![]() ![]() During his trial, the military prosecutors highlighted his Jewish identity and labor activism, and questioned his loyalty to the American government. He was assigned to hard labor, stripped of his rank and had his pay decreased. The military claimed that he was not being punished for his critiques of the military’s discriminatory policies towards African American soldiers, but for making negative statements about his commanding officer and engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer. military court-martialed him in the summer of 1943. In early 1943, he became upset over the way African American soldiers on the base were being mistreated and raised concerns with his fellow soldiers and commanding officers, as well as friends in New York City. Levy was popular with his fellow soldiers for writing funny and romantic songs about life in the Army. My recent work examines the court-martial of Al Levy, a Jewish American soldier who was stationed at the Lincoln, Nebraska airfield during World War II. My research examines how previous generations have challenged antisemitism and racism, and what we can learn to confront the same issues today. An American court-martialĪs a scholar, I explore points of commonality and conflict between Jewish and African American communities and uncover unknown stories of marginalized groups. ![]() ![]() Some of the documents used to convict him were later found to be forgeries. The case became a critical moment that divided France, forcing the country to confront deeply ingrained antisemitism and uphold impartial justice.ĭreyfus was convicted a second time after a retrial in 1899, but granted a pardon by the president and released from prison. As Zola hoped, the letter resulted in libel charges against him, bringing widespread attention to the case.īritish writer Michael Rosen argues Zola’s intervention made it legitimate to speak out against antisemitism for the first time in France, and brought public attention to how nationalism and antisemitism limited the legal system’s ability to deliver justice. Zola published an open letter that accused the government and the military of systematic antisemitism. The most famous person that brought attention to Dreyfus’ plight was a leading French thinker and writer, Emile Zola. During that time, support for Dreyfus grew, as it became clear how thin the evidence against him was, and pressure mounted for his release. He was held for five years in a brutal penal colony called Devil’s Island, off the coast of South America. Many newspapers ran cartoons filled with antisemitic stereotypes. Dreyfus’ loyalty to the French government was challenged in the media, with suggestions that he was part of an international Jewish conspiracy. This article aims to restore Lazare’s place at the center of the Dreyfus Affair narrative.The Dreyfus scandal began with Alfred Dreyfus being accused of selling military secrets to the German government and sentenced to life in prison.įrom the start, antisemitism surrounded the trial. Instead, Lazare became a target for the resentments of both his Christian and Jewish contemporaries and died an untimely death as a pariah. Lazare also crafted the language of “J’accuse” which moved a nation and became a celebrated page of history, though he was never credited for it. He confronted the leading antisemitic figures of his time, including Édouard Drumont, and solicited the support of charismatic celebrities such as Émile Zola. It was Lazare who made the “Affair” known to the world as an antisemitic plot. In stark contrast to other Dreyfusards who preferred to consider the case as essentially an “error” of the judicial system, Lazare insisted that there was a potent antisemitism operating beneath the surface of the political stage. Lazare authored three brochures, including the very first published work arguing Dreyfus’s defense, and pursued numerous lines of inquiry and advocacy to keep the Dreyfus case alive in the public sphere. The historiography of the Dreyfus Affair has often neglected the crucial role played by Bernard Lazare as the first defender of the wrongly accused French army captain Alfred Dreyfus. ![]()
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