January 13, 1898: Émile Zola Accuses

January 13, 1898: Émile Zola, perhaps France's foremost living writer, writes an open letter to the newspaper L'Aurore, in which he accuses President Félix Faure and his government of anti-Semitism in regard to the Dreyfus Affair.

In 1870, Germany humiliated France by occupying Paris, winning the Franco-Prussian War, and claiming the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine as spoils. In 1894, just 24 years later, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was an artillery officer, both Jewish and Alsatian, although he was too young to have served in that war. He was accused of having recently communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. He was convicted, and sentenced to the notorious prison on Devil's Island, in the South African colony of French Guiana.

Alfred Dreyfus

In 1896, new evidence came to light, showing that the guilty party was, instead, Major Ferdinand Esterhazy. Not wanting to look foolish after having already "gotten their man," a military court acquitted Esterhazy in a trial that lasted only 2 days.

The Dreyfus Affair had polarized France, its alleged ideals of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité  (liberty, equality, brotherhood) dragged through the mud of elitism (many of the officers involved in framing Dreyfus were monarchists, still loyal to the idea of the fallen Emperor Napoleon III and other royal pretenders) and bigotry (France, by this point, had no official religion, but was still largely Catholic).

On January 13, 1898, L'Aurore (The Dawn), a national newspaper with a liberal stance, published an open letter from Émile Zola to the President of France, Félix Faure. Having already written extensively about how French society fell apart due to the Franco-Prussian War, Zola seemed to have credibility with both sides. He had already received France's highest civilian honor, "Officer of the Legion of Honor."

So his letter in L'Aurore caught everyone's attention. How could it not? In a big, bold headline, the paper blasted: "J'Accuse! Lettre au Président de La République par Émile Zola." (I accuse! Letter to the President of the Republic from Émile Zola.)

Félix Faure

Zola wrote, "The conviction of Alfred Dreyfus was based on false accusations of espionage and was a misrepresentation of justice." He accused Major Armand du Paty de Clam of framing Dreyfus. He pointed out that the evidence clearly showed that the incriminating document came from an infantry officer, not an artillery officer. 

Zola accused many influential men in his letter, including Major Esterhazy. And he wrote, "The evidence of Drefyus's character, his affluence, the lack of motive and his continued affirmation of innocence combine to show that he is the victim of the lurid imagination of Major du Paty de Clam, the religious circles surrounding him, and the 'dirty Jew' obsession that is the scourge of our time."

As with the Marquess of Queensberry's accusation 3 years earlier, that Oscar Wilde was having a (then-illegal) gay affair with the Marquess' son, Zola's purpose was to get sued for libel, so that the truth would come out, and those he accused would be exposed and ruined. Unlike the Marquess, however, Zola's move didn't work. He was brought to trial for libel, and was convicted, sentenced to jail, and removed from the Legion of Honor.

When the Marquess first accused Wilde, and again after Wilde was convicted, Wilde's friends told him to flee to France. He refused. To avoid jail time, Zola fled to England.

In 1899, the pressure on the French government could no longer be ignored. Faure died in office that year -- from a stroke while receiving, ahem, assistance from his mistress -- and Émile Loubet became President. He ordered Dreyfus returned to France for another trial. The Dreyfusards now included writers Anatole France and Charles Péguy, mathematician Henri Poincaré, and actress Sarah Bernhardt. An Anti-Dreyfusard hit Loubet over the head with his cane.

Dreyfus got his new trial, but he was convicted again, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Loubet pardoned him, and he was released. That freed him, but it did not restore his honor.

Zola returned to France. On September 29, 1902, he died in his house in Paris, from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by an improperly ventilated chimney. Accusations of murder were launched, but no suspect was arrested. His funeral was attended by thousands, including, having gotten permission from Zola's widow, Alexandrine.

In 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated, and his rank of Major and his previous decorations were restored. He served through the entirety of World War I, and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He died in 1935.

L'Aurore continued to be published until 1916, when the continuation of World War I made its own continuation impossible. By that point, the man who was publisher of the paper in 1898 was the Prime Minister of France, Georges Clemenceau. That same year, Armand du Paty de Clam died from wounds received 2 years earlier at the First Battle of the Marne. Ferdinand Esterhazy, who committed the crime of which Dreyfus was accused, fled to England in 1899, and died there in 1923.

In 1937, the film The Life of Emile Zola was released. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Paul Muni played Zola, and was nominated for Best Actor. He didn't win, but Joseph Schildkraut won Best Supporting Actor for playing Dreyfus.

In 1953, the newspaper Libération published the deathbed confession of Henri Buronfosse, a chimney-sweep: "Zola was asphyxiated voluntarily. I'm the one who blocked the chimney in his apartment."

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January 13, 1898 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. Hockey was still all-amateur. And basketball barely existed. Therefore, there were no scores on this historic day.