The French parliament on Monday backed a bill that would promote Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army captain wrongly convicted of treason in 1894, to the rank of brigadier general, an act of reparation for one of the most notorious acts of antisemitism in the country's history.
The lower-house National Assembly unanimously approved the legislation, which is seen as a symbolic step in the fight against antisemitism in modern France.
The draft law was put forward by former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who leads President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance party.
For the promotion to take effect, it still has to be approved by the upper house Senate at a date that has yet to be fixed.
All 197 deputies present voted in favour in the lower house.
The rapporteur of the proposed law, Renaissance lawmaker Charles Sitzenstuhl, said the vote "will go down in history" and called on senators "to quickly adopt the text".
The symbolic promotion of Dreyfus, whose condemnation came amid rampant antisemitism in the French army and wider society in the late 19th century, comes at a time of growing alarm over hate crimes targeting Jews in the country.
Recognition of merits
"Promoting Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits, and a tribute to his commitment to the Republic," said Attal, who was France's youngest prime minister during a spell in office that lasted less than eight months last year.
"The anti-Semitism that hit Alfred Dreyfus is not a thing of the past," said Attal, whose father was Jewish, adding that France must reaffirm its "absolute commitment against all forms of discrimination".
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Dreyfus, a 36-year-old army captain from the Alsace region of eastern France, was accused in October 1894 of passing secret information on new artillery equipment to a German military attache.
The accusation was based on a comparison of handwriting on a document found in the German's wastepaper basket in Paris.
Dreyfus was put on trial amid a virulent anti-Semitic press campaign. But novelist Emile Zola then penned his famous "J'accuse" ("I accuse...") pamphlet in support of the captain in 1898.
Despite a lack of evidence, Dreyfus was convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment in the infamous Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana and publicly stripped of his rank.
But Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of the intelligence services, reinvestigated the case in secret and discovered the handwriting on the incriminating message was that of another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.
When Picquart presented the evidence to the general staff of the French army, he himself was driven out of the military and jailed for a year, while Esterhazy was acquitted.
In June 1899, Dreyfus was brought back to France for a second trial. He was initially found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, before being officially pardoned – though not cleared of the charges.
Only in 1906, after many twists, did the high court of appeal overturn the original verdict, exonerating Dreyfus.
He was reinstated with the rank of major. He served during World War I and died in 1935, aged 76.
Call for place in Pantheon
The backers of the bill believe that had Dreyfus been able to pursue his career under normal circumstances, he would have risen to the top of the French army.
Sitzenstuhl had also suggested while the bill was being debated at parliament's defence committee -- where it won overwhelming approval – that Dreyfus could be entombed in the Pantheon, the Paris mausoleum reserved for France's greatest heroes.
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Such a decision rests with Macron but a source close to him, asking not to be named, told AFP that his priority "at this stage is to bring to life the values of Dreyfusism, a fight that is still relevant today for truth and justice, against antisemitism and arbitrariness".
Macron opened a museum dedicated to the Dreyfus story in October 2021.
France is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, as well as one of the largest Muslim communities in the European Union.
There has been a rise in reported attacks against members of France's Jewish community since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, 2023 and the Israeli military responded with a devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
France's Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalised with paint overnight at the weekend, in what the Israeli embassy denounced as a "coordinated antisemitic attack".
(with AFP)
