Zola, Emile. “J’Accuse...!” L’Aurore

(DREYFUS AFFAIR).

13th January

Paris

1898

Double-sided. Broadsheet

See N.L. Kleeblatt, The Dreyfus Affair: Art Truth & Justice (1987), pp. 268-9 (illustrated)

Journalist Emile Zola was the indefatigable defender of Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian Jewish captain in the French army, unjustly accused of espionage on behalf of the Germans. This historic crie-de-coeur was addressed to the President of the Republic, in which Zola accused the French General Staff of creating a plot against Alfred Dreyfus. If the agitation of Drumont’s La Libre Parole articles helped send Dreyfus to Devil’s Island, this widely circulated defense of Dreyfus helped effect his release. Zola's "J'Accuse" rings out as one of the most celebrated headlines in the history of journalism