French military officer (1859–1935) whose central role in the Dreyfus Affair, the most sensational cause célèbre in the final years of the 19th century, thrust him into the international spotlight. Discovering the murky circumstances—the recklessness of the French government in pursuing a speedy conviction, the sloppy procedure of the court-martial—author Emile Zola wrote his famous open letter, “J’Accuse!,” laying bare the entire disgraceful affair. Zola was convicted of libel and fled to England, though he returned to France in time to witness the fall of the government and Dreyfus’s release following an overturned second conviction. ANS in French, signed “A. D.,” on his 3.75 x 2.25 personal visiting card, no date. Short note to the widow of Emile Zola thanking her for her greetings and informing her that the memory of Zola will forever live with him and his thoughts. On this card, Zola appears as Chef d’Escadron d’Artillerie, a position he obtained after his rehabilitation in 1906, but held for only a short time. In fine, clean condition.
Dreyfus' 1899 conviction was eventually reversed by the highest court in France, after which he was reinstated in the army, promoted, and awarded the Legion of Honor. The Dreyfus Affair officially concluded on July 21, 1906 when he was honored by a dress parade military ceremony. However, Zola had died four years earlier in his Paris home, asphyxiated by fumes from a fireplace which historians now theorize was actually a murder plot by extremists who sought revenge for his defense of Dreyfus. In 1908, Zola’s remains were moved to the Pantheon, where France's greatest citizens are interred. Dreyfus attended the ceremony—where a right-wing journalist shot him in the arm. A unique connection between Dreyfus and the widow of the man who worked so hard for his eventual freedom.
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