The National Assembly will elevate Captain Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general

The National Assembly is expected to approve, on Monday, June 2, a bill by Gabriel Attal "elevating Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general , " an "act of reparation" aimed at completing his rehabilitation, 130 years after his conviction. The bill is expected to be adopted unanimously at first reading, as it was last week in the Defense Committee.

"Promoting Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general today would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits and a tribute to his republican commitment," underlines the Hauts-de-Seine MP and president of Renaissance in the explanatory statement of the text. And this in a context where "the anti-Semitism that struck Alfred Dreyfus is not a thing of the past," and where the "Republic must constantly reaffirm its vigilance, its firmness, its absolute commitment against all forms of discrimination," he notes.

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 deeply rooted anti-Semitism in late 19th-century French society. In 1906, a ruling by the Court of Cassation exonerated him, effectively leading to his reinstatement in the army. Subsequently, a law appointed him squadron leader (commander), effective the day the law was promulgated.

An "injustice" because "the reintroduction of Captain Dreyfus to the rank of squadron leader does not correspond to a complete career reconstruction" , underlines the rapporteur of the bill, the deputy of Bas-Rhin Charles Sitzenstuhl (Renaissance). Alfred Dreyfus himself asked to see his career revalued, without obtaining success, and left the army in 1907 − before serving again during the Great War.

The question of the full and complete rehabilitation of Alfred Dreyfus "was long hidden and ignored, outside of his family and specialists in the Affair," notes Charles Sitzenstuhl. A step was taken in 2006, during a national tribute in his honor: President Chirac then recognized that "justice [was] not completely done to him," and that he was not able to "benefit from the career reconstruction to which he was nevertheless entitled." The Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, also mentioned it in 2019. Two years later, Emmanuel Macron considered that it was "undoubtedly up to the military institution, in a dialogue with the representatives of the French people," to appoint Dreyfus general posthumously.

Several parliamentary initiatives have also been taken in recent years, by the right in the Assembly and the Senate, and more recently by Socialist Party Senator Patrick Kanner, in response to a mid-April column 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. His grandson, Charles Dreyfus, has also made his life a fight for the memory of his ancestor.

Last Wednesday in committee, all the group speakers joined forces to support the measure. "In a context of rising anti-Semitism, this posthumous reparation reminds the entire nation of the urgency of defending its principles and the importance of its unity," argued RN MP Thierry Tesson, whose party has constantly given pledges of its commitment against anti-Semitism. LFI MP Gabriel Amard, for his part, castigated the "double talk of the RN," where "anti-Semitic remarks and behaviors are still rife," according to him. "It's in my family that we descend from the Dreyfusards, not in yours," he said, calling for the fight against anti-Semitism not to be used as a political "tool of disqualification ."

At the conclusion of the debates, Charles Sitzenstuhl declared himself personally in favour of Alfred Dreyfus's entry into the Pantheon, believing that the vote on the proposed law would "strengthen the momentum" in this direction. Questioned on this hypothesis, the entourage of the President of the Republic affirmed on Sunday that his "concern" was "at this stage, to keep alive the values ​​of Dreyfusism, the fight still relevant today for truth and justice, against anti-Semitism and arbitrariness" .