15.05.2025

New Translation of an EGO article by Karl Zieger

The article "Emile Zola's ‘J'accuse’ and the Dreyfus affair" by Karl Zieger has been translated into English by Joe P. Kroll and the translation has been published on European History Online (EGO) under the auspices of the IEG.
In the closing years of the 19th century the so-called Dreyfus Affair not only shook France but had repercussions that were felt across Europe and particularly in the German Empire.



The Affair began when, in 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a captain in the French army, was found guilty of the trumped-up charge of high treason (for the benefit of Germany) and transported to Devil's Island off the coast of French Guiana. Although justified doubt was soon cast on his guilt, the French army and war ministry upheld his conviction until the publication, in January 1898, of an open letter addressed to the president of the republic by Emile Zola. In this letter, published in the daily L'Aurore under the heading "J'accuse...!", Zola accused the military hierarchy of having fabricated evidence and the president and minister of war of covering up these forgeries. The publication of "J'accuse...!" is widely considered to mark the birth of the modern "engaged intellectual". At a time marked by nationalism and burgeoning anti-Semitism – being both Jewish and Alsatian, Dreyfus made the perfect scapegoat for the French public – the Dreyfus Affair was also a considerable media event.