J'accuse!

On January 13, 1898 the French newspaper L'Aurore printed on its front page an open letter from the writer Émile Zola to the French government, condemning the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus. The letter caused a stir among the public because it accused the French government of being anti-Semetic. 

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Dreyfus, of Jewish descent, was from the Alsace region bordering Germany in northeast France but when Germany took the province, he left for Paris where he joined the French Army. In 1894, he was an artillery captain and was accused of being a spy for Germany. 

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The evidence against Dreyfus was flimsy but he was convicted in a secret court martial, stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment in a penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana. While being publicly humiliated, the insignia cut from his uniform and his sword broken, Dreyfus cried out, "I swear that I am innocent. I remain worthy of serving in the Army. Long live France! Long live the Army!"

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Eventually, after a campaign by his supporters, led by Émile Zola, a retrial and an appeal in 1906, Dreyfus was pardoned and made a Knight of the Legion of Honor, France's highest award for courage, honor and patriotism. Today, the phrase "J'accuse!" is used as an expression of outrage at the abuse of power and a condemnation of injustice. 

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