"''J'Accuse...!''" (; "I Accuse...!") is an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper ''

L'Aurore ''L’Aurore'' (; ) was a literary, liberal, and socialist newspaper published in Paris, France, from 1897 to 1914. Its most famous headline was Émile Zola's '' J'Accuse...!'' leading into his article on the Dreyfus Affair. The newspaper was ...

'' by

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

in response to the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

. Zola addressed

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Félix Faure Félix François Faure (; 30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899) was the President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for ...

and accused his

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899. Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include

Bernard Lazare Bernard Lazare (14 June 1865, Nîmes – 1 September 1903, Paris) was a French literary critic, political journalist, polemicist, and anarchist. He was also among the first Dreyfusards. Life Lazare's initial contact with symbolists introduced h ...

's ''A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair'' (November 1896). As a result of the popularity of the letter, even in the English-speaking world, ''J'accuse!'' has become a common expression of outrage and accusation against someone powerful, whatever the merits of the accusation. ''J'accuse!'' is one of the best-known newspaper articles in the world.

Background

Dreyfus affair

Alfred Dreyfus was a French army officer from a prosperous

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family.Alfred Dreyfus Biography (1859–1935)
Biography.com (2007). Retrieved 16 February 2008. In 1894, while an artillery captain for the General Staff of France, Dreyfus was suspected of providing secret military information to the German government. A cleaning woman and French spy by the name of Madame Marie Bastian working at the German Embassy was at the source of the investigation. She routinely searched wastebaskets and mailboxes at the German Embassy for suspicious documents.Burns, M. (1999). ''France and the Dreyfus Affair: A Documentary History''. NY: St. Martin's College Publishing Group. She found a suspicious bordereau (detailed listing of documents) at the German Embassy in 1894, and delivered it to Commandant Hubert-Joseph Henry, who worked for French military counterintelligence in the General Staff. The bordereau had been torn into six pieces, and had been found by Madame Bastian in the wastepaper basket of Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen, the German military attaché. When the document was investigated, Dreyfus was convicted largely on the basis of testimony by professional handwriting experts:Rothstein, E
"A Century-Old Court Case That Still Resonates"
''The New York Times'' (17 October 2007). the

graphologist Graphology is the analysis of handwriting with attempt to determine someone's personality traits. No scientific evidence exists to support graphology, and it is generally considered a pseudoscience or scientifically questionable practice. Howe ...

s asserted that "the ''lack'' of resemblance between Dreyfus' writing and that of the bordereau was proof of a 'self-forgery,' and prepared a fantastically detailed diagram to demonstrate that this was so." There were also assertions from military officers who provided confidential evidence. Dreyfus was found guilty of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in a secret military court-martial, during which he was denied the right to examine the evidence against him. The

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

stripped him of his rank in a humiliating ceremony and shipped him off to Devil's Island, a penal colony located off the coast of French Guiana in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. At this time, France was experiencing a period of

; very few outside Dreyfus' family defended him. Nevertheless, the initial conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court after a thorough investigation. In 1899, Dreyfus returned to France for a retrial, but although found guilty again, he was pardoned. In 1906, Dreyfus appealed his case again; he obtained the

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning al ...

of his guilty verdict. In 1906, he was also awarded the Cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, which was for "a soldier who has endured an unparalleled martyrdom".

Émile Zola

was born on 2 April 1840 in Paris. His main literary work was '' Les Rougon-Macquart'', a monumental cycle of twenty novels about Parisian society during the

French Second Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930s a ...

under

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

and after the Franco-Prussian War.Shelokhonov, S. (2008)
Biography for Émile Zola
at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 15 February 2008. He was also the founder of the Naturalist movement in 19th-century literature. Zola was among the strongest proponents of the Third Republic. He was made Officer of the

on 13 July 1893 by President Raymond Poincaré, but suspended on 26 July 1898. His rank was reinstated on 10 March 1901.

Publication

Zola risked his career in January 1898 when he decided to stand up for Alfred Dreyfus. Zola wrote an open letter to the President of France,

, accusing the French government of falsely convicting Alfred Dreyfus and of

. His intention was to draw the accusation so broadly that he would essentially force men in the government to sue him for libel. Once the suit was filed, the Dreyfusards (supporters of Dreyfus) would have the opportunity to acquire and publicize the shaky evidence on which Dreyfus had been convicted. Zola titled his letter "J'Accuse" (French for "I Accuse"), which was published on the front page of

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Paris daily ''L'Aurore''.

Contents of ''J'Accuse...!''

Zola argued that "the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus was based on false accusations of

and was a misrepresentation of justice." He first points out that the real man behind all of this is Major du Paty de Clam. Zola states: "He was the one who came up with the scheme of dictating the text of the bordereau to Dreyfus; he was the one who had the idea of observing him in a mirror-lined room. And he was the one whom Major Forzinetti caught carrying a shuttered lantern that he planned to throw open on the accused man while he slept, hoping that, jolted awake by the sudden flash of light, Dreyfus would blurt out his guilt."Zola, E
''J'Accuse''
. ''

'' (13 January 1898). Translation by Chameleon Translations. Retrieved 12 February 2008. Next, Zola points out that if the investigation of the traitor was to be done properly, the evidence would clearly show that the bordereau came from an infantry officer, not an artillery officer such as Dreyfus. Zola argues Dreyfus's innocence can be readily inferred from the circumstances when he states: "These, Sir, are the facts that explain how this miscarriage of justice came about; The evidence of Dreyfus's character, his affluence, the lack of motive and his continued affirmation of innocence combine to show that he is the victim of the lurid imagination of Major du Paty de Clam, the religious circles surrounding him, and the 'dirty Jew' obsession that is the scourge of our time." After more investigation, Zola points out that a man by the name of Major Esterhazy was the man who should have been convicted of this crime, and there was proof provided, but he could not be known as guilty unless the entire General Staff was guilty, so the War Office covered up for Esterhazy. At the end of his letter, Zola accuses General Billot of having held in his hands absolute proof of Dreyfus's innocence and covering it up. He accuses both General de Boisdeffre and General Gonse of religious

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

against Alfred Dreyfus. He accuses the three handwriting experts, Belhomme, Varinard and Couard, of submitting false reports that were deceitful, unless a medical examination finds them to be suffering from a condition that impairs their eyesight and judgment. Zola's final accusations were to the first court martial for violating the law by convicting Alfred Dreyfus on the basis of a document that was kept secret, and to the second court martial for committing the judicial crime of knowingly acquitting Major Esterhazy.

Trial of Zola and aftermath

Zola was brought to trial for libel for publishing his letter to the President; he was convicted two weeks later. He was sentenced to jail and was removed from the

. To avoid jail time, Zola fled to England. He stayed there until the cabinet fell; he continued to defend Dreyfus. Four years after the letter was published, Zola died from

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

poisoning caused by a blocked chimney. On 4 June 1908, Zola's remains were laid to rest in the

Panthéon The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...

in Paris. In 1953, the newspaper '' Libération'' published a death-bed confession by a Parisian roofer that he had murdered Zola by blocking the chimney of his house.

Subsequent use of the term

* In 1913, the Mexican deputy Luis Manuel Rojas gave a discourse (Yo acuso...) in front of the Chamber of Deputies against the American ambassador

Henry Lane Wilson Henry Lane Wilson (November 3, 1857 – December 22, 1932) was an American attorney who was appointed by President William Howard Taft to the post of United States Ambassador to Mexico in 1910. He brought together opponents of Mexico's democra ...

due to his participation in the assassination of president and vicepresident

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...

and José María Pino Suárez. * In 1915, the German pacifist Richard Grelling wrote a book titled ''J'Accuse!'' in which he condemned the actions of the German Empire. * In 1919, Abel Gance released his film ''

J'accuse "''J'Accuse...!''" (; "I Accuse...!") is an open letter that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper ''L'Aurore'' by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused his govern ...

'' as a statement against

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, shooting Gance to international fame. * In 1925, the most popular Palestinian Arab newspaper, '' Filastin (La Palestine)'', published a four-page editorial protesting the Balfour Declaration with the title "J'Accuse!" * In 1938, the Belgian fascist politician

Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio ...

published a polemic booklet titled ''J'accuse'' against minister Paul Stengers, of being a "cumulard, a bankster, a plunderer of savings and a coward". It provoked a retaliatory pamphlet titled ''J'accuse Léon Degrelle''. *''J'Accuse'' was the title of an underground newspaper in occupied France edited by Adam Rayski. * In 1950, on Easter Sunday, members of the

Lettrist Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou. In a body of work totaling hundreds of volumes, Isou and the Lettrists have applied their theories to all areas of art and culture ...

movement proclaimed the death of God before the congregation of the

Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

in Paris. Michel Mourre used the phrase "J'accuse" to proclaim what he saw as the wickedness of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. * In 1954, during the controversy surrounding

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is oft ...

and the allegations that he posed a security risk to the Atomic Energy Commission, journalists

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

and Stewart Alsop wrote an article for '' Harper's Magazine'' titled "We Accuse!", in which they defend Oppenheimer as the victim of a petty grudge held by AEC chairman

Lewis Strauss Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss ( "straws"; January 31, 1896January 21, 1974) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and naval officer who served two terms on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the second as its chairman. He was a major ...

. * In 1961, during the trial of Adolf Eichmann, head prosecutor Gideon Hausner used the phrase in his opening statement. * In 1982, '' Commentary Magazine'' editor Norman Podhoretz used the title "J'Accuse" for an article blaming

anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

for allegedly excessive criticism of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

during the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war. * Also in 1982,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

published ''J'Accuse: The Dark Side of Nice'' in which he declared that organised crime flourished in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

because the city's upper levels of civic government protected judicial and police corruption. * In 1998, the Australian satirical television program '' The Games'' debuted the character Jack Hughes in an episode titled "J'Accuse". The show is a satire critical of, among other things, corruption in the organizing of the Olympic Games in Sydney; the character Jack Hughes is a journalist who often probes into scandals and corruption, much to the annoyance of the show's protagonists. * In 2003, New Directions published

i poet Aharon Shabtai's ''J'Accuse'', a collection of poems drawn from two different collections, ''Politika'' and ''Artzenu'', and translated by Peter Cole. * In 2008, film director

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are th ...

released a documentary titled ''

Rembrandt's J'Accuse ''Rembrandt's J'Accuse'' is a 2008 Dutch, German and Finnish documentary film directed by Peter Greenaway about criticism of today's visual illiteracy argued by means of a forensic search of Rembrandt's 1642 painting ''The Night Watch''. Greenawa ...

''. It is a companion piece to his film '' Nightwatching''. It illustrates Greenaway's theory that Rembrandt's painting ''

The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' ( nl, De Nachtwacht), i ...

'' leaves clues to a murder by some of those portrayed. * In 2012, linguists

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

and

Hagit Borer Hagit Borer is a professor of linguistics at Queen Mary University of London. Her research falls within the area of Generative Grammar. Her theoretical approach shifts the computational load from words to syntactic structure, and pursues the cons ...

, together with seven other colleagues who had recently travelled to Gaza for a

linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

conference, wrote an open letter which began ''Nous accusons...'' ('We accuse...') on how the mainstream media fails to report on Israeli atrocities against civilians in Gaza, which was published in Canada, the US and translated, in France. * In 2012,

Wayne Swan Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954), often colloquially referred to as Swanny, is an Australian politician who is National President of the Labor Party. He was previously the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Labor ...

, the then

Deputy Prime Minister of Australia The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy chief executive and the second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially created as a ministerial portfolio in 1968, althoug ...

, told

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Julia Gillard that she had given the "j'accuse speech" when she delivered her

misogyny speech The Misogyny Speech was a parliamentary speech delivered by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on 9 October 2012 in reaction to the opposition leader Tony Abbott accusing her of sexism. "Looking back, I think it was driven by a deep frustr ...

to the Australian Parliament, accusing

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

of sexism and misogyny. *On 13 May 2016, Brazilian columnist and politics professor published an article in the ''

Folha de S.Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...

'' newspaper titled "Nós acusamos" (we accuse) denouncing the several problems related to the removal from office of Brazil's president

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first ...

. *On 1 September 2016, Argentinian lawyer and politician

Margarita Stolbizer Margarita Stolbizer (born 17 March 1955) is an Argentine lawyer and politician. Originally a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), she founded her own party, Generation for a National Encounter (GEN) in 2007. She has been a member of the Arge ...

published a book titled ''Yo acuso'' ("I accuse") denouncing corruption during the government of Argentina's president

Cristina Kirchner Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...

. *On 9 June 2017, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

correspondent Peter Baker wrote, in reference to the testimony of fired US

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

director

James Comey James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...

before the

US Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

's Intelligence Committee, "While delivered in calm, deliberate and unemotional terms, Mr. Comey's testimony on Thursday was almost certainly the most damning j'accuse moment by a senior law enforcement official against a president eferring_to_Donald_Trump.html" ;"title="Donald_Trump.html" ;"title="eferring to Donald Trump">eferring to Donald Trump">Donald_Trump.html" ;"title="eferring to Donald Trump">eferring to Donald Trumpin a generation." *On 19 April 2020, UK cabinet minister Michael Gove used the phrase "a j'accuse narrative" in response to media reporting of the prime minister's absence from COBR meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. * On 3 June 2020, ''The Atlantic'', writing about President Trump's former Defense Secretary and retired Marine General James Mattis's comments in an interview in which Mattis strongly criticized President Trump on multiple points, characterizing them as Mattis's "j'accuse".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:J'accuse Dreyfus affair Headlines Open letters 1898 documents 1898 in France Works originally published in French newspapers Works by Émile Zola Allegations Quotations from literature French political catchphrases Redirects from opening lines 1890s neologisms