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Document 175816 ALFRED DREYFUS Jewish French Army officer unjustly accused of treason. Postcard Photograph signed: "A. Dreyfus". B/w, 3½x5½ overall, image 3¼x4½ (one surface). From the Collection C. Coquelin. Alfred Dreyfus, the French Army officer convicted of treason, served as a symbol of the anti-Semitism rampant in France. The 12-year controversy known as the Dreyfus Affair began in 1894 when French counter-intelligence retrieved from the wastepaper basket of the German military attaché in Paris, a handwritten schedule listing secret French military documents that had been or were to be passed to Germany. The inference was that someone on the General Staff was a traitor. Suspicion fell on Alfred Dreyfus, the only Jew on the staff, although there was no real evidence against him. Dreyfus was tried in secret, convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. In 1896, a note was found indicating that a Major Esterhazy was a spy, receiving money from the Germans. Re-examination of the Dreyfus file indicated that the handwritten schedule, the only evidence against Dreyfus, was in the hand of Esterhazy. Esterhazy was put on trial in 1898 but was acquitted. Esterhazy's acquittal resulted in writer Émile Zola's famous open letter to the French President: "J'Accuse!" Dreyfus was tried and convicted a second time in 1899 but was pardoned by French President Loubet. His original conviction was set aside in 1906 and Dreyfus was restored to his rank and was awarded the Legion of Honor. Fine condition. SEE IF DOCUMENT 175816 IS FOR SALE RIGHT NOW!!
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