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| Alfred Dreyfus. Vérité et justice. Catalogue d'exposition sous la direction d'Isabelle Cahn et de Philippe Oriol. mahJ - Gallimard, 2025. Hard cover. 195 x 255 mm. 288 pages. Nombre d'illustrations : 250. " L’affaire Dreyfus, qui éclate en 1894 avec l’arrestation d’un officier juif accusé à tort de trahison, demeure l’un des épisodes les plus marquants de l’histoire française. Le présent catalogue explore en profondeur les multiples facettes de cette tragédie judiciaire et humaine. " - " En s’appuyant sur des documents d’archives, des objets personnels et des témoignages, l’ouvrage retrace le parcours d’Alfred Dreyfus, depuis son enfance dans une famille juive alsacienne jusqu’à sa réhabilitation en 1906. Il examine le contexte social et politique de la Belle Époque, marqué par une montée de l’antisémitisme, et révèle les implications de l’Affaire pour la société française. " - " Sont mises en lumière la lutte pour la vérité, menée par des intellectuels et des proches, et les répercussions durables de ce scandale, entre bouleversements politiques, débats sur la justice, et éveil d’une conscience collective face à l’intolérance. Ce récit, profondément ancré dans son époque, dialogue également avec les défis contemporains. " |
Exhibition: Alfred Dreyfus. Truth and Justice
March 13 to August 31, 2025
Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ)
Hôtel de Saint-Aignan
71, rue du Temple
75003 Paris
Vernissage visited on 12 March, 2025
Official introduction: Autour de l'exposition « Alfred Dreyfus. Vérité et justice »
"Nearly twenty years after its first exhibition devoted to Alfred Dreyfus, the mahJ is returning to the "Affaire" to recall the major stages of this crucial moment in French history, one of the many consequences of which was the law separating Church and State. The exhibition reveals Dreyfus's relentless fight to bring the truth to light, correcting the image of a man who was a bystander to the conspiracy that led him to spend four years in prison and another seven fighting for his rehabilitation. "
"By showcasing close to 250 archive documents, photographs, film extracts and some sixty works of art - by Jacques-Émile Blanche, Gustave Caillebotte, Eugène Carrière, Émile Gallé, Maximilien Luce, Camille Pissarro, Félix Vallotton and Édouard Vuillard - the exhibition tells the story of the Affair "with" Dreyfus, putting him back at the centre of the story. This new approach corrects the image of a self-effacing Dreyfus. It reveals a tireless fighter for the truth, the author of numerous writings, many of them unpublished and recently brought out of oblivion."
"Alfred Dreyfus was born in 1859 into an Alsatian family marked by the defeat of 1871 and the annexation of Alsace-Moselle. A fervent patriot and graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, he had a brilliant military career, which was cut short in 1894 when he was unjustly accused of high treason on behalf of Germany, sentenced by a military court, degraded and deported to French Guiana."
"The exhibition unravels the plot hatched by the General Staff and illustrates the virulent anti-Semitism on display at the end of the 19th century. Thanks to the many works on display, it places the affair in the context of the ‘Belle Époque’, and sheds light on some lesser-known aspects of the period: the diversity of Jewish reactions, the ‘birth’ of intellectuals and the ‘rise’ of the Jewish community, and the ‘rise’ of the Jewish movement, the ‘birth’ of intellectuals and the response to anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was pardoned in 1899 and rehabilitated in 1906, but his career was never reconstructed."
"The exhibition provides an insight into the current state of affairs in the Affaire, against a backdrop of renewed anti-Semitism, while Alfred Dreyfus's innocence is still the subject of conspiracy theories."
"This exhibition, which has received exceptional support from the Musée d'Orsay, is based on the rich Dreyfus collection at the mahJ, on loans from institutions - the National Archives, the French National Library, the Army Museum, the Paris Bar Association Museum, the Carnavalet Museum, the Ecole de Nancy Museum, the Maison Zola-Musée Dreyfus in Medan - and from private collections."
AA: In an age of newly rising anti-Semitism, the magnificent exhibition "Alfred Dreyfus. Truth and Jusice" at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ) is topical both in understanding history and the world today.
The Dreyfus tragedy is a case study of corruption on the highest levels of society, a devious conspiracy that shook the world, hate speech poisoning public opinion, and courage in defending justice. Alfred Dreyfus suffered a prison sentence on Devil's Island in torture-like conditions but never lost his faith in having his reputation cleared.
Émile Zola became the most prominent public defender of Alfred Dreyfus in his open letter to the President of the Republic Félix Faure titled " J'Accuse... ! ". "The truth is on the march, and nothing shall stop it". The birth of the intellectual had taken place during the Enlightenment. Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alembert and Diderot risked life and reputation to speak truth to power. "To think is to think otherwise" was the credo. In the Dreyfus Affair the role of the intellectual powered into mass media. Zola's intention was to be prosecuted for libel, which would give him the platform to provide evidence of the innocence of Dreyfus.
When Zola was convicted, he went to exile in England from which he returned in 1899. Zola died of 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning. Serious testimonies give reason to believe it was murder. Dreyfus was completely exonerated by the Supreme Court in 1906. He was never fully compensated, his health had taken a toll on Devil's Island, and his career never resumed, but he returned to service throughout World War I, as well as his son Pierre who received the Croix de guerre.
The exhibition provides rich material about the Dreyfus family history, his birthplace Mulhouse in Alsace, the French society in the 19th century, and the general atmosphere of anti-Semitism. It is a powerful visual experience ranging from high art (Camille Pissarro) to virulent anti-Semitic propaganda.
I had examined the excellent exhibition catalogue in advance and been surprised to register the absence of cinema. In the exhibition itself, cinema is present. Cinephiles have always been proud of the fact that the first conscious artist of the cinema, Georges Méliès, was a Dreyfusard. Episodes of his series L'Affaire Dreyfus 1-11 (FR 1899) are on display, as well as excerpts from Pathé's Dreyfus series which originally totalled four hours. In the final exhibition space, there is a loop excerpt of Richard Oswald's Dreyfus (DE 1930) with Heinrich George as Émile Zola speaking out at the court. Roman Polanski's masterpiece J'accuse (FR 2019) based on Robert Harris's novel An Officer and a Spy (2013) will be screened during the exposition at the museum.
At the exhibition I learned for the first time about the Dreyfus ban in the cinema. Dreyfus movies were prohibited by law in France in 1915-1950.
