; confusion, disorder, and even fistfights reigned supreme in the
courtroom; howling crowds jeered Zola in court and tried to attack him as he
left the courthouse under police protection; and at night antisemitic mobs
carrying signs saying "Death to Zola'' or "Down with the Jews'' would
smash the windows of Jewish-owned shops in Paris.
Even though the evidence introduced at the trial
by the defense made it obvious that Esterhazy, not Dreyfus, was the traitor,
and that the military was covering up the truth, Zola was convicted and
sentenced to the maximum penalty of a year in jail. To avoid prison, Zola fled
to England and lived in exile near London for almost a year. He returned to
France in June 1899, shortly after an appellate court reversed Dreyfus'
conviction and ordered Dreyfus retried. By then public opinion in France had
swung decisively in favor of Dreyfus, and the libel charge against Zola was
dismissed. Zola was no longer in jeopardy of confinement for writing history's
greatest newspaper article, but his support of Dreyfus had left him financially
ruined.
Dreyfus's 1899 retrial, also covered by numerous
reporters and watched by the whole Western World, resulted, absurdly, in
Dreyfus being reconvicted. Dreyfus was, however, quickly pardoned and released
from custody. In 1906, Dreyfus's 1899 conviction was reversed by the highest
court in France and he was formally adjudged innocent, whereupon he was
reinstated in the army, promoted, and awarded the Legion of Honor. None of the
coverup conspirators was ever criminally punished.
The Dreyfus Affair officially concluded on July
21, 1906, when Dreyfus was honored by a dress parade military ceremony. Zola
was absent. He had died in 1902 in his Paris home, asphyxiated by fumes from a
fireplace. Many historians believe he was murdered by right-wing extremists
who, hating him for defending Dreyfus, stopped up his chimney.
Dreyfus attended Zola's burial services at
Paris's Montmartre Cemetery where Anatole France delivered a famous eulogy:
"Given the obligation which befalls me to
recall the struggle waged by Zola on behalf of truth and justice, is it
possible for me to remain silent concerning those men so passionately bent on
destroying an innocent man? ... How might I remove them from your sight when it
is mine to show you Zola rising up, weak and unarmed, before them? ...
"Let us envy [Zola]: he has honored his
country and the world with an immense body of work and a great deed ... [H]is
destiny and his courage combined to endow him with the greatest of fates. He
was a moment in the conscience of humanity.''
On June 4, 1908, Zola's remains were transferred
to the Pantheon, where France's greatest citizens are interred. Dreyfus
attended the solemn ceremony. During the proceedings a right-wing journalist
named Gregori pulled out a revolver and fired two shots at Dreyfus, slightly
wounding him in the arm. Right-wing newspapers praised the attempted murder as
a "gesture for France''! Put on trial for shooting Dreyfus, Gregori was
acquitted!
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr.
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr.
has been a law professor at the University of Georgia School of Law for over 30
years.
Professor Wilkes also
has spent time in Paris, France, engaged in historical research on the renowned
Dreyfus Affair.
Chronology of the Dreyfus Affair
May 2000 Version
The complete timeline from June 24, 1894, can be
viewed here:
http://www.georgetown.edu/guieu/chronology.htm
The timeline would print out over 17 pages, but
as the Dreyfus affair has a nice ending I will only post the ending period:
1985
A statue of Alfred Dreyfus by artist Tim,
commissioned by Minister of Culture Jack Lang, cannot be installed in the Ecole
Militaire courtyard where the degradation took place in 1895; the Army refuses
its approval.
June 9, 1988
The statue of Alfred Dreyfus is placed in the
Tuileries Garden. It will be ultimately installed on the Boulevard
Raspail.
February 1994
Colonel Gaujac, editor of a monthly brochure
published by the Army, is retired after the uproar caused by an article
concluding that: "today, the
innocence of Dreyfus is the theory generally accepted by historians."
September 1995
The French Army publicly admits that Dreyfus had
been framed. General Mourrut, in full dress uniform, declares to the Jewish
Consistory (French Jewish Central Council) that: " the affair was a
military conspiracy which ended in the deportation of an innocent man and was
partly founded on a false document"
January 13, 1998
On the centennial anniversary of "J'accuse...!",
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and the entire French Parliament honor Emile
Zola's stand for Truth and Justice. A
giant reproduction of Zola's "J'accuse...!" is draped on the
front wall of the National Assembly in Paris.
A commemorative plaque is affixed in the
courtyard of the Ecole Militaire.
Jacques Chirac, President of the French
Republic, January 13th 1998, answers to the "open letter" ( J'accuse...!
), Emile Zola addressed to his predecessor Félix Faure a century earlier. He formally apologizes to the Dreyfus and
Zola families, expressing France's gratitude for their courage confronting
hate, injustice and intolerance:
"Just a century ago, France was experiencing a grave and deep
crisis. The Dreyfus Affair was tearing
French society apart, dividing families, dividing the country into two opposing
camps violently confronting each other.
Because Captain Dreyfus had to remain guilty as charged at all cost, his
subsequent trials became nothing but a pathetic farce. After having been stripped of his rank and
having seen his military sword broken, he was going to suffer, on Devil's
Island, for the conspiracy deliberately plotted against him in the secrecy of
some office."
"In
spite of the unyielding efforts by Captain Dreyfus' family, his case could have
been filed away forever. A dark stain, unworthy
of our country and our history, a colossal judicial error and a shameful state
compromise! But a man stood up against
lies, malice and cowardice. Outraged by
the injustice against Captain Dreyfus, whose only crime was to be a Jew, Emile
Zola cried out his famous "I Accuse...!". Published on January 13, 1898 by L'Aurore,
this text struck minds like lightning and changed the fate of the Affair within
a few hours. Truth was on the
march."
"That day, Emile Zola, was appealing to the President of the
French Republic. Today we are
celebrating the centennial of this letter which has entered History. Today, I would like to tell the Dreyfus and
Zola families how much France is grateful to their ancestors to have been able
to give all its meaning to the values of liberty, dignity and justice."
"Let us not ever forget that the man who was rehabilitated to
shouts of "Long live Dreyfus!" answered with a strong voice: "No!
Long live France!". In
spite of his humiliation, his exile, his sufferings, wounded in his heart and
in his flesh, harmed in his dignity, Captain Dreyfus was able to forgive. Magnificent forgiveness, magnificent
answer: love of country against
intolerance and hate."
"Let us not ever forget the courage of that great writer who,
taking every risk, jeopardizing his peace and quiet, his fame and even his own
life, dared to take up his pen and put his talent to the service of truth. Emile Zola, high literary and moral
character, had understood that his responsibility was to enlighten and his duty
was to speak up when others kept silent.
Like Voltaire before him, he has become since then the incarnation of
the best of the intellectual tradition."
"Captain Dreyfus' tragedy took place a century ago. However, after so many years, it still
resonates strongly in our hearts.
Zola's text has remained in our collective memory as "a great
moment in the conscience of humanity"
"Half a century after the Vichy regime, we know that dark
forces, intolerance, injustice can insinuate themselves up to the highest
levels of the State. But we also know
that France, in moments of truth, can find again the best of herself: great,
strong, united and vigilant. This is without a doubt what Emile Zola and Alfred
Dreyfus are telling us, after all these years.
It is because they had faith in our common values, those of our Nation
and our Republic, and because they so deeply loved France, that these
exceptional men were able to reconcile her with herself."
"Let us not ever forget this masterful lesson of love and
unity."
Jacques Chirac
President of the French
Republic
January 13th 1998
(Translation:
Jean-Max Guieu, Georgetown University)