The Dreyfus Affair

joerookery

joerookery

Well-known member

ps1515 by joerookery, on Flickr

We have heard of the Dreyfus affair, well here he is.

Note the he is "decorated" with a Prussian "Pour le Mérite" order ! Why? Propoganda?
This has to be some sort of photography Photoshop. An addition.


ps1515b by joerookery, on Flickr

from Wiki
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent. Sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly having communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, Dreyfus was sent to the penal colony at Devil's Island in French Guiana and placed in solitary confinement.
Two years later, in 1896, evidence came to light identifying a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy as the real culprit. After high-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after the second day of his trial. The Army accused Dreyfus of additional charges based on false documents fabricated by a French counter-intelligence officer, Hubert-Joseph Henry, who was seeking to re-confirm Dreyfus's conviction. Henry's superiors accepted his documents without full examination.
Word of the military court's framing of Alfred Dreyfus and of an attendant cover-up began to spread, chiefly due to J'accuse, a vehement public open letter published in a Paris newspaper in January 1898 by the notable writer Émile Zola. Progressive activists put pressure on the government to reopen the case.
In 1899 Dreyfus was brought back to Paris from Guiana for another trial. The intense political and judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus (the Dreyfusards), such as Anatole France, Henri Poincaré and Georges Clémenceau, and those who condemned him (the anti-Dreyfusards), such as Hubert-Joseph Henry and Edouard Drumont, the director and publisher of the anti-semitic newspaper La Libre Parole.
Eventually, all the accusations against Alfred Dreyfus were demonstrated to be baseless.

Alfred Dreyfus was reinstated into the French Army, re-promoted to his prior rank of Major, and made a Chevalier of the French Légion d'honneur in July 1906. However, his health had deteriorated during his imprisonment on Devil's Island and, on his request, he was granted an honorable discharge in 1907. In 1908, at the burial of Zola at the Panthéon, he was slightly wounded in an assassination attempt. Célestin Hennion, the head of the French Police, was on hand to arrest the would-be assassin, who was tried but found not guilty.
Dreyfus volunteered for military service again in 1914, at the beginning of World War I, serving despite advancing age in a wide range of artillery commands, as a major and finally as a lieutenant-colonel. He was raised to the rank of Officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1919. His son, Pierre Dreyfus, also served in World War I as an artillery officer and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Alfred Dreyfus' two nephews also fought as artillery officers in the French Army during World War I but both were killed.
 
Joe: I believe the award Alfred Dreyfus is wearing in your photo is not a Pour
Le Merite (PLM) but rather the Order of Saint John.
The eagles on the PLM are much smaller and the PLM has a crown over F inlaid in gold on the upper arm of the cross. The wording Pour LeMe rite is inlaid in gold on the other arms of the cross. The decoration in the photo has no inlays on the cross.
The following information contains an illustration of the Order of Saint John and may be of iterest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Saint_John_(Bailiwick_of_Brandenburg)


Reservist1
 
I think you're absolutely correct! Good eye. That still does not explain why it is there. Do you think it is an add-on?
 
I thought Captain Dreyfus was Jewish? I seem to recall that part of the scandal was that he was singled out and persecuted because of his religion. The Order of St. John is a Christian order and would not have admitted a Jew, especially at that period in history.
 
As my grandson is staying over here, I am rather late with reacting. Lt. Col. Dreyfus' distinctions were: Officier de la Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918. This medal looks like the Cross of the Légion d'Honneur, which looks of the centre has been altered many times during periods.
 
Uh… it takes more than a waxed moustache and pince-nez to make an Alfred Dreyfus.

This is Captain Dreyfus:

8245-050-75EEC0A6.jpg


The medal worn by the anonymous Commandant (equivalent in rank to a major) is the Kreuz der Rechtsritter des Johanniter-Ordens. Nevertheless, there is something altogether "rotten" about the portrait. The kepi rank braid is that of a Commandant, the sleeve rank braid a Capitaine's. Perhaps, the photograph is a bogus representation of "Dreyus" with the Johanniter being a poor substitute for the Légion d'Honneur. Very fishy, indeed…
 
I don't know Chas,

I am incredibly lacking in my knowledge of the French army or this guy. However, your comments unleashed a firestorm into my inbox.

I will spare us all repeating any of the visceral comments but here are the gems.

Dreyfus was 35 for the trial. He was graying on the sides and mostly bald on top and in front. This is backed up by a series of pictures from other publications. He seems a far bit older than the youthful picture you posted–one that is repeated in many websites and publications. In these photographs and renderings I have seen 3 different numbers on the hat, 14, 31, and 21. I do not know exactly what that means nor do I know exactly what number is on this 1st picture due to the plume.

During the trial his photograph certainly looks as though he is wearing the same uniform. Though he is without a hat. I know nothing about French uniforms and rank however I have been told repeatedly that the 1st picture is of a commandant/or a captain of the general staff of artillery. I do not know if this is the picture of an anonymous major or if there was a commandant rank that was more Capt .than major. I know from my own experience that I once served with a commandant from Belgium. His rank made him sort of a captain and a half but certainly not a major. We are not talking about current NATO rank establishments.

He looks somewhat worse in the pictures after Devils Island. He also often wore a medal that clearly is the Legion of Honor. It is placed higher and closer to the center. The picture initially submitted looks to be before Devils Island. However I cannot be sure as there is no date. There is something certainly fishy about the medal. :-k
 
Joe, how did you identify the photograph you posted as Dreyfus' ? Is it actually marked as so?
Bruno
 
This is the front cover of a book I purchased in the 1970s after seeing the film, The Life of Emile Zola, in which Joseph Schildkraut portrayed Dreyfus:

chapman.jpg


The previous photo I posted of Alfred Dreyfus was courtesy of Britannica Online. I have no idea how old the subject was when he posed for the portrait, but his rank is that of Capitaine, the highest rank attained by Dreyfus prior to his degradation. All one has to do is count the horizontal braiding on the kepi; one = Sous-lieutentant, two = Lieutenant, three = Capitaine, and so on. The same applies to cuff rank Quatrefoil, which is why the subject in Joe's photo is wearing a conflicting combination of ranks. After reinstatement, Dreyfus was promoted Commandant (major). He would not have been a Commandant, or Chevalier of the Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, until reinstatement.

Here is another variation of the same image:

41E2K6ZXE1L_SS500_.jpg


Photo of Dreyfus after his reinstatement (this is the image to compare against Joe's photo):

51K22EY992L_SS500_.jpg


A mature Dreyfus in civvies:

1dreyfus.jpg


There is no question in my mind that these images are of the same man, and that man is Alfred Dreyfus. At least, the academic world would appear to agree with me. As for distinguishing features, the nose is consistently aquiline, with small nostrils, and nothing like the proboscis on the fellow in Joe's photo.

According to IMDB, Alfred Dreyfus has been portrayed in films as far back as 1899 (by Bernard H. Paris). It seems plausible to me that Joe's portrait may be of an actor in the guise of Dreyfus, which would easily explain the implausibilities of both the uniform and Johanniter. Beyond this I have nothing more to suggest, other than to express my astonishment that logic and empirical arguments engender "visceral" reactions. :o
 
For what it is worth this link is to an image identified as a police photograph of Alfred Dreyfus after his conviction.

http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/eng_captions/25-2.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reservist1
 
Joe, how did you identify the photograph you posted as Dreyfus' ? Is it actually marked as so?
Bruno
Click to expand...
Yes on the back but in writing.


The extremely senior collector that sold me the postcard insists that it is he. I do not know enough to comment. I think it has been a very interesting discussion.

The photo is of apparently the time before Devils Island.
 
This is one of those truly fascinating discussions worthy of being set aside so it doesn't go by the wayside. Is there a hall of fame here? :D

Thanks guys. Never heard of the Dreyfus Affair until I read about it here - or was it there (Flickr?). It takes a while for the news to filter down here.

- Brett
 
Concerning the French rank of Commandant; as far as I know, a Commandant is the equivalent of a Major, a rank reserved for a leader of a battalion, of an artillery battery, of a territorial regiment, or the chief in command of a fortress. Some army units, like the Chasseurs Alpins, initially existed solely out of battalions. The highest rank for such a battalion was Lt. Colonel or Commandant (Major). When the battalions chief, a Lt. Col. or a Major, was killed in battle a Capitaine (a company leader) would temporarily take over the command until another Commandant was assigned.
The most famous commandant perhaps was Commandant Raynal, commander of Fort de Vaux during its siege in the summer of 1916.
Others were perhaps Henri Duchesne, battalion chief of the 215th R.I. , killed at the Tete de Faux . Colardelle and Barberot were both commanders of the 5th B.C.P. The first one was killed on 21 June 1915, the secondone, his follow-up, was killed on 4 August 1915.
 
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