Alfred Dreyfus statue erected in Israel

The sculpture, a copy of one commissioned by the French government in 1983, honors the famed Jewish army officer falsely accused of treason and then reinstated in the early 20^th century.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A duplicate of a French statue honoring Captain Alfred Dreyfus was erected in Tel Aviv on Wednesday in the presence of Dreyfus family members and city officials.

Capt. Alfred Dreyfus’ 91-year-old grandson and great-granddaughter, Yael Perl Ruiz, attended the unveiling of the “Tribute to Captain Dreyfus.”

“Now, the younger generation, that doesn’t know the story, can learn about the Dreyfus affair and find interest in it. It’s of tremendous importance,” Ruiz told Ynet news.

She added that the family felt that having the statue in Israel brings a sense of closure.

The idea to erect a replica of the statue in Tel Aviv came on the heels of an exhibition in the Museum of the Jewish People, (or Beit Hatfutsot) which told the story of the Dreyfus family over several generations.

The original sculpture was completed in 1985 by cartoonist Louis Mittelberg as part of a series of monuments to neglected French heroes.

The oversized bronze – twice the height of a man – shows a figure in a ramrod straight military posture, holding a broken sword in front of his face. This symbolized the court-martial of the Jewish artillery officer who was targeted for his Judaism and falsely accused of treason in 1895, based on phony evidence and the perjury of fellow officers.

After the original statue was completed, it remained in its foundry as the French military refused to permit it to be placed in its intended location – the grounds of the French military academy where Dreyfus had been stripped of his rank.

Even once it was erected in 1988, it was placed in a corner of the Tuileries, a popular Paris park. It did have good company, placed near a likeness of Leon Blum, another famous French Jew who had been a three-time prime minister of France before World War II.

Thomas Bass of Tablet Magazine, says that after complaints that the statue was “too political,” it was reinstalled six years later  in a tiny space in the city called Square Pierre Lafue.

It could be said Dreyfus was a “neglected hero” once again.

The Dreyfus Affair roiled France for decades, even after his innocence was proven. He became a prime target of  French  anti-Semites. But other French people came to his defense, including the famed author Émile Zola, who fled to England to avoid a prison sentence after writing an article called J’accuse (I Accuse) attacking the French military for covering up their crimes against Dreyfus.

In a fitting gesture, Zola’s great-granddaughter, Martine Le Blond-Zola, also attended the ceremonial unveiling of the Tel Aviv statue. She is a close friend of Yael Ruiz.

It took 101 years for the country’s army to officially admit that Dreyfus had been innocent.

Drefyus served France in both World Wars and received his country’s Legion of Honor, the highest award for military and civil merit in France.

The trial of Dreyfus had a major impact on the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, who covered the trial for the Neue Frie Presse. He would later say the Dreyfus Affair made him a Zionist.