I would add other Dreyfus.
The Capitaine Alfred Dreyfus. From the Bourgeoisie, Jew, Officer in the French Army, Artillery.
A Jew could be an officer in the French Army. No need to convert, no need to change his name.
The High Cast Officers didn’t accept this new political line easily. Jews were not allowed to be in the Army before the Revolution (this horrible event) and they should know their places…
He was chosen to be the easy scapegoat by these Officers so engulfed in their prejudices they taught they could get away with it.
After all, it works in all others European Countries and to be Jew was a common insult in the French Parliament. But it didn’t work.

So when half a nation rose in the defence of a JEW, they couldn’t understand. What a lot of noise for just a Jew… Civil unrest, families splinted, demonstrations and all nasty things for a Jew…
And then, the French learnt that if you are not defending one individual, even if he is from the Bourgeoisie, even if he is an Officer, even if he is a Jew, you are the next on the list.
Either Dreyfus was guilty and shot by firing squad as a traitor and German Spy; either he is not and shouldn’t be in jail…
They wanted a proper investigation and Court, and sentence.


The surprise is not that anti-Semitism existed in France but is the fact that half a Nation took the defence of a Jew.