Der Fall Dreyfus

In September 1894, the French intelligence service discovered a leak in the army's general staff: military secrets were being betrayed, specifically to the Germans. A few weeks later, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was arrested despite a lack of evidence, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to life banishment on Devil's Island. Hardly anyone doubted the correctness of the verdict: Dreyfus was Jewish. Louis Begley draws on his extensive knowledge as a lawyer to reconstruct this now almost forgotten case. He skillfully bridges to the present: like the prisoners at Guantanamo, Dreyfus was condemned by an unfair and biased military court. Begley illustrates how anti-Semitism and racism operate in a supposedly liberal society, both then and now: preconceived notions lead to accusations.