Dr. Pozzi and The Dreyfus Affair
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Dr. Pozzi and The Dreyfus Affair |
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Captain Alfred Dreyfus |
Though the French have always been lauded for their sophistication and culture, the stench of anti-Semitism
has permeated Gallic society since Christianity became the dominant religion. The vile mistrust of Jews
mutated through the ages and Judism was seen in many quarters as a caldron of perversity. Despite being
the birthplace of the Enlightenment, anti-Jewish sentiments, perhaps because of the influence of the most
reactionary elements of Catholic Church, kept its hold on the French psyche.
Indeed, the Enlightenment did not liberate the populace from the shackles of superstition or obliterate anti-Jewish prejudice; perversely, it may have made Jew-baiting worse. Many scientists and philosophers of the Enlightenment attacked Jews for their time-honored rituals and religious beliefs which they saw as superstition and mysticism. Anti-Semitism, dormant in France during the Revolution, was re-ignited in the 19th Century by reactionary elements of the Roman Catholic Church. Swiss theologian James Carroll noted that, “hundreds, perhaps thousands of Catholic priests attended anti-Semitic congresses, gave Jew-baiting speeches, and, in their sermons, inflamed Catholic congregations all over France.” |
| France’s endemic anti-Semitism came under the scrutiny of the world when Captain Alfred Dreyfus, an obscure French Army officer of Jewish extraction, was falsely accused of treason. A native of Alsace-Lorraine, Dreyfus and his family were forced to relocate to Paris after the German annexation in 1871. He joined the army as an engineer and rose through the military hierarchy, attaining the rank of Captain. His life was unremarkable until 1894 when official papers were discovered in a wastebasket in the office of a German military attaché. Captain Dreyfus immediately became suspect because he not only had access to the type of information supplied to the German agent but also had the misfortune to be a Jew at a time of growing anti-Jewish hysteria. He was found guilty of treason in a secret military court-martial that denied him the right to examine the evidence against him. Dreyfus was stripped of his rank in a humiliating ceremony then, after a verdict of life imprisonment, was shipped off Devil’s Island, a hellacious penal colony located off the coast of South America. |
La dégradation de Dreyfus d'après Le petit journal,
quotidien antisémitique
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Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart | Since he had few defenders, Dreyfus appeared to be destined to die in disgrace until Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, an unapologetic anti-Semite, was appointed chief of army intelligence two years after Dreyfus was convicted. Picquart examined the evidence and investigated the affair in greater detail, concluding that the guilty officer was a major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. When Picquart persisted in attempting to reopen the case, the army transferred him to Tunisia. A military court acquitted Esterhazy, ignoring the convincing evidence of his guilt. |
Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy |
| The affair became an incendiary issue among French intellectuals when Pozzi became involved. Perhaps because he was a Protestant, he had never been inundated with vitriol from anti-Semitic priests (though his father’s ideas regarding Judaism are unclear) As a man of scientist, a physician and disciple of Broca and Darwin, Dr. Pozzi ignored the racial aspects of modern anti-Semitism. A number of his intimates including Bernhardt, Madame Straus, the Proust brothers and his great love, Emma Fischhof, were of Jewish ancestry; as an ardent supporter of Republican ideal, he was an opponent of the rampant anti-Semitism of the time. |
| The Dreyfus Affair might have ended horribly had it not been for the determined intervention of novelist Émile Zola, a friend of Dr. Pozzi’s. Pozzi was a vocal member of a large clique that circled about Zola and joined with the voices demanding that Dreyfus be exonerated. Zola published his denunciation in an open letter entitled J’accuse! Because of publicly attacking the army cabal, Zola was found guilty of libeling the military and was sentenced to imprisonment. He fled to England, where he remained until being granted amnesty but the avalanche of public opinion was on his side. Societal passion became even more inflamed, fanned on one side by the political right and the leadership of the Catholic Church, both of which were openly hostile to the Republic. Reactionaries declared the Dreyfus case to be a conspiracy of Jews and Freemasons who colluded to damage the prestige of the army and thereby destroy France. |
Émile Zola |
Senator Samuel Pozzi |
The second trial was conducted at an empty lycée in Rennes. Pozzi, who was now a Senator, was
determined to be present. A distant relative who was the secretary of Labori, Dreyfus’s lawyer,
managed to get him an entry pass. Pozzi arrived in Rennes and immediately went to the tavern where
the pro-Dreyfus faction congregated each evening. The main players, Zola, Reinach, Clemenceau,
chose not to attend because their presence would have been incendiary; however, the rest of the
faithful, including Pozzi, were in attendance.
At the court, during the intermission, people noted Pozzi’s tall figure among the civilians who held violent discussions apart from the military. The discord became so heated that without warning, an assassin wounded Dreyfus’s lawyer with a bullet in the back. Luckily, Pozzi had just left the building when the shooting occurred but it would not be the last time he escaped a bullet. In spite of growing support among the French populace, Dreyfus was again found guilty at the second trail and sentenced to be sent back to Devil’s Island; however, he accepted a clemency offer of President Émile Loubet. |
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Zola died in 1902 and never saw the fruits of his labors but in 1904 another lengthy retrial
was granted. In 1905, the Radical Party made the public aware of the role of the Catholic
leadership in the Dreyfus case and succeeded in passing legislation separating church and state.
Finally in 1906, twelve years after the case had began, the long- suffering Dreyfus was exonerated
of the charges, given the Legion of Honor and promoted to the rank of major. His ultimate
acquittal strengthened the Republic, in no small part when the insufferably conduct of its
enemies, most notably the army and the Catholic hierarchy, was revealed to the world.
In June of 1908, Zola’s cremated remains were transferred to the Pantheon in a solemn ceremony; Dreyfus was present at the tribute as was Pozzi who stood near him on stage. Suddenly, a journalist and anti-dreyfusard named Grégori shot Dreyfus, wounding him slightly in the arm. Pozzi ignored the personal danger and immediately rushed forward to provide aid, an act for which Dreyfus was always profoundly grateful. Dr. Pozzi remained Dreyfus’s personal physician and friend until his own death in 1918. |
The Pantheon in Paris |