Title: The trial of Emile Zola
Subtitle: containing M. Zola's letter to President Faure relating to the Dreyfus case, and a full report of the fifteen days' proceedings in the Assize Court of the Seine, including testimony of witnesses and speeches of counsel.
Description: A first-hand account of the Dreyfus Affair, one of the most important events in French history, and details the conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, for supposed military espionage. Zola's open letter to President Félix Faure accusing the military of a conspiracy to condemn an innocent man led to his own trial for libel. Although Zola and his editor were found guilty, the trial spelled the beginning of the end for the anti-Semitic movement, as public access to information revealed the truth about the Dreyfus trial and ultimately led to Dreyfus's release and reinstatement. The Dreyfus Affair is a reminder of the importance of public access to information and the danger of its restriction.
Subjects: History, Politics and government, Trials, litigation, Antisemitism, Treason, Trials (Seditious libel)
Places: France
People: Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy (1847-1923), Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), Emile Zola (1840-1902), Félix Faure (1841-1899)
Time periods: 19th century, 1870-1940