A century after army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was unjustly imprisoned for spying, the French military has made an official about-face and admitted it framed an innocent man.
Gen. Jean-Louis Mourrut, head of the army's history department, said Dreyfus was the victim of a "military conspiracy which led to the conviction and deportation of an innocent man, and partially on the basis of a falsified document."His comments last week marked a significant change in the military's official treatment of the famed "Dreyfus Affair." Last year, Mourrut's predecessor was fired for writing an article in an army publication suggesting Dreyfus was, in fact, guilty.
Speaking to a Jewish group at the Paris City Hall, Mourrut said the case revealed much "about the period, French society and the army."
The head of France's Jewish community, Jean Kahn, welcomed Mourrut's comments. "The general told us things never before uttered by the military," Kahn said. "This is definitely progress."
But Mourrut, who is in charge of sprucing up the army's public image, insisted the military has changed since 1894, when Dreyfus, a wealthy father of two, was ordered to report to the military high command in civilian dress. He was placed under arrest, denied access to the file against him, and interrogated.
With the country whipped into anti-Dreyfus hysteria by an anti-Semitic press, Dreyfus was convicted of passing secrets to France's German enemies and imprisoned on Devil's Island, off the coast of South America. The only evidence was a torn sheet of paper plucked from a wastebasket in the German Embassy by a cleaning lady.
The real traitor turned out to be Maj. Ferdinand Esterhazy, who was acquitted by the military after a three-minute deliberation.
Two days later, Emile Zola penned his famous "J'Accuse," a 30-page open letter accusing the military of manipulating the courts.
Zola was jailed for libel, then forced to flee to England. But he galvanized public opinion in Dreyfus' favor.
In 1906, the military refused to admit the frame-up and found Dreyfus guilty with "extenuating circumstances." A few days later, French President Emile Loubet issued a pardon.