FRANCE: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMILE ZOLA "J'ACCUSE" EDITORIAL AND ITS DEFENCE OF JEWISH ARMY CAPTAIN ALFRED DREYFUS, WRONGLY ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR GERMANY

Record ID: 646406

  • Title: FRANCE: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMILE ZOLA "J'ACCUSE" EDITORIAL AND ITS DEFENCE OF JEWISH ARMY CAPTAIN ALFRED DREYFUS, WRONGLY ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR GERMANY
  • Date: 8th January 1998
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 8 AND 10, 1998) (JANUARY 10, 1998) 1. LV EXTERIOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 0.05 2. SLV POSTER ANNOUNCING ANNIVERSARY OF "J'ACCUSE" 0.09 3. MV NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER LAURENT FABIUS ARRIVING 0.15 4. LAS HUGE REPRODUCTION OF AURORE FRONTPAGE WITH "J'ACCUSE" HEADLINE UNFURLED ON WALL OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 0.30 5. CU FABIUS LOOKING UP AS REPRODUCTION UNFURLED 0.35 6. HAS PEOPLE WATCHING 0.37 7. SCU FABIUS SPEAKING ABOUT ZOLA'S TEXT IN THE AURORE LETTER AND SAYING THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IS DEEPLY ATTACHED TO THE VALUES OF JUSTICE FREEDOM AND TRUTH (FRENCH) 0.55 (JANUARY 8, 1998) 8. SCU "L'AFFAIRE DREYFUS" BOOK ON LECTURN AT PREVIEW OF ITEMS FOR AUCTION IN DREYFUS COLLECTION 1.01 9. SLV ITEMS ON DISPLAY 1.05 10. SCU/CU DREYFUS DEPICTED IN CARTOON WITH TitLE "LE ROI DES PORCS" (2 SHOTS) 1.11 11. SCU ILLUSTRATION IN BOOK DEPICTING DREYFUS TRIAL (2 SHOTS) 1.18 12. CU ILLUSTRATION WITH JUSTICE HOLDING JUDAS SIGN (2 SHOTS) 1.32 13. SCU AUCTIONEER JACQUES TAJAN LOOKING AT ITEMS ON DISPLAY 1.39 14. SCU ITEMS IN GLASS CASE ON DISPLAY 1.42 15. SCU OWNER OF AUCTION HOUSE TAJAN, JACQUES TAJAN, SPEAKING ABOUT DREYFUS AFFAIR AND ZOLA'S "J'ACCUSE" (FRENCH) 2.32 16. SCU/CU FRAMED COPY OF L'AURORE FRONTPAGE SHOWING ZOLA'S SENTENCE (2 SHOTS) 2.43 17. HAS PAN ROOM FULL OF ITEMS FOR AUCTION 2.54 (JANUARY 10, 1998) 18. LV EXTERIOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 3.00 Initials S3 P3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 23rd January 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA3UU4ABCTCOUVPT4QZQ99AWFUE
  • Story Text: - INTRO: French officials and the public are preparing to mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most influential editorials in history, Emile Zola's J'accuse and its defence of the wrongly accused French Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus.

    A poster-sized copy of Zola's 1898 editorial from the newspaper L'Aurore was unfurled on France's National Assembly building on Saturday (January 10), as part of the official commemoration of what French President Jacques Chirac called a "dark spot" on French history.

    National Assembly speaker Laurent Fabius told children visiting the Assembly for the occasion that the Dreyfus case, which deeply split the country, was "a major event in the history of the Republic." Dreyfus' was wrongly convicted of spying for Germany in 1894.

    His innocence was established a year before the L'Aurore editorial by army intelligence chief colonel Georges Picquard, but the general staff ordered it covered up fearing such a disclosure would dishonour the army.

    Dreyfus, the first Jew to serve on the general staff, was eventually exonorated and returned to France in 1906 after 5 years on the notorious Devil's Island penitentiary.

    The case split France between stauch Roman Catholics, anti-Semites, nationalists and conservatives opposed to the republic, and anticlericals, Jews, left-wing intellectuals and radicals.

    Chirac has likened the case to the split created by the wartime pro-Nazi Vichy regime and those seeking Allied liberation and independence.

    The anniversary is also being marked by the sale of up to 600 artifacts related to the case at the small Tajan auction house in Paris.

    Owner Jacques Tajan said the items would be sold as a whole, and included letters between Zola and Dreyfus, newspaper articles and cartoons.

    Tajan has refused to identify the seller, simply saying the collection has been put together over a 20 year period, and that the estimated price is between 80,000 - 100,000 francs (about 13,000 - 16,000 U.S. dollars)
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