“… They exterminated the color of the nation with the sword of Robespierre, And Paris to this day washes away the shame."
(Text by Igor Talkov)
Probably, in the history of any nation, you can find pages that, except for the word "dirty", and can not be called. So in France in the last decade of the 19th century. there was one very dirty story, which today they have already begun to forget, and then both in France itself and in Russia, everyone only said that about the so-called "Dreyfus affair". The outbreak of internal political struggle associated with this case, the attention of world public opinion - all this brought the "Dreyfus case" far beyond the framework of simple jurisprudence, even if it was related to military espionage.
The Dreyfus trial was actively followed in Russia. In particular, the Niva magazine regularly published reports on the trial on its pages. They wrote that "the case is dark", but that the attempt on Labori's lawyer cannot be attributed to chance and "something is not right here …".
Alfred Dreyfus himself, a Jew by nationality, was born in 1859 in the province of Alsace, and his family was wealthy, so as a young man he received a good education and decided to devote himself to a military career. According to the reviews of all who knew him, he was distinguished by deep decency and devotion to his native France. In 1894, already in the rank of captain, Dreyfus served at the General Staff, where, again, according to all reviews, he showed himself from the best side. Meanwhile, General Mercier, Minister of War of France, made a report in parliament entitled "On the state of the army and navy." The report drew applause from the deputies, as the minister assured them that militarily France has never been as strong as it is now. But he did not say what he should have known: important documents from time to time disappeared in the General Staff of France, and then appeared on the spot, as if nothing had happened. It is clear that this was at a time when there were no portable cameras and copiers, this could only mean one thing - someone took them away to copy, and then returned to their original place.
In September 1894, the French counterintelligence officers hoped to expose the spy. The fact is that one of the agents of the French General Staff was the watchman at the German embassy in Paris, who brought all the papers from the trash cans to his chiefs, as well as scraps of those documents that came across in the ash of the fireplaces. Such is the cute, old way to learn other people's secrets … And it was this watchman who brought to counterintelligence a letter torn to shreds to the German military attaché, which contained an inventory of five very important and secret, of course, documents from the French General Staff. The "document" was called "bordero" or in French "inventory".
The handwriting was supposed to be the clue. And then it turned out that it looks like the handwriting of Captain Dreyfus. However, the expertise of the involved graphologists yielded conflicting results. It would seem, what is so difficult here? There is a suspect, well, follow him! "I got into the habit of a jug on the water to walk, then he and his head blow!" - it's elementary. However, the ranks of the General Staff for some reason did not want to heed the opinion of the intelligence service and ignored the opinion of the experts. Dreyfus had no noble relatives and in the aristocratic environment of titled officers of the General Staff looked like a black sheep. Such people are tolerated for their efficiency, but they are not liked. And Jewish origin was against him. So the "scapegoat" was found and it was on him that all the troubles in the French army were blamed!
The case of Dreyfus, arrested on suspicion of spying for Germany, was entrusted to Major du Pati de Klam, a man of very dubious moral merit. He forced the captain to write the text of the bordereau lying or sitting, just to achieve maximum similarity. As soon as he did not harass him, the captain continued to prove that he was innocent. And then he began to play not at all by the rules: he refused to plead guilty in exchange for a mitigation of punishment, and he also refused to commit suicide. The investigation failed to back up its accusations with a single piece of evidence. Experts continued to disagree. But the officials from the General Staff had to prove Dreyfus's guilt by all means, because if it was not him, then … one of them! Then, as it has become fashionable to say now, information about the process was "leaked" to the press. Right-wing newspapers immediately raised an unimaginable cry about a spy, which has not yet been known in history, a scoundrel who managed to sell all military plans and blueprints to Germany. It is clear that people then were more gullible than they are now, they still believed the printed word, so it is not surprising that a wave of fierce anti-Semitism immediately stirred up in France. The accusation of the Jew Dreyfus of espionage made it possible for chauvinists of all stripes to declare the representatives of the Jewish nation to be the culprits of all the troubles of the French people.
Dreyfus was decided to be tried by a military court behind closed doors in order to "observe military secrecy": there is evidence, but it cannot be presented, since the security of the state is threatened. But even with such monstrous pressure, the judges continued to hesitate. Then the judges were given a note, allegedly written by the German ambassador to someone in Germany: "This canal D. is becoming too demanding." And this hastily concocted paper obtained from a "secret source" turned out to be the last straw that broke the camel's back. The court recognized that Dreyfus was a treason and determined him as a punishment deprivation of all ranks and awards and lifelong exile to the distant Devil's Island off the coast of French Guiana. "Condemning Dreyfus is the greatest crime of our century!" - his lawyer told the press, but he was powerless to do anything.
Dreyfus was demoted in the square, in front of the lined up troops, with a massive crowd of people. They beat drums, sounded trumpets, and amid all this noise, Dreyfus was brought out into the square in his ceremonial uniform. He walked, addressing the troops: “Soldiers, I swear to you - I am innocent! Long live France! Long live the army! Then the stripes were torn from his uniform, the sword over his head was broken, he was shackled and sent to an island with a disastrous climate.
Dreyfus's speech at the trial. Rice. from the magazine "Niva".
It seemed that everyone had forgotten about Dreyfus. But in 1897, this is what happened. After the expulsion of Dreyfus to the island, Colonel Picard was appointed the new chief of counterintelligence of the General Staff. He carefully studied all the details of the sensational trial and came to the conclusion that Dreyfus was not a spy. Moreover, he managed to get a postcard from the German embassy, sent to the name of Major Count Charles-Marie Fernand Esterhazy, who served with the same General Staff. He was immediately followed, and she discovered his connection with foreign agents. It was he who was the author of this bordero, loved money, got it by forgery and … hated France. “I wouldn’t kill a puppy either,” he wrote in a letter once, “but I would gladly shoot a hundred thousand Frenchmen.” Such is the "touching" aristocrat who was very much annoyed by his compatriots.
But Count Esterhazy "was his own" and, moreover, he was not a Jew. Therefore, when Picard reported to his superiors who the real culprit in the "Dreyfus affair" was and offered to arrest Esterhazy and release Dreyfus, the General Staff sent him on an expedition to Africa.
Nevertheless, rumors that generals from the General Staff were harboring a real criminal began to spread. The newspaper Le Figaro, taking advantage of the achievements of photography, managed to print a photograph of a Bordero. Now anyone who was familiar with Esterhazy's handwriting could see for himself that it was he who wrote the bordero. After that, the brother of the convicted Mathieu Dreyfus opened a lawsuit against Esterhazy, accusing him of espionage and treason. Well, the vice-president of the Senate Scherer-Kestner even made a special request to the government.
And yes, indeed, Esterhazy appeared before a military court, but was acquitted by the court, although the facts against him were obvious. It's just that no one at the top wanted a scandal - that's all! The entire democratic public in France received a slap in the face. But then the world famous French writer and Knight of the Legion of Honor Emile Zola rushed to fight for the violated honor and dignity of the nation. He published an open letter to French President Felix Foru in print. "Mr. President! - it said. - What a lump of dirt the Dreyfus trial has laid on your name! And Esterhazy's acquittal is an unheard-of slap in the face, inflicted on truth and justice. The dirty trail of this slap stains the face of France! " The writer openly stated that everything secret sooner or later becomes clear, but that it usually does not end well.
The authorities found Zola guilty of insulting her and brought her to trial. The leader of the socialists, Jean Jaures, the writer Anatole France and many famous people of art and political figures came to the trial. But the reaction, too, did not sleep, by no means: the bandits, hired for no reason at all, burst into the courtroom, the opponents of Dreyfus and Zola were given a standing ovation, and the speeches of the defenders were drowned out by shouts. An attempt was made to sue Zola right on the street in front of the courthouse. Despite everything, the court convicted Emile Zola: imprisonment for one year and a fine of three thousand francs. The writer was also deprived of the Order of the Legion of Honor, but the writer Anatole France also refused it in protest.
As a result, a political crisis began in France, caused by social instability that was brewing in the depths of society. A wave of Jewish pogroms swept through the cities of France. There was talk that the supporters of the monarchy were preparing a conspiracy against the republic.
The country was divided into two hostile camps: Dreyfusars and Anti-Dreyfusars, and two forces clashed. One - reactionary, chauvinistic and militaristic - and directly opposite to it, progressive, laborious and democratic. The air began to smell perceptibly of a civil war.
And here Esterhazy's nerves could not stand it, and in August 1898 he fled abroad. In February 1899, on the day of the funeral of President Faure, the French monarchists attempted a coup d'état, which ended in failure. Now, after all these events, the scales have swung in the direction of the Dreyfusars. The new government of the country was headed by a member of the moderate republican party Waldeck-Russo. An experienced and sane politician, he immediately set in motion a revision of the Dreyfus case. The most notorious anti-Dreyfusars and participants in the February conspiracy were arrested. Dreyfus was brought from the island and the trial began again in the city of Rennes. But the chauvinists did not quit. During the trial, a bandit sent by them seriously wounded Dreyfus's defender and Zola, Labori's lawyer. The military court could not step over the "honor of the uniform" and again found Dreyfus guilty, contrary to all evidence, but mitigated the punishment: demotion and 10 years of exile. Then it became obvious to everyone that a little more and people would just start cutting each other on the streets. Therefore, the new French President Emile Loubet simply pardoned Dreyfus under the pretext of his poor health. But Dreyfus was fully rehabilitated by the court only in July 1906, and died in 1935.
The Dreyfus case showed the whole world with horrifying frankness the powerlessness of the "little man" in front of the state machine, which was interested so that such "grains of sand" would not spoil its old millstones. The process showed how easily people fall into the arms of chauvinism and how easily it is possible to manipulate them through the corrupt media.
