Bruno Weil speaking!
Ladies and gentlemen,
the trial against Capt. Dreyfus lasted from 1894 to 1906.
It began with his arrest,
followed by a sentence to life-long deportation
and public degradation,
and was finally resolved by rehabilitation
and his promotion to the rank of major.
Certainly, ladies and gentlemen, many among you
can still remember the ever-changing incidents of those years.
And when you watch these events performed on the stage,
or when you see in this Oswald film the great German actors,
Grete Mosheim, Bassermann,
George, Kortner, Homolka,
impersonate characters who have become history even today,
or when you read my book about the Dreyfus affair,
you may feel you're reliving the days of your youth.
But being aware of those events
is also beneficial and necessary for the younger generation,
because in those events the eternal question of fate,
concerning us all, is struggling towards the light:
Whether someone has been justly or unjustly convicted.
The affair is beginning to lose its topical journalistic aspect.
Just like Dreyfus himself, the 70 year old retired Colonel and his wonderful wife,
both have acquired, with the mellowness of old age, a truly wonderful objectivity.
They rise like ageless figures above the bitter experiences of their youth.
As long as men are sitting on judges' benches
and pass judgment on other men,
judicial errors will always occur.
But when the judicial error turns into the judicial crime,
the earth on which we stand and live, is trembling.
The law should protect us all.
And the judge who deliberately breaks the law,
is a terrible danger to the community.
When, for national, religious, political, racial reasons,
a harm is done to the accused,
the principle of equality for all citizens is violated.
But the highest meaning of the Dreyfus affair is this:
It gives hope to all those who have been unjustly convicted.
It's the classical proof that an injustice can be repaired.
It shines like a ray of light into prison cells.
Let us all, more than ever, burn with holy rage against all injustice.
May we open our hearts, with infinite pity, to all innocents.
No other case than Capt. Dreyfus' can illustrate better
how utterly necessary it is
that the world is filled more than ever with love and justice,
with humanity and goodness.
Richard Oswald's DREYFUS
Gentlemen, I've asked you here on the orders of the Minister of War.
Gen. de Boideffre has informed me that lately the leaks
in our Intelligence Service are increasing.
Important documents are being stolen from the War Ministry
and delivered to the enemy.
The public has a right to demand an investigation.
Our Intelligence Service fails totally!
Maj. Esterhazy,
I could use some new stuff today.
No Dubois, not today.
Therefore I expect of you, Maj. Henry,
and of you, Maj. du Paty de Clam,
being officers of the Intelligence Service,
the utmost fulfillment of your duty!
King...
Banque!
24 hours.
I'm playing now.
Say, Marguerite,
I need money.
But I've already given you all of my earnings...
- Major? - I can sell you something again.
But this time it'll cost 2.000 francs.
2.000 francs?
I wonder if the embassy will pay...
Yes or no?
I'll try, Major.
Maj. Henry, if you catch the culprit,
you're likely to become Chief of the Intelligence Service.
You can rely on me, General.
The Imperial German Embassy c/o Second Secretary von Walter, Paris
Major,
are you ready?
I am...
But only cash.
Of course, Major.
Anything else is out of the question.
Indeed.
According to our agreement you usually pay
before having read.
I must ask for cash.
Goodbye, Second Secretary.
A good day.
Nothing new...
A pity about the money!
How much do you want for this?
100 francs.
100?
Thank you, Maj. Henry.
Here you are, General.
This is quite a catch, Henry.
It's is a list of secret military files.
A complete memorandum!
Only an officer from the War Ministry could have this special knowledge.
Get me the list of the officers on the General Staff.
But this is unheard of!
Dreyfus Alfred
Who is this Alfred Dreyfus?
One doesn't know much about him.
A very reticent and ambitious officer.
He rose exceptionally fast in the service.
Alsatian by birth.
The only Jew on the General Staff.
I want to be a soldier when I'm grown up.
A soldier?
Come in!
The Captain is to report to the War Ministry at once.
In civilian clothes.
Why civilian clothes?
Explicit orders, Captain.
Come in!
M. Costère,
I think it advisable that you as chief of the Secret Police
are present at the arrest.
Yes, Major.
Why don't you wear your uniform today?
Tomorrow I'll wear the uniform again.
Good bye.
Come in!
- A good day, Major. - A good day.
Good day, gentlemen.
Gen. de Boisdeffre will be here presently.
- Help yourself. - No, thank you.
Can you give me a light?
I've injured my hand.
Would you write a letter for me in the meantime?
With pleasure.
Paris, 15th October 1894
Dear sirs,
I ask you
to send back the documents
I sent to you before my departure
for the maneuvers.
First...
the hydraulic brake
of the gun 120.
But you're trembling!
My hands are cold.
... of the gun
... gun 120.
- Captain Dreyfus... - Yes...
In the name of the law,
you're under arrest.
What do you mean?
You're accused of high treason.
High treason...?
I...?
Here you are, search my apartment.
Step over here.
Come here.
Search him.
Raise your arms.
- But this is impossible! - Hands up!
But Major, it's utterly impossible to...
I see...
Come on!
Now I understand.
But Major, you can't allow that a...
to myself, an officer, but this is impossible, Major!
I demand first of all proof, I demand evidence...
We've got the evidence.
...the evidence for such an exorbitant accusation.
We've got the evidence!
What is it?
No...
I won't shoot myself.
I want to live
in order to prove my innocence.
I'll hand you over to the chief of the Secret Police.
Your hands, please.
Am I not allowed inform my wife, at least?
No.
I don't understand it.
My husband?
Because of treason?
Well, but...
Couldn't I see him? Where is he?
I am not at liberty to tell you.
But I must take all possible steps to clear this mistake.
I can only advise you, Madame, not to tell anybody about his arrest.
Otherwise you'd cause him a lot of harm.
Mathieu!
But I'm innocent!
I'm innocent!
Innocent!
I'm innocent!
Do you think it's possible
that my brother has committed such a folly out of ambition?
But Mathieu, how can you doubt him for a second!
Alfred is innocent, he's innocent!
Even if I'm the only one to believe so, I'll do everything to clear this mistake.
I'm innocent!
This man is innocent!
My long experience of human nature cannot be wrong.
I'm innocent!
How did the dictation go?
At the first words he turned pale.
He started scribbling.
Suddenly he threw the pen away.
Did he confess?
He didn't.
But everything he said sounded false.
What were the results of the search of his apartment?
He'd gotten rid of everything beforehand.
I declare under oath,
as expert on graphology,
I believe this handwriting to be that of Capt. Dreyfus.
Thank you, M. Bertillon.
What do you say, this is...
The graphologist M. Meunier.
I declare under oath,
as graphologist I think
the memorandum's handwriting is not that of Capt. Dreyfus.
Thank you.
If it comes to the worst, we still have the secret document in here.
But you can only present it as evidence during the trial.
Gentlemen,
your accusation cannot be sustained.
Of all the accusations nothing has remained.
Only the memorandum.
The graphologists don't agree upon this with their expertise.
My client is free from all guilt.
Do you imagine a rich man like Cpt. Dreyfus would put his life,
his honour at stake for a few thousand francs?
A reliable person has repeatedly confirmed to me
that the traitor was attached to the 2nd bureau of the Intelligence Service.
That was Dreyfus' department.
Dreyfus is the traitor!
Can the witness testify under oath
that he was present when I wrote the memorandum?
Name your informant!
You are under oath!
No, Counsellor.
The witness does not have to reveal the name.
Can you swear under oath that the informant identified Cpt. Dreyfus?
I swear by God!
I close the hearing. The court withdraws for deliberations.
Now the moment has come.
We must take the secret document to the judges' chamber at once.
But you know that new evidence cannot be presented
after the hearing is closed.
You leave that to me.
The army's honour is at stake.
On the order of the Minister of War,
I ask you to present this document to the presiding judge at once.
In the name of the French people,
Cpt. Alfred Dreyfus is found guilty of the crime of treason.
He is condemned unanimously to life-long deportation.
The court deprives him of his rank and orders his degradation.
Judicial murder...
Traitor!
Captain Dreyfus,
you are unworthy to carry arms.
In the name of the people, you will be degraded.
I swear that I'm innocent!
You are degrading an innocent man!
I'm innocent!
Write it down!
Write in your newspapers
that I'm innocent!
I'm innocent!
I am accused of the most horrible crime a soldier can commit.
But I've lived my life without any blemish.
Visiting hour is over.
I'll come back tomorrow.
Dreyfus is to be taken away at once.
Alfred...
Alfred!
Dreyfus is on Devil's Island.
My work...
and how do they thank me?
They put Col. Picquard as Chief of the Intelligence Office above my desk.
I only hope he doesn't find out about your trick with the secret document
you smuggled into the judges' chamber after the court hearing.
I think it was utterly stupid.
Utterly stupid?
Dreyfus is guilty.
Otherwise he wouldn't have been convicted.
Long live justice.
Your health, Henry.
Well,
it won't do any good to receive Mme. Dreyfus.
Her husband has been convicted, the judgment is final.
I see no reason to doubt his guilt.
The conviction didn't pass that smoothly.
What makes you think so?
There's a rumour about a secret document.
I'm telling you, Dreyfus is innocent!
Don't burn your tongue!
M. Clemenceau, help us.
Only a man of your influence, whose pen is feared as much, can help us.
What did Col. Picquard say?
Col. Picquard refused to see me.
Bring me any positive piece of evidence supporting his innocence
and I'll put my newspaper at your disposition.
I haven't had any news from my husband for months.
I'm afraid they're suppressing his letters.
Still no letters?
No.
Perhaps they don't forward everything to you.
You think that I...
You know it's forbidden to talk to the prisoner.
Report for your relief from duty at once.
And you get back to your cell!
But he...
Colonel, I have a letter by pneumatic post addressed to a French officer.
Again from the wastepaper basket of the German embassy!
To Maj. Walsin-Esterhazy 27, Rue de la Bienfaisance, Paris
Major Esterhazy?
Should we have another traitor in our midst?
Those generals are just clowns...
The Germans wouldn't even display them in a travelling circus.
How dare you?
I beg your pardon?
Come away...
He's a crack shot.
Well?
Did you find samples of Esterhazy's handwriting?
I have, here they are, Colonel.
Herlott!
But this is the memorandum's handwriting!
Or...
should I be mistaken?
This is without doubt the same handwriting.
But this is terrible!
Then Dreyfus has been wrongly convicted!
But his guilt has been established by the secret document.
I know nothing of a secret document.
Fetch it to me, please.
Very well.
What are you doing?
I'm getting the secret files of the Dreyfus affair for Col. Picquard.
Does Col. Henry know about this?
I have my orders from Col. Picquard.
This is the document that has been brought into the judges' chamber.
The honour of the whole French army is at stake
But here is only written: That scoundrel "D."
The name Dreyfus is written nowhere!
And on this Dreyfus has been convicted!
He was a Jew, Colonel...
Rubbish!
Whether Jew or Christian,
there is only one justice!
Come in!
M. Bertillon, I've asked you to come here.
Whose handwriting is this?
This is the handwriting of the memorandum.
Capt. Dreyfus' handwriting.
You're mistaken, M. Bertillon.
This is the handwriting of Maj. Esterhazy.
You see...
Well, then Capt. Dreyfus
has most skillfully forged Maj. Esterhazy's handwriting.
Is that so?
Thank you.
If the army wants to make a scapegoat out of me
instead of Dreyfus, then they'd better watch out.
Oh, he only wants to feel important.
But I had to tell you.
Come in!
The Major is to report to the War Ministry at once, to Col. Picquard.
Look at the mess!
Now I can shoot myself!
How do you mean?
Did you write the memorandum?
I see...
Don't abandon me now!
Henry, you must help me!
We've been friends for many years,
we've shared many adventures,
but this stands between us.
Very well!
But I'm telling you...
if you let me be ruined,
then I'll tell them about someone who concealed documents
in order to get a fast promotion.
Alright, I'll be ruined.
But you'll join me there!
Henry, will you help me?
Yes...
I'll help you...
not because I'm afraid of your threats,
but because I want to spare the General Staff a terrible humiliation.
Who published the secret document of the military tribunal?
I thought it my duty in order to stop the Dreyfus family
from digging into the affair because of the so-called secret document.
Bravo!
The publication of this unlawful act will provide
the Dreyfus family with grounds for revision.
Revision?
Out of the question!
That's ridiculous, Picquard.
But the document doesn't contain the name Dreyfus,
as the newspapers report,
but only the letter "D"!
What exactly are your misgivings, Picquard?
Obsessed...
Absolutely obsessed...
Come in!
Please sit down.
You have debts, Major?
Unfortunately.
You're the co-owner of an establishment of ill repute.
Unfortunately Rothschild refused me as his partner.
You frequent the German embassy?
I'm invited there with other comrades from time to time.
Is that your handwriting?
It looks very similar.
The memorandum...
A most skilful forgery.
Who would be interested in forging your handwriting?
Perhaps you yourself, Colonel.
Major Esterhazy, you are under arrest.
Wait for me here.
Guard!
Captain, the Major is under arrest.
I ask for a warrant of arrest against Maj. Esterhazy.
Here is the certain proof of your mistake.
A letter from the Italian to the German Military Attaché,
containing explicitly the name of Dreyfus.
This letter must be very convenient to you.
Say, what exactly do you think you're doing?
Why do you care so much about that Dreyfus leaving Devil's Island?
Because he's innocent!
You seem to be obsessed with this theory.
I forbid you to make any further mention of this theory.
You're endangering the army's honour.
I won't take this secret to my grave, General.
Colonel Picquard,
you're hereby discharged from your duties.
Await further orders.
Thank you, Captain.
Major Esterhazy,
you may go.
Well?
My dear LeBlois,
I've been transferred to Tunis.
To a post from which none of my predecessors has ever returned.
I'm a soldier.
I must obey.
But I'm handing to you the proof of Capt. Dreyfus' innocence
and of Maj. Esterhazy's guilt.
Mathieu, do you think Zola will help us?
I'm convinced that he won't refuse to acknowledge the truth.
If a man like Zola, such an important writer,
agrees to take on Alfred's affair,
then public opinion must change.
I definitely count on it.
Mathieu Dreyfus.
Thank you.
M. Zola,
I've come to you because I know no other way out.
M. Zola, the evidence for my brother's innocence is accumulating daily.
You remember the memorandum?
I've had the memorandum printed.
And now something strange has happened.
Today, on the day of the memorandum's publication,
the banker de Castro came to see me
and showed me the signature
of his client Esterhazy
and declares,
that the memorandum cannot have been written by anybody else
but by Maj. Esterhazy.
Look at what they're handing out in the streets.
Dreyfus' brother offers a huge reward to the person
who recognizes the memorandum's handwriting.
But this is strange, it's exactly like your handwriting.
Indeed...
that could be mine.
I hope I won't get into any trouble because of it.
But why should you?
M. Zola
after all my brother-in-law has told you,
you realize that there cannot be any doubt about my husband's innocence.
I am deeply shocked.
Well...
one ought to...
everything Col. Picquard has learned...
combined with what we ourselves know by now...
in a clear and thoroughly phrased writ of accusation...
spread it among the people.
That should lead to a complaint filed by Count Esterhazy,
and this complaint
ought be sustained by all means.
By all means!
Paris, 7 Dec. 1897
Major Esterhazy has filed a charge of defamation against Mathieu Dreyfus
Paris, 10 Jan. 1898
Maj. Esterhazy has to face a court-martial
I have been accused of a crime
committed by another.
The Dreyfus family has collected evidence against me for weeks.
They haven't even the shadow of proof against me.
All those ridiculous accusations have turned out to have been utterly unfounded.
Gentlemen, save the honour of an officer
who is innocent, by his acquittal.
In the name of the French people,
Maj. Esterhazy is acquitted of the accusation of treason.
My congratulations, Major.
I am glad that injustice hasn't been victorious.
Esterhazy acquitted, the traitor Dreyfus has been justly condemned.
Long live the army.
You people, what do you want?
What do you think you're doing? Do you know whom you're cheering?
Are you so sure that Dreyfus is the traitor?
That's Zola.
I know, I know, the young people marching in the streets
aren't representative of our youth.
100 young men on the streets make more noise
than 10.000 industrious workers in their workshops.
But just think about it for a moment.
You young people, just think for a moment...
The military tribunal has acquitted Esterhazy obeying orders...
Let's go...
This acquittal is the heaviest slap in the face of truth and justice...
Down with Zola!
You young people!
Be reasonable!
Remember the terrible suffering your fathers have lived through.
The terrible battles they had to win in order to gain the liberty
which you are profiting from today!
Remember the great task history has in store for you tomorrow!
You're to form the next epoch, you're its future representatives,
you're to raise us again, out of humiliation.
You're to accomplish that which we were unable to complete.
You young people...
be of a freer spirit than we have been.
Surpass us in love of life
and in greatness of heart.
You, youth, show us the way.
You, youth, take over the leadership of the fight for justice and truth.
Down with Zola!
Clemenceau, you see...
I see...
Allons enfants de la patrie...
Those cannibals!
Now they're singing the Marseillaise,
but they don't understand it.
Please, Clemenceau, I'm asking you,
let me have your editorial for tomorrow
in your newspaper.
Now it'll be me who shall accuse!
Well...
Isn't this a bit strong?
Why?
It's the truth!
You'd better read it through once more.
I accuse Gen. Mercier
of being an accomplice, by stupidity, in one of greatest iniquities of the century.
I accuse Gen. de Boisdeffre as accomplice of the same crime.
I accuse Gen. de Pellieux of having conducted
the investigation against Esterhazy with criminal partiality.
I accuse ...
I accuse the three graphologists
of submitting untrue and fraudulent reports.
A medical examination would probably declare them
to be affected by a disease of sight or of the brain.
I accuse the first military tribunal
of illegally convicting an accused because of a secret document.
I accuse the second military tribunal
of covering up this illegality by higher orders.
Because it has acquitted an accused while knowing him to be guilty.
I make this accusation well knowing that I will face criminal charges of defamation.
I make it all the same, in full conscience.
As for the people I accuse, I don't know them, I've never met them.
I have only one aim:
In the name of humanity
which has suffered so much
and which has a right to better days:
I want to clear up this affair.
Let anybody dare
to drag me before the Court of Assizes.
I demand it.
And I demand the investigation to be held before the widest public.
I'm expecting it.
My flaming protest is only the outcry...
of my soul.
Please accept, Mr. President, the assurance of my deep respect.
Émile Zola.
You realize that they'll file a criminal charge against you.
In this affair I'll go to the utmost.
But this ain't a headline!
"To the President of the Republic"
Print:
"I accuse!"
I'm standing here,
not because the government has filed criminal charges against me,
but because I myself wanted it so.
I want to help the truth
about which the government is trembling,
to establish its right.
Did the Gen. Mercier as Minister of War in the Dreyfus affair,
have a secret document sent to the judges' chamber?
According to the ruling of the court
the Dreyfus affair isn't relevant in this trial.
Counsellor Labori,
you're always asking the same question.
Which you're always getting rid of in the same way!
I repeat that I won't allow any question
which might serve to open the revision of the Dreyfus case.
Is that so?
I demand the same right which any thief has, or any murderer,
to defend myself and to present my witnesses.
My name is dragged into the dirt!
A slanderous press treats me like a bandit!
I have the right to defend my good faith and to prove it!
If you'd allow the question, the General would admit
that he sent the document into the judges' chamber.
I won't admit anything.
If the General gives me his word of honour as an officer,
then I'll believe him.
Insolence!
You demand my word as a soldier...
I give it!
Dreyfus is a traitor!
He has been legally and justly convicted.
I haven't asked you that...
But: yes or no?
Did a secret document exist
which, without Dreyfus' and his counsellor’s knowledge,
was secretly brought to the judges' chamber?
Yes or no?
To this question...
I have nothing to answer.
This is an Assize Court hearing the like of which I've never seen before!
They try everything to prevent light being shed into the affair!
Counsellor, those are your witnesses!
I beg your pardon, they aren't our witnesses, they're plain witnesses!
But one excuses himself because of secrets of the state,
the other because of secrets of the service,
the third even secrets of his private life.
I abstain from further questioning those witnesses.
General de Pellieux!
I am glad, Col. Picquard, that you've returned in good health from Tunis.
I thank you, Deputy.
I've arrived only yesterday.
I am proud to have contributed to Maj. Esterhazy's acquittal.
I have established that there aren't two, but only one traitor in the French army,
and that he has been justly convicted.
Bravo!
Among the seven officers who are being accused here,
some of them have shed their blood on the battlefield,
while others have been ...
I don't know where...
General de Peillieux,
one can serve one's fatherland in different ways...
with the sword...
and with the pen.
Gen. de Peillieux has without doubt won important victories
on the battlefield...
I don't know where...
My work has carried the language of our country
into the whole world.
I leave to posterity to decide between the names of de Peillieux
and Émile Zola.
Bravo, Zola!
I thank you, Gen. de Peillieux.
Col. Picquard!
You swear by the Almighty God
that you shall speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I swear!
Col. Picquard,
as chief of the Intelligence Service,
why did you constantly concern yourself with the affair Esterhazy?
Because it seemed very important to me.
Didn't you realize that by doing this,
you were endangering your own military career?
I did.
But it was a matter of truth
and of justice.
I believe I have done the army a great service.
The witness Maj. Esterhazy!
Such an interesting person!
Just imagine, he spent his wife's entire fortune on a dancer!
You swear by the Almighty God
to say the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I swear!
Gentlemen of the jury,
without having any proof, Mathieu Dreyfus has dared
to accuse me of a crime
which his own brother had committed.
For 18 months
I am being dragged through the basest intrigues,
through the dirt.
I have suffered more during this time
than somebody else in his whole life.
I doubt it.
I'm ready to answer all the questions of the court and the jury.
But to those people
I won't answer.
Bravo, bravo!
Maj. Esterhazy,
do you admit having written the memorandum?
Don't you feel any pangs of conscience
that Capt. Dreyfus is lingering unjustly on Devil's Island
where in fact you yourself belong?
Maj. Esterhazy,
did you have any relations with the German military attaché?
I cannot allow this question.
Isn't it permissible to talk in court
about actions which this officer has undoubtedly committed?
No, there are higher things to consider.
The honour and the security of our country.
Thank you, Major.
Major, my congratulations, you've acted splendidly.
Finally a man to stand up to those cads.
All Paris will applaud you.
An Esterhazy doesn't account for his actions with a dirty civilian.
Bravo Esterhazy, bravo!
Divine!
Still no letters?
No.
Gentlemen,
in order to squash the attacks of the defense once and for all,
I declare:
The Ministry of War is in possession of a document
which contains absolute proof of Dreyfus' guilt.
I have seen it,
on my word of honour.
In this document it says:
I have read that there will be a revision of the Dreyfus case.
Tell nobody that we have had relations with that Jew.
This letter is signed by a member of a foreign embassy.
This is the truth.
The generals here present will confirm my statement.
Where is that document? Show it to us!
I can confirm Gen. de Peillieux' statement, but I'm not permitted to say more.
Gentlemen of the jury, you are representing the Nation.
If the Nation doesn't trust the leaders of its army any more,
then we'll all resign tonight.
If Gen. de Peillieux hadn't made his statement, then I would have done so.
I ask the court to question Col. Henry.
I myself have received the document
and I declare under oath...
I ask Col. Picquard to comment on this.
Perhaps I shall face criminal charged too?
Perhaps I shall be chased from the army?
Even though I assume my superior officers were acting in good faith,
I must tell those superiors,
that document fell out of the sky at a suitable moment.
It's a forgery!
You're lying, Col. Picquard!
You...!
General strike of the generals!
Right now a gentleman still wearing the uniform
has just accused three generals of forgery!
I haven't said that!
He shall be held responsible for that!
Gentlemen, this is a historic moment.
This isn't about Dreyfus and Esterhazy anymore,
but it's about a struggle between the generals and Col. Picquard.
Exactly!
We aren't interested in Dreyfus on Devil's Island because he is suffering,
but because he is suffering because of a judicial error.
He too has been victim of a judicial error.
That's why He is hanging behind the judges,
so that they don't have to see Him.
Not only Zola is standing before the court today,
but the reputation of France herself,
in the whole world!
Bear in mind that today we're standing
at a turning point of our country's history.
Gentlemen of the jury,
don't forget that you're about to pass a judgment
which will have incalculable consequences.
The public prosecutor has the floor.
They are extremely interested in you outside.
What have you heard?
The left hand took away from us
what the right hand had given us before.
We have been arbitrarily hindered in questioning the witnesses.
The defense has been terrorized,
and besides I have noticed the intention to obscure the facts.
But he who suffers for truth and justice
will be great and saintly.
Ridiculous!
Look at me,
gentlemen.
Does a traitor, a bought liar look like this?
What am I? Why am I acting like this?
I have no political ambition whatsoever.
I am a free writer
who will step back into the ranks tomorrow
and resume the day's work,
because my life belongs to work.
Don't you understand
that the nation
will die of the darkness,
the darkness in which they obstinately want to keep her!
One lie will give birth to another
and the measure is full.
I am warning you.
Don't let it overflow!
A judicial error has been committed here
and in order to conceal it,
new attacks are being committed daily against reason and good sense.
Gentlemen of the jury,
you're thinking perhaps:
What is so terrible about the fact
that an innocent man is suffering on Devil's Island?
Does the interest of a single person carry so much weight,
that a whole country should be thrown into confusion?
Gentlemen, you are very wrong.
You have no notion of the terrible crisis
the country is living through.
There is only one way out:
truth and justice.
Everything
which darkens the light,
which adds darkness to darkness,
will only aggravate this terrible crisis
and prolong it.
I swear...
Dreyfus is innocent.
I'm putting my life and my honour at stake...
By the 40 years of my work,
by the esteem this work has given me
before the whole world,
I swear
that Dreyfus is innocent.
May my name fall into oblivion,
may my work sink without a trace,
Captain Dreyfus is innocent!
Very well,
everybody is against me,
the parliament,
the military administration
and the public opinion.
And nobody is with me
but the idea of truth
and of justice.
I am very calm,
because I shall win.
I don't want my country to persist in lies and injustice.
Convict me,
gentlemen,
convict me.
One day the nation will thank me
that I helped to save her honour.
Gentlemen of the jury,
don't let yourselves be influenced by those screaming masses.
If you have the courage,
then you can declare Émile Zola guilty,
because he has fought
for law and justice
and freedom.
The session is closed.
The court will withdraw for deliberations.
They'll convict me.
You'll be arrested.
But in this fight, let us go
till the end.
Till the end.
Émile Zola has been convicted.
At our request he has fled to England,
so that the judgment can't become final.
Against Col. Picquard they have issued a warrant of arrest.
Ladies and gentlemen, those men are martyrs
in the struggle for justice.
For four years Alfred Dreyfus has been unjustly imprisoned on Devil's Island.
In order to fight against these terrible errors of justice,
we have assembled here today to found the league for the defense of human rights.
Well, now Zola and his associates will shut up.
All that remains is to finish off Picquard.
It was smart of you to have Picquard arrested
and to attribute to him the forgery of the pneumatic letter
which was addressed to me.
We'll finish him off alright.
By the way, I've read a book by that Zola...
Not bad at all.
Well, I don't read books...
But that's not possible!
Good God!
That would be...
What's the matter?
The Colonel is to report to the War Minister at once.
- What's the matter this time? - I don't know.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to be elected
to this position as minister by parliament just a few days ago.
I am determined to have the affair Dreyfus examined closely.
This letter is only the beginning.
Sit down, please.
Col. Henry,
what is the origin of this letter?
I received it through the usual channels from the German embassy.
It is the only letter
which contains the name of Dreyfus in full.
The letter on which the generals swore under oath in the Zola trial.
On which I have sworn in parliament, Col. Henry.
This letter is a forgery.
A forgery?
A forgery!
Do you know by whom?
By whom?
By yourself.
By myself?
Col. Henry,
I'm waiting for your answer.
I swear, no.
What if I proved it to you?
So confess...
You've received an envelope with a totally unimportant letter.
You've suppressed that letter
and you've forged this one.
Confess it.
I don't remember...
I might have added a word or two.
It's been established without doubt
that the letter was assembled with two different kinds of paper.
All you used from the letter was the initial address and the signature.
The word "Dreyfus"
you added yourself.
Confess it.
I knew my superiors were terribly worried...
I thought if I added a sentence...
that it'll calm down.
I did it
for the benefit of my fatherland.
Your sword, Col. Henry.
Now I'm done for.
Gentlemen, I shall immediately transmit to the public this confession
of an officer, neglectful of his duty.
Minister,
please accept my resignation.
Deceived by a man without honour,
I no longer command the confidence of my subordinates.
On the orders of Gen. de Boisdeffre, open up Col. Henry's cell.
Report to the prison's governor
that Col. Henry, with a razor blade, has...
cut his throat.
You must realize, Colonel,
that all your efforts have been in vain.
Confess that you've forged the pneumatic letter.
You've gone too far in your concern about Dreyfus.
My dear Major, I don't intend to continue this conversation.
Major,
just now, Col. Henry, after a complete confession,
has cut his throat with a razor blade in his cell.
This is the ground for revision in the Dreyfus case!
Major,
in case a razor blade should also be found in my cell,
like in Col. Henry's, then it'll be murder.
I don't think of taking my own life, not for a minute.
- Major! - The Minister.
Col. Picquard,
I have the honour to bring freedom to you personally.
I've managed to uncover the shameful mistakes
leading to your arrest.
I ...
I thank you, Minister,
but I hope that after my release
the liberation of the innocent man on Devil's Island will follow suit.
We'll both work for it,
side by side.
What's the matter?
Pack our things, we must leave at once.
Hurry up, we'll leave for England.
It has come out that Henry's letter was a forgery.
Thus Alfred’s innocence is established.
This means revision.
This means revision!
Now he'll come back!
Now he'll come back.
He'll come back!
This is the day I've so long been waiting for...
Now he must come back.
He'll come back, he'll come back!
Do you think they'll release him at once?
What will he say about the children?
He'll be home again, he'll be here again...
It'll all be forgotten...
Mathieu...
Have I grown very old?
I don't think he'll want another wife.
Capt. Dreyfus, I am to inform you
that the revision of your case has been accepted.
The revision...
You'll be reinstated in your former rank as officer.
Your case has been transferred to the military tribunal at Rennes.
I am glad, Captain.
Yes, yes.
I am alive...
My wife and...
my children...
Yes, I've held on.
I have orders to remain present at this reunion.
With 5 against 2 votes, the military tribunal has found the accused guilty.
Capt. Alfred Dreyfus is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
This trial has established
that the court's ruling of 1894 hasn't been unlawful.
But the court recommends attenuating circumstances.
This isn't the last word!
Madame
10 years imprisonment...
I don't have the force to tell your husband
of this terrible judgment.
Oh my God!
I'll tell him...
Alfred...
Lucie...
What's the matter?
Come, sit with me.
Tell me.
So I'm not...
I see...
Good God!
I can't any more...
We must keep on fighting, Alfred.
Help the man.
My brother is dying.
Your brother must live!
He must file a petition for mercy at once!
But that would be a mockery of all our efforts!
That would be shameful!
No, no, no, gentlemen...
Alfred Dreyfus must live!
The day of his acquittal will come!
But gentlemen, I cannot advise my brother to accept a pardon!
But my brother is dying...
I'll get in touch with the minister.
He shall decide.
The minister will sign at once, your brother will be set free tomorrow.
Connect me with the ministry, this is Clemenceau speaking.
I'd like to speak to Minister Milliard.
Minister Milliard, this is Georges Clemenceau.
Minister, I've just learned
that the life of Capt. Dreyfus is in greatest danger.
You can imagine that I'm against all acts of pardon,
this affair can only be solved by a full acquittal.
But all the same I'm asking you now, Minister, upon your honour,
would you advise Capt. Dreyfus to file a petition for mercy?
You would?
I thank you.
The minister thinks that at this moment
only a petition for mercy could help.
M. Jaurès, what do you think?
I have nothing more to say.
And you, M. Clemenceau?
I can only join the Minister's opinion.
Colonel,
what will you advise me?
I'll do whatever you advise me.
Mathieu, if I were his brother,
I'd tell him: Sign!
Alfred, you haven't understood what I was saying...
the way things are now...
this is the only possible way out.
A petition for mercy!
You won't understand me...
but I've talked to all your friends.
I've talked to Clemenceau...
they all agree...
they all advise you...
Sign!
What about you?
Me too.
No!
No, I won't do it.
I won't do it!
I don't want mercy, I want my right!
You must understand this, I...
I won't do it.
Talk to him.
So you don't want to do it, Alfred?
Alfred, what about the children?
Tell me...
what about me?
Alfred, we'll be waiting for you.
Five years, for five years we've been waiting....
Alfred Dreyfus had to wait another six years for his rehabilitation.
On the 12th July 1906 the court of cassation at Paris acquitted Dreyfus,
and Col. Picquard became Brigade-General.
And on the 20th July 1906...
In the name of the President of the Republic,
Maj. Dreyfus, I hereby appoint you Knight of the Legion of Honour.
I cannot say my thanks.
Long live Picquard!
I am very happy about this day.
No, no, not like this.
Not long live Picquard!
Long live Dreyfus!
Long live freedom!
Long live justice!
Long live the fatherland!
The End - Engl. subtitles serdar202&adomeit27@KG 2010-2018