5 Things You Didn’t Know
About the Dreyfus Affair

October 3, 2013
On Tuesday, October 8, the Maltz Museum world premieres the exhibition TRAITOR! Spies, Lies and Justice Denied: The Dreyfus Affair.  Before I list things you may not know about this French political scandal that happened more than 100 years ago, let’s make sure you know about “the affair” itself.  Please follow this link to the website of the Lorraine Beitler Collection of the Dreyfus Affair for a brief synopsis.  Go ahead…I’ll wait…

OK, got it now? Sound familiar from history class? Or a viewing of The Life of Emile Zola on Turner Classic Movies one afternoon?  Great – now here are some bits of trivia you did not know and I hope will peak your interest to have you come to the Maltz Museum to experience this immersive exhibition (on display through January 5, 2014).

  1. A young journalist from Vienna was sent to cover the affair.  That man was Theodore Herzl, the future founder of Zionism.
  2. Though Dreyfus was fully cleared of charges in 1906, it took another 89 years for the French Army to finally admit they were wrong.
  3. Ranks #4 in Time’s Top 10 Trials That Shook The World
  4. Our closing date for the exhibition, January 5, is also the day that Dreyfus was stripped of his rank in a humiliating public ceremony in the courtyard of Paris’ Ecole Militaire.
  5. The Dreyfus Affair led to the creation of the Tour de France (read how at The Weekly Cycle)

Show off this knowledge to your friends and family when you bring them to tour TRAITOR! Spies, Lies and Justice Denied.  They are sure to be impressed.

 


Maltz Museum