Anti-Semitism, Media and Zionism Shira Pinczuk University of Winchester HCJ - 2013 The Dreyfus Affair.

Anti-Semitism, Media and Zionism

Shira Pinczuk University of Winchester

HCJ - 2013

The Dreyfus Affair

Introduction

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

The Power of Media

Without media we wouldn’t have heard about the story

Journalism is what turned the Dreyfus file into Dreyfus affair and into 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

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

• Mathieu Dreyfus, the elder brother became the chief architect of the restoration of his brother

• France is divided:

– Against: army, catholic church, monarchists

– In support: republicans, socialists, Jews

The Events

• 1896: a French Army major named Ferdinand 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

• 1898: Emile Zola- J’Accuse

• 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

Political context

1894the Third Republic is twenty-four years old, very divided

and broken

– France has been defeated in the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 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• France is very militaristic – the army is seen as the symbol of French identity

• There is high hope for vengeance

• Army is a status symbol, collectively and individually

• Army is active

• It is the safe-keeper of tradition

• Close society

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

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

triggers considerable emotion, far beyond Jewish circles.

Anti-Semitism• Nationalism

• Concern about the sense of “French greatness”

• Jewish emancipation has evolved since the French revolution

• 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

• La Libre Parole newspaper: “France is for French” allows Drumont to further expand his audience to a popular readership

Anti-Semitism

• La Croix succeeds in bringing together certain groups of Roman Catholics who are seeking to position themselves outside the party politics and ideologies (Hanna Arendt)

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

• Hanna Arendt - about Rahel Varnhgen - Jewish German writer, who was converted to Catholicism

• Social discrimination

The Affair in The Media28 October 1984A letter is received at La Libre Parole, with information about Dreyfus

case,“…they say that he is away, but this is a lie , they want to keep it quiet…”

29 OctoberLa 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 1 NovemberBig headlines: “Severe threat! Jewish officer was arrested! Capitan

Dreyfus!”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 big day

Defence is in the media• November 1896

Bernard Lazare - 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 circulation of media

• Circulation- anti Dreyfusards • La Libre Parole 500,000

readers • Le Petit Journal 1,500,000• At the end of the 19th century,

it was the most widely read Roman Catholic publication in France

• Deryfusards • 200,000 L’Aurore • Only 10%from the French press• Published mainly in Paris • Intellectuals and artists

Herzl, Lazare and Zionism• Bernard Lazare was a French Jewish political journalist, and

anarchist. • 1894: Anti-Semitism, its History and Causes, an 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 Lazar joins the fight with passion

Bernard Lazare

November 1896• Bernard Lazare - Dreyfus Affair- A Miscarriage of Justice ending

with the phrase “J’accuse”• 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 deaparts from Herzl’s ideas, as

he was bourgeois• Jews in France didn’t like him • Dies in 1903- only few come to his funeral Mathieu Dreyfus

arrive, Alfred Dreyfus is absent.

Theodor Herzl • Austro-Hungarian journalist and writer. He is the father of modern

political Zionism and in effect the foundation of the State of Israel• Completely secular. • See him self as a German, but proud of his background• Very concerned about anti-Semitism• Wagner burial ceremony• His solution again- to become assimilated• On his diary he comes with an idea to ask the Pope to make a massive

baptism for all the Jews in Europe• “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 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 after the customs war, 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