An "act of reparation": MPs want to elevate Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of general
Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Tuesday, May 6, that he had tabled a bill in the National Assembly to elevate Captain Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of Brigadier General, a week after a similar bill was submitted by the Socialist group in the Senate. One hundred and thirty years after the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, in a context of rising anti-Semitic acts in France, this law "would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits and a tribute to his republican commitment."
The submission of this bill by the head of the Macronist Renaissance group, a member of parliament for Hauts-de-Seine, is a response to an appeal launched by the first president of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, the former secretary general of the Élysée, Frédéric Salat-Baroux, and the president of the Maison Zola-Musée Dreyfus, Louis Gauthier, published in Le Figaro in mid-April.
In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason and forced into exile on Devil's Island in French Guiana, based on false accusations fueled by deep-rooted anti-Semitism in French society at the end of the 19th century.
"The anti-Semitism that struck Alfred Dreyfus is not a thing of the past. Today's acts of hatred are a reminder that this fight is still relevant today," Gabriel Attal emphasizes in his bill. "Five years of deportation and humiliation irremediably hampered his military career. It is undeniable that without this injustice, Alfred Dreyfus would have naturally risen to the highest ranks," the text also states.
The rehabilitation of Alfred Dreyfus, achieved in 1906, is also a founding moment in the history of the French left. "The Dreyfus Affair marked (...) the emergence of a new left, embodied by figures such as Jean Jaurès and Jules Guesde. This modern left advocated a vision of the individual beyond reductive categories, recognizing the richness and universality of humanity, which retains all its value today," the socialists assert in their Senate bill. At this stage, a date for the text to be examined in Parliament has not been set.
La Croıx
