Page 18 - HISTORY ANGKOR

M I L E S T O N E S

Power of

the Pen

WORDS, in the form of the bordereau
(memorandum), falsely attributed
to Dreyfus, helped convict him. But
words, forming one of the most fa-
mous front pages in the history of
journalism, also helped free him.
Émile Zola’s “J’Accuse . . . !” of Janu-
ary 1898 inveighed against a trav-
esty of justice. “What a cesspool
of folly and foolishness . . . what
corrupt police tactics, what inquis-
itorial, tyrannical practices!” By the
evening, 200,000 copies had been
sold. The article was instrumental
in generating public outcry about
the Dreyfus conviction. Soon af-
ter receiving his pardon from the
French government on September
19, 1899, Dreyfus thanked Zola for
his efforts, calling the letter a “he-
roic act . . . whose greatness will re-
main incomparable when the dust
from the struggle has settled, when
ZOLA’S ARTICLE IN L’AURORE, JANUARY 13, 1898 BORDEREAU (MEMORANDUM)
history shall have recorded it.” AGENCE BULLOZ/RMN-GRAND PALAIS BNF/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

it came from the German ambassador. helped procure the original secret dossier, that Dreyfus was doomed, France’s most
It was the draft of a letter addressed to a came forward with another letter from prominent novelist stepped in.

French officer, Ferdinand Esterhazy. The the Italian military attaché that men-
new head of intelligence services, Georges tioned Dreyfus by name. This letter— Zola’s Bombshell
Picquart, who had no prior involvement later known as the “faux Henry”—was, On January 13, 1898, the front page of the
with the Dreyfus case, discovered that in fact, a forgery. socialist newspaper L’Aurore carried an
Esterhazy was in contact with the German Arguing that the secret dossier had not open letter to the president of the repub-
Embassy. Picquart assumed Esterhazy been shown to defense counsel during the lic by Émile Zola, France’s great novelist,
must be a second traitor, but when he trial, Dreyfus’s supporters pushed to re- then at the height of his fame. Written
obtained two handwriting samples from open the investigation. Picquart and a se- under the electrifying banner headline
Esterhazy and compared them with the nior senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner “J’Accuse . . . !,” it fiercely denounced the
bordereau supposedly written by Drey- took up their case. Then came a stroke military for falsely convicting Dreyfus.
fus, he realized that the handwriting was of luck for the Dreyfusards: Esterhazy’s The letter split France into two camps:
identical. The bordereau had been written stockbroker saw a facsimile of the bor- the Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards.
by Esterhazy, he concluded, not Dreyfus. dereau and recognized the handwriting The former, rallying around 18th-
When Picquart insisted on reopening as his client’s. He informed Mathieu century republican ideals of justice and
the Dreyfus investigation during the final Dreyfus, who denounced Esterhazy. In equality, demanded that the case be re-
months of 1896, the army closed ranks. November 1897 the military was forced opened and the true culprits punished.
First, the troublesome Picquart was re- to open an inquest into Esterhazy. The latter, pro-army and mostly Cath-
moved from his post, then transferred Although he was brought to trial in a olic, supported the ideals of the ancien
to Tunis. The army leaked to the press military court in January 1898, Esterhazy régime, and saw the Dreyfus case as

details of the secret dossier given to the was acquitted in a closed session. Soon an effort to damage military prestige.
judges in the military trial of December after, Picquart was arrested for revealing Meanwhile, the Zola letter provoked a
1894. Major Henry, meanwhile, who had official secrets. Just when it appeared backlash of anti-Semitic violence across

16 MARCH/APRIL 2022