France has posthumously promoted Alfred Dreyfus, a figure linked to the biggest judicial scandal in the country’s history, to the rank of brigadier general. The relevant law was signed by President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, symbolically righting the wrong from 1894.
On Tuesday, France promoted Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general. The relevant law was signed on Monday by President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, and on Tuesday it was published in the Official Gazette of new legislation, writes TASR according to the AFP agency.
Macron declared July 12 as a day of remembrance for Alfred Dreyfus
“The French nation posthumously raises Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general,” the law reads. The lower house of parliament unanimously approved the bill in June, the Senate earlier this month. President Macron also declared July 12 as a day of remembrance for Alfred Dreyfus.
Originally a Jewish army captain, he was falsely accused of treason in favor of Germany in 1894. On December 22, 1894, a military court demoted him on the basis of false evidence in an atmosphere of anti-Semitism and sentenced him to lifelong exile on the Devil’s Island (Île du Diable) in Guyana.
The writer Émile Zola also believed in his innocence
His conviction caused an international scandal and caused a deep split in society in France. The writer Émile Zola also believed in his innocence. He published an open letter “J’Accuse…!” in which he accused the government of anti-Semitism and illegal imprisonment.
Lieutenant-Colonel Georges Picquart, the head of intelligence, discovered in a new investigation that the real spy was another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. The Army General Staff refused and Picquart was expelled from the Army.
Dreyfus died with the rank of colonel
Dreyfus was rehabilitated only in 1906 and served in the army during the First World War. He died in the rank of colonel on July 12, 1935 at the age of 75. Supporters of Dreyfus’s promotion believe that under normal circumstances, his skills would have taken him to the highest military positions.
According to AFP, the law on his promotion is considered a symbolic step in the fight against anti-Semitism in modern France. Hate crimes against Jews following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war are causing concern there.
