ALFRED DREYFUS

A deeply sympathetic reexamination of the life of Alfred Dreyfus and the role antisemitism played in the affair that enflamed the French Republic.

Samuels, the director of the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism and author of The Betrayal of the Duchess, places Dreyfus the man at the center of this biographical reconsideration—though he admits that the reticent, proud officer from Alsace “would not have wanted to be the subject of this book.” The subject of countless scholarly works, Dreyfus remains an enigmatic figure, and Samuels only occasionally penetrates his armor. His sudden arrest on October 15, 1894, for passing secrets to the Germans seemed to prove to the growing body of rabid antisemites that Jews were not true Frenchmen and were eager to betray the country. Without sufficient evidence of his guilt—and considering the behind-the-scenes military coverup that had clearly targeted him as a scapegoat—Dreyfus became a symbol of the betrayal of the liberal values so cherished by the leaders of the French Revolution. Samuels thoroughly revisits the scholarship over the decades and wonders whether Dreyfus was accused because he was a Jew or because he was a modernizer of an army stuck in calcified ways. The author challenges the argument about Jewish assimilation at the time and rebuts the myth that French Jews did not come to Dreyfus’ support. In terms of Dreyfus himself, he was a deeply devoted family man who kept his faith from public scrutiny. “Rarely has so private a person been forced to live so public a life,” writes Samuels. During five harsh years of incarceration on Devil’s Island, he resisted suicide because of his burning desire for exoneration and the restoration of honor for his family.

A capable introduction to the intense factionalism the Dreyfus Affair ignited and how numerous relevant arguments remain.