View source for Alfred Dreyfus

{{short description|French Army officer (1859–1935)}}
{{Expand French|topic=bio|date=June 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Alfred Dreyfus
| image               = Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) - photo originale.jpg
| caption             = Dreyfus {{circa|1894}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1859|10|09|df=y}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1935|07|12|1859|10|09|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Mulhouse]], France
| death_place         = Paris, France
| resting_place       = [[Montparnasse Cemetery]], Paris<br/>{{Coord|48|50|17|N|2|19|37|E|display=inline}}
| children            = Pierre Dreyfus<br/>Jeanne Dreyfus Levy
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Lucie Dreyfus|Lucie Eugénie Hadamard]]|18 April 1890}}
| mother              = Jeannette Libmann
| father              = Raphaël Dreyfus
| alma_mater          = {{lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique]]|italic=no}}<br/>[[École Supérieure de Guerre]]
| allegiance          = [[French Third Republic]]
| branch              = [[French Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1880–1918
| rank                = [[Ranks in the French Army#Lieutenant-Colonel|Lieutenant-Colonel]] (posthumously [[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers généraux - general officers|Brigadier-General]])
| unit                = *31st Artillery Regiment
*1st Cavalry Division
| commands            = 
| battles             = 
{{tree list}}
*[[World War I]]
**[[Battle of Verdun]]
**[[Second Battle of the Aisne]]
{{tree list/end}}
| mawards             = 
| signature           = Alfred Dreyfus signature.svg
}}

'''Alfred Dreyfus'''{{efn|{{IPA|fr|alfʁɛd dʁɛfys|lang}}, {{IPA|de|ˈalfʁeːt ˈdʁaɪfuːs|lang}}}} (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a [[French Army]] officer best known for his central role in the [[Dreyfus affair]]. In 1894, Dreyfus fell victim to a judicial conspiracy that eventually sparked a major political crisis in the [[French Third Republic]] when he was wrongfully accused and convicted of being a German spy due to [[Antisemitism in France|antisemitism]]. Dreyfus was arrested, [[Cashiering|cashiered]] from the French army and imprisoned on [[Devil's Island]] in [[French Guiana]]. Eventually, evidence emerged showing that Dreyfus was innocent and the true culprit was fellow officer [[Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy]].

Gradual revelations indicated that the internal investigation conducted by the French army was biased; Dreyfus was an ideal scapegoat due to being a Jew, and military authorities were aware of his innocence but chose to cover up the affair and leave him imprisoned rather than lose face. A political scandal subsequently erupted, shaking French political life and highlighting antisemitism in the French army and government. After numerous judicial and political developments, the publication of [[Émile Zola]]'s manifesto ''[[J'Accuse...!]]'' in 1898 brought new momentum to Dreyfus' cause. Zola accused French military and political leadership of covering up the affair. Dreyfus was eventually exonerated, rehabilitated and reinstated in the French army, although at a lower rank than his seniority would have warranted.

"Anti-Dreyfusards" and antisemites in France, however, viewed even his incomplete rehabilitation unfavorably, and while attending the transfer of Zola's remains to the [[Panthéon]], Dreyfus was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by an antisemitic militarist who was later acquitted at trial. Dreyfus later fought in [[World War I]], notably at the battles of [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]] and [[Second Battle of the Aisne|the Aisne]], before retiring and leading a quiet life. He died in 1935 in [[Paris]] and was buried in the [[Montparnasse Cemetery]]. Dreyfus' life and the antisemitic persecutions he endured left a significant mark on French political consciousness, while Esterhazy remained unpunished until his death. Among Dreyfus’s defenders were writers such as Zola, [[Charles Péguy]], and [[Anatole France]], politicians such as [[Georges Clemenceau]] and [[Jean Jaurès]], filmmakers such as [[Georges Méliès]], and the founders of the [[Human Rights League (France)|Human Rights League]] (LDH) [[Francis de Pressensé]] and [[Pierre Quillard]].

==Early life, family, and education==
Born in [[Mulhouse]], [[Alsace]] on 9 October 1859,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v009.htm|title=Birth certificate of Dreyfus, Alfred|publisher=Government of the French Republic|website=culture.gouv.fr|access-date=24 July 2019|archive-date=24 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724180232/http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v009.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> to Raphaël and Jeannette Dreyfus (née Libmann), Alfred Dreyfus was the youngest of nine children (seven of whom survived to adulthood).<ref name="YuMuseum"/> His grandfather was a merchant from a long established Alsatian Jewish family in Rixheim, not far from Mulhouse. His father became a prosperous industrialist who started a cotton mill, then expanded the business with a weaving factory. This enabled the Dreyfus family to live a comfortable and affluent life within Mulhouse society. He spent his first years in a house on Rue du Sauvage, then later in a mansion on Rue de la Sinne, both in Mulhouse.

Because of his mother's bedridden illness following his birth, his sister Henriette became like a second mother to him. Alfred was 10 years old when the [[Franco-Prussian War]] broke out in the summer of 1870, and following the annexation of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] by [[Proclamation of the German Empire|Germany]] after the war, he and his family moved to [[Basel]], [[Switzerland]], where he attended high school. The family later relocated to [[Paris]].

==Early career==
The childhood experience of seeing his family uprooted by [[Franco-Prussian War|the war with Germany]] prompted Dreyfus to decide on a career in the military. Following his 18th birthday in October 1877, he enrolled in the elite {{lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique]]|italic=no}} military school in [[Paris]], where he received military training and an education in the sciences. In 1880, he graduated and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the French army. From 1880 to 1882, he attended the artillery school at [[Fontainebleau]] to receive more specialized training as an [[artillery]] officer. On graduation, he was assigned to the 31st Artillery Regiment, which was in the garrison at Le Mans. Dreyfus was subsequently transferred to a mounted artillery battery attached to the First Cavalry Division (Paris), and promoted to lieutenant in 1885. In 1889, he was made adjutant to the director of the Établissement de Bourges, a government arsenal, and promoted to captain.<ref name="YuMuseum"/>

On 18 April 1891, the 31-year-old Dreyfus married 20-year-old [[Lucie Dreyfus|Lucie Eugénie Hadamard]] (1870–1945). They had two children, Pierre (1891–1946) and Jeanne (1893–1981).<ref name="YuMuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.yumuseum.org/dreyfus3.html|title=Alfred Dreyfus|website=YuMuseum.org|publisher=[[Yeshiva University Museum]]|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721033354/http://www.yumuseum.org/dreyfus3.html|archivedate=July 21, 2011|date=|access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref> Three days after the wedding, Dreyfus learned that he had been admitted to the [[École Supérieure de Guerre]] or War College. Two years later, he graduated ninth in his class with honourable mention and was immediately designated as a trainee in the French Army's General Staff headquarters, where he would be the only Jewish officer. His father Raphaël died on 13 December 1893.

At the War College examination in 1892, his friends had expected him to do well. However, one of the members of the panel, General Bonnefond, felt that "Jews were not desired" on the staff, and gave Dreyfus poor marks for ''cote d'amour'' (''French slang: attraction''; translatable as ''likability''). Bonnefond's assessment lowered Dreyfus' overall grade; he did the same to another Jewish candidate, Lieutenant Picard. Learning of this injustice, the two officers lodged a protest with the director of the school, General Lebelin de Dionne, who expressed his regret for what had occurred, but said he was powerless to take any steps in the matter. The protest would later count against Dreyfus. The French army of the period was relatively open to entry and advancement by talent, with an estimated 300 Jewish officers, of whom ten were generals.<ref name=PRead>{{cite book|first=Piers Paul|last=Read|author-link=Piers Paul Read|date=2012|title=The Dreyfus Affair|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |isbn=978-1-4088-3057-4}}</ref>{{rp|83}} However, within the Fourth Bureau of the General Staff, General Bonnefond's prejudices appear to have been shared by some of the new trainee's superiors. The personal assessments received by Dreyfus during 1893/94 acknowledged his high intelligence, but were critical of aspects of his personality.<ref name=PRead/>{{rp|84}}

==The Dreyfus affair==
{{Main|Dreyfus affair}}
{{DreyfusAffair}}
[[File:Alfred Dreyfus, Vanity Fair, 1899-09-07 edit.jpg|right|thumb|An 1899 painting of Dreyfus by [[Jean Baptiste Guth]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'']]
A torn-up handwritten note, referred to throughout the affair as the ''bordereau'', was found by a French housekeeper, a woman named Marie Bastian, in a wastebasket at the German Embassy. Bastian, whose job was to burn the waste of [[Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen]], instead sent it to [[Hubert-Joseph Henry]] for potential interest to French intelligence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dreyfus Affair Court-Martial (1894) |url=https://www.famous-trials.com/dreyfus |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=www.famous-trials.com |archive-date=7 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807210028/https://www.famous-trials.com/dreyfus |url-status=live }}</ref> The bordereau described a minor French military secret, and had obviously been written by a spy in the French military.

In 1894, this made the French Army's counter-intelligence section, led by Lieutenant Colonel [[Jean Sandherr]], aware that information regarding new artillery parts was being passed to [[Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen]], the German military attaché in Paris, by a highly placed spy most likely on the General Staff. Suspicion quickly fell upon Dreyfus, who was arrested for [[treason]] on 15 October 1894.

On 5 January 1895, Dreyfus was summarily convicted in a secret court martial, [[cashiering|publicly stripped]] of his army rank, and sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] on [[Devil's Island]] in [[French Guiana]]. Following French military custom of the time, Dreyfus was formally degraded ([[Cashiering|cashiered]]) by having the rank insignia, buttons and braid cut from his uniform and his sword broken, all in the courtyard of the [[École militaire|École Militaire]] before silent ranks of soldiers, while a large crowd of onlookers shouted abuse from behind railings. Dreyfus cried out: "I swear that I am innocent. I remain worthy of serving in the Army. Long live France! Long live the Army!"<ref name=PRead/>{{rp|113}}

In August 1896, the new chief of French military intelligence, Lieutenant Colonel [[Georges Picquart]], reported to his superiors that he had found evidence to the effect that the real traitor was the Major [[Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy]]. Picquart was silenced by being transferred to command a [[tirailleur]] regiment based in [[Sousse]], Tunisia, in November 1896. When reports of an army cover-up and Dreyfus' possible innocence were leaked to the press, a heated debate ensued about [[antisemitism]] and France's identity as a Catholic nation or a republic founded on equal rights for all citizens.

Esterhazy was found not guilty by a secret court martial, before fleeing secretly to England and shaving off his moustache. [[Rachel Beer]], editor of ''[[The Observer]]'' and the ''[[Sunday Times]]'', interviewed him twice. He confessed to writing the bordereau under orders from Sandherr in an attempt to frame Dreyfus. She wrote about her interviews in September 1898,<ref>Beer, Rachel. "Light Upon the Dreyfus Case. Major Esterhazy in London." (18 September), "The Esterhazy Revelations." (25 September). ''The Observer'', 1898.</ref> reporting his confession and writing a [[Editorial|leader column]] accusing the French military of antisemitism and calling for a retrial for Dreyfus.<ref name=observer>{{Cite news|title=Rachel Beer, editor of the Observer 1891–1901|last=Narewska|first=Elli|work=The Guardian|date=2 March 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/gnmeducationcentre/2018/mar/02/rachel-beer-editor-of-the-observer-archive}}</ref>

In France there was a passionate campaign by Dreyfus' supporters, including leading artists and intellectuals such as [[Émile Zola]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Summary of Emile Zola's J'Accuse, and its Repercussions. Dreyfus Letter to Zola's Widow, 1910|url=http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?alfred-dreyfus-commemorates-emile-zola-1910|work=SMF Primary Sources|publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation|access-date=29 January 2017|archive-date=23 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223205259/http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?alfred-dreyfus-commemorates-emile-zola-1910|url-status=dead}}</ref> following which he was given a second trial in 1899, but again declared guilty of treason despite the evidence of his innocence.

However, due to public opinion, Dreyfus was offered and accepted a pardon by President [[Émile Loubet]] in 1899 and released from prison; this was a compromise that saved face for the military's mistake. Had Dreyfus refused the pardon, he would have been returned to Devil's Island, a fate he could no longer emotionally cope with; so officially Dreyfus remained a traitor to France, and pointedly remarked upon his release:
{{blockquote|The government of the Republic has given me back my freedom. It is nothing for me without my honour.<ref name="YuMuseum"/>}}
For two years, until July 1906, he lived in a state of house arrest with one of his sisters at [[Carpentras, France|Carpentras]], and later at [[Cologny]].

On 12 July 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The day after his exoneration, he was readmitted into the army with a promotion to the rank of major (''Chef d'Escadron''). A week later, he was made Knight of the [[Légion d'honneur|Legion of Honour]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Minutes of the induction of Dreyfus into the Legion of Honour, French Ministry of Culture and Communication|url=http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/the-aftermath-of-the-affair/from-eyewitnesses-to-historians/media-90-Minutes_of_the_induction_of_Dreyfus_into_the_Legion_of_Honour.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512173352/http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/the-aftermath-of-the-affair/from-eyewitnesses-to-historians/media-90-Minutes_of_the_induction_of_Dreyfus_into_the_Legion_of_Honour.htm|archivedate=12 May 2011|website=dreyfus.cultur.fr|publisher=|date=|access-date=}}</ref> and subsequently assigned to command an artillery unit at [[Vincennes, France|Vincennes]]. On 15 October 1906, he was placed in command of another artillery unit at [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]].

==Aftermath==
While attending a ceremony relocating Zola's ashes to the [[Panthéon, Paris|Panthéon]] on 4 June 1908, Dreyfus was wounded in the arm by a gunshot from a right-wing journalist, {{ill|Louis Grégori|fr}}, who was trying to assassinate him. Grégori was acquitted by the Parisian court, which accepted his defence that he had not meant to kill Dreyfus, meaning merely to graze him.<ref name="Valier 2005 p. 48">{{cite book|last=Valier|first=C.|title=Crime and Punishment in Contemporary Culture|publisher=Taylor & Francis|series=International Library of Sociology|year=2005|isbn=978-1-134-46105-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_P-BAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48|page=48}}</ref>

In 1937, Dreyfus' son Pierre published his father's memoirs based on his correspondence between 1899 and 1906. The memoirs were titled ''Souvenirs et Correspondance'' and translated into English, as ''Dreyfus: His Life and Letters'', by [[Betty Morgan (politician)|Betty Morgan]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dreyfus|first=Pierre|date=1937|title=Souvenirs Et Correspondance. Dreyfus: His Life and Letters.|translator-last=Morgan|translator-first=Betty|url=|publisher=Hutchinson & Co.|location=London|isbn=<!--no ISBN-->}} [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54950497.texteImage French original] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030231303/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54950497.texteImage |date=30 October 2021 }}</ref>

Dreyfus started corresponding with the marquise [[Marie-Louise Arconati-Visconti]] in 1899 and began attending her Thursday (political) salons after his release. They continued their correspondence until her death in 1923.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n17/michael-wood/the-french-are-not-men|title=The French Are Not Men|last=Wood|first=Michael|journal=London Review of Books|date=17 September 2017|volume=39|issue=17|access-date=29 October 2017|archive-date=30 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030003605/https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n17/michael-wood/the-french-are-not-men|url-status=live}} ([[London Review of Books]])</ref>

==Later life==
===World War I===
Dreyfus' prison sentence on Devil's Island had taken its toll on his health. He was granted retirement from the army in October 1907 at the age of 48. As a reserve officer, he re-entered the army as a major of artillery at the outbreak of [[World War I]]. Serving throughout the war, Dreyfus was promoted to the rank of [[lieutenant colonel]].

By then in his mid-50s, Dreyfus served mostly behind the lines of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], in part as commander of an artillery supply column. However, he also performed front-line duties in 1917, notably at [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]] and on the [[Chemin des Dames]]. He was promoted to Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]] in November 1918.<ref>[http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/chronology-html.htm Biography of Alfred Dreyfus and General Chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413003708/http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/chronology-html.htm|date=13 April 2015}}, French Ministry of Culture and Communication</ref>

Dreyfus' son Pierre also served throughout the entire war as an artillery officer, receiving the [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre]].

===Death===
[[File:Grave Alfred Dreyfus (cropped).jpg|thumb|Grave of Alfred Dreyfus]]

Dreyfus died in Paris aged 75, on 12 July 1935. Two days later, his funeral cortège passed the [[Place de la Concorde]] through the ranks of troops assembled for the [[Bastille Day]] national holiday. He was interred in the [[Cimetière du Montparnasse]], Paris.

A statue of Dreyfus holding his broken sword is located at Boulevard Raspail, nº116–118, at the exit of the [[Notre-Dame-des-Champs (Paris Métro)|Notre-Dame-des-Champs metro station]]. A duplicate statue stands in the courtyard of the [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme|Museum of Jewish Art and History]] in Paris.

During the German occupation of France during WWII, [[Lucie Dreyfus]], who had played a major role in the fight to exonerate her husband, was hidden in a convent in Valence. Their son, Pierre Léon Dreyfus (1891–1946), escaped to the United States in 1943. Their daughter, Jeanne Dreyfus Lévy (1893–1981), also survived, but granddaughter Madeleine Levy, arrested by French police in [[Toulouse]], was deported and died of typhus in [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] in January 1944, aged 25.<ref name=PRead/>{{rp|352}}

==Modern aftermath==
In October 2021, French president [[Emmanuel Macron]] inaugurated a museum dedicated to the Dreyfus affair in [[Médan]] in the northwestern suburbs of Paris. He said that nothing could repair the humiliations and injustices Dreyfus had suffered, and "let us not aggravate it by forgetting, deepening, or repeating them".<ref name=observer2021>{{Cite news|title=Rise of far right puts Dreyfus affair into spotlight in French election race|last=Henley|first=Jon|work=The Observer|date=30 October 2021|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2021/oct/30/rise-of-far-right-puts-dreyfus-affair-into-spotlight-in-french-election-race}}</ref>

The reference to not repeating them follows attempts by the French far right to question Dreyfus' innocence. An army colonel was [[Cashiering|cashiered]] in 1994 for publishing an article suggesting that Dreyfus was guilty; far-right politician [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]]'s lawyer responded that Dreyfus' exoneration was "contrary to all known jurisprudence". [[Éric Zemmour]], a far-right political opponent of Macron, said repeatedly in 2021 that the truth about Dreyfus was not clear; his innocence was "not obvious".<ref name=observer2021/>

[[File:Monument Dreyfus (Tel Aviv).jpg|thumb|A sculpture of Alfred Dreyfus in [[Tel Aviv]]]]
Dreyfus had been promoted to major when he was exonerated in 1906, a lower rank than was justified by his seniority, and to lieutenant colonel in 1916. In 2025, the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] finally unanimously backed a symbolic effort to promote him posthumously to brigadier general as an act of reparation, subject to confirmation by the [[Senate (France)|Senate]].<ref>{{cite news| last=Kassam | first=Ashifa | title=France finally acts to deliver justice in infamous Dreyfus case |newspaper=The Guardian | date=2 June 2025 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/02/france-finally-acts-to-deliver-justice-in-infamous-dreyfus-case}}</ref> The promotion was finalized by President [[Emmanuel Macron]] on 17 November 2025.<ref>{{cite news|title=France promotes Jewish soldier Alfred Dreyfus, 130 years after wrongfully convicting him of treason |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20251118-france-promotes-jewish-soldier-dreyfus-130-years-after-scandal |work=[[France 24]] |date=18 November 2025}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Dreyfus' grandchildren donated over three thousand documents to the [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme]] (Museum of Jewish Art and History), including personal letters, photographs of the trial, legal documents, writings by Dreyfus during his time in prison, personal family photographs, and his officer stripes that had been ripped off as a symbol of treason. The museum created an online platform in 2006 dedicated to the Dreyfus Affair.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mahj.org/fr/decouvrir-collections-betsalel/affaire-dreyfus-24707 | title=Affaire Dreyfus, Paris, France, &#124; Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme | date=29 May 2017 | access-date=3 September 2023 | archive-date=3 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903000826/https://www.mahj.org/fr/decouvrir-collections-betsalel/affaire-dreyfus-24707 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Military ranks==
{|class="wikitable"width="100%"
|-
!colspan="7"style="background:lightsteelblue"|[[Ranks in the French Army|Ranks]] attained in the [[French Army]]
|-
!Student
![[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers subalternes - junior officers|Sous-lieutenant]]
![[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers subalternes - junior officers|Lieutenant]]
![[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers subalternes - junior officers|Capitaine]]
![[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers supérieurs - senior officers|Chef d'escadrons]]
![[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers supérieurs - senior officers|Lieutenant-colonel]]
![[Ranks in the French Army#Officiers généraux - general officers|Général de brigade]]
|-
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OR-1.svg|30px]]
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-1a.svg|30px]]
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-1b.svg|30px]]
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-2.svg|30px]]
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-3.svg|30px]]
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-4.svg|30px]]
|align="center"width="14%"|[[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-6.svg|30px]]
|-
!1 October 1878<ref name=b>{{cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v004.htm|title=Service records of Dreyfus, Alfred|publisher=Government of the French Republic|website=culture.gouv.fr|access-date=24 July 2019|archive-date=24 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724180235/http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v004.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
!4 October 1880<ref name='b'/>
!1 November 1882<ref name='b'/>
!12 September 1889<ref name='b'/>
!13 July 1906<ref name='b'/>
!26 September 1918<ref name='b'/>
!18 November 2025<ref>{{cite news |date=18 November 2025 |title=France promotes Jewish soldier Alfred Dreyfus, 130 years after wrongfully convicting him of treason |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20251118-france-promotes-jewish-soldier-dreyfus-130-years-after-scandal |work=[[France 24]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>
|}

==Honours and decorations==
===National honours===
{|class="wikitable"style="width:100%"
|-
!style="width:100px;"|Ribbon bar!!Honour
|-
|[[File:Legion Honneur Chevalier ribbon.svg|100px]]
|[[Knight]] of the [[Legion of Honour|National Order of the Legion of Honour]] – 21 July 1906<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v013.htm|title=Legion of honour certificate (Knight) of Dreyfus, Alfred|publisher=Government of the French Republic|website=culture.gouv.fr|access-date=24 July 2019|archive-date=24 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724180234/http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v013.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|[[File:Legion Honneur Officier ribbon.svg|100px]]
|[[Officer]] of the [[Legion of Honour|National Order of the Legion of Honour]] – 21 January 1919<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v001.htm|title=Legion of honour certificate (Officer) of Dreyfus, Alfred|publisher=Government of the French Republic|website=culture.gouv.fr|access-date=24 July 2019|archive-date=24 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724180227/http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH053/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL0803061v001.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
|}

===Decorations and medals===
{|class="wikitable"style="width:100%"
|-
!style="width:100px;"|Ribbon bar!!Honour
|-
|[[File:Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 ribbon.svg|100px]]
|[[Croix de guerre 1914-1918 (France)|War Cross 1914–1918]]
|-
|[[File:Medaille commemorative de la Guerre 1914-1918 ribbon.svg|100px]]
|[[1914–1918 Commemorative war medal (France)|1914–1918 Commemorative war medal]]
|}

==Images of Dreyfus from different time periods==
{{gallery|mode=packed|height=250
|File:Alfred Dreyfus in captivity on Devil's Island 1898.jpg|An 1898 photo of Dreyfus in captivity at [[Devil's Island]]
|File:AlfredDreyfus.png|A 1905 photo of the Dreyfus family
|File:11-9-19, remise de décorations aux Invalides, Dreyfus (devient officier de la légion d'honneur) - btv1b53029923h.jpg|Dreyfus (5th from right) in 1919
|File:Dreyfus-annee-de-sa-mort.jpg|Alfred Dreyfus, ca. 1930
}}

==See also==
*[[Florence Earle Coates]], a Philadelphia poet, wrote four poems about the Dreyfus affair: two entitled "Dreyfus", one published in [[s:Dreyfus (Coates, 1898)|1898]] and the other in [[s:Dreyfus (Coates, 1899)|1899]], "[[s:Picquart (Coates)|Picquart]]" (1902), and "[[s:Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume II/Le Grand Salut|Le Grand Salut]]" (1906)
*[[Jack Dreyfus]], founder of the [[Dreyfus Funds]] and a relative
*[[Gérard Louis-Dreyfus]], American businessman and distant relative
*[[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]], American actress and distant relative
*''[[J'Accuse…!]]'', influential 1898 open letter written by [[Émile Zola]]
*[[Theodor Herzl]], Austrian journalist who began the [[Zionist movement]] after seeing the antisemitism present in Dreyfus' trial
*[[Gaston Moch]], a defense supporter of Dreyfus
*[[Charles Péguy]], who wrote a defense of Dreyfus
*[[George Whyte]], an authority on the Dreyfus affair who has authored a large body of literary and stage works on Dreyfus and the Dreyfus affair
*[[Julie Dreyfus]], French actress and descendant
*[[The Dreyfus Affair (film series)|''The Dreyfus Affair'' (film series)]], an 1899 series of short silent docudramas
*''[[The Prisoner of the Devil]]'', a novel by [[Michael Hardwick]] which features [[Sherlock Holmes]] called in to solve the case
*''[[An Officer and a Spy]]'', a novel written in first person by [[Robert Harris (novelist)|Robert Harris]], in the form of an account of the Dreyfus Affair as if written by Georges Picquart
*''[[The Life of Emile Zola]]'', a 1937 film starring [[Joseph Schildkraut]] as Dreyfus, who won an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his performance
*''[[I Accuse!]]'', a 1958 film starring [[José Ferrer]] as Dreyfus
*''[[An Officer and a Spy (film)|An Officer and a Spy]]'', film by [[Roman Polanski]] (2019)

=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
===Secondary sources===
* {{Cite book |last=Burns |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Burns (historian) |title=Dreyfus: A Family Affair, 1789–1945 |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-06-016366-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Samuels |first=Maurice |author-link=Maurice Samuels |title=Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-0-300-25400-6}}

===Primary sources===
* {{Cite book |title=Lettres d'un innocent |year=1898 |trans-title=Letters from an innocent man |language=fr}}
* {{Cite book |title=Letters from Captain Dreyfus to his wife |year=1899 |language=fr}}{{snd}}written at Devil's Island
* {{Cite book |title=Cinq années de ma vie |year=1901 |language=fr}}
** {{Cite book |title=Five years of my life |publisher=Comino |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-945831-19-9}}{{snd}}translation of {{lang|fr|Cinq années de ma vie}}
* {{Cite book |title=Souvenirs et correspondence |year=1936}}{{snd}}published posthumously

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Gutenberg author|id=39212|name=Alfred Dreyfus}}
*{{Internet Archive author|sname=Alfred Dreyfus}}
*{{Librivox author|id=1141}}
*[http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/index.htm Dreyfus Rehabilitated] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119210813/http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/index.htm|date=19 January 2013}}
*[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/newspapers/search?query=%22Alfred%20Dreyfus%22 References to Alfred Dreyfus in European newspapers of the time] – The European Library
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Dreyfus, Alfred|short=x}}
*{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Dreyfus, Alfred|year=1905|short=x}}
*[http://www.shapell.org/Collection/Jewish-Figures/Dreyfus-Alfred Alfred Dreyfus Personal Manuscripts and Letters]
*[https://www.mahj.org/fr/fonds-alfred-dreyfus Online platform] on Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme site
*{{PM20|FID=pe/004250}}
*[https://rosetta.nli.org.il/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE50207804 Actors and scenes in the drama of disgrace], A booklet with nearly one hundred photographs and documents from the arrest and trial of Dreyfus, from the [[National Library of Israel]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreyfus, Alfred}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century French Jews]]
[[Category:19th-century French letter writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French letter writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French memoirists]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Mulhouse]]
[[Category:Alsatian Jews]]
[[Category:French Army officers]]
[[Category:French Army personnel who were court-martialed]]
[[Category:École Polytechnique alumni]]
[[Category:Devil's Island inmates]]
[[Category:French military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:French prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Jewish French history]]
[[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Overturned convictions in France]]
[[Category:People associated with the Dreyfus affair| ]]
[[Category:People convicted of treason against France]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the French military]]
[[Category:Recipients of French presidential pardons]]
[[Category:Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery]]
[[Category:Jewish French military personnel]]
[[Category:People deported to French Guiana]]
[[Category:People wrongfully convicted of a crime]]