Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. Collection: People and Events

Bordereau- (arr. German embassy Aug. 27, 1894; arrived at Section of Statistics Sept. 1894)

Petit Bleu - (arr. Section of Statistics Mar. 1896)

Concierge Letter - (arr. Section of Statistics Mar. 1896)

Uhlan Letter - (written 1884; disclosed Dec. 1897)

Scoundrel D Letter - (Apr. 1894)

Henry Forgery/Patriotic Forgery - (Nov. 1, 1896)

Esperance Letter - (Oct. 17, 1897)

Speranza Letter - (Dec. 14, 1896)

2nd Speranza Letter - (Nov. 10, 1897)

Blanche Telegram - (Nov. 10, 1897)

Davignon Letter /Letter of Calls - (arr. Section of Statistics before Feb. 1894)

Guenee Forgeries - (Nov. 1894)

J'Accuse Letter - (Jan. 13, 1898)

Secret Dossier - (secretly transmitted to judges Dec. 22, 1894)
Composed of 4 documents:

1. Scoundrel D Letter
2. Davignon Letter (Letter of Calls)
3. Guenee Forgeries
4. Commentary by du Paty de Clam

Bibliography

Chronology of the Dreyfus Affair

Monarchy, Republics, and Empires in France since 1789

• 1789 To 1789 The Old Regime (Ancien Regime) Monarch
• 1789-1792 Constitutional Monarch (Louis XVI)
• 1792-1804 First Republic
• 1792-1795 Convention
• 1795-1799 Directory
• 1799-1804 Consulate
• 1804-1814 First Empire (Napoleon I)
• 1814-1824 Louis XVIII
• 1824-1830 Charles X
• 1830-1848 Louis-Philippe
• 1848-1852 Second Republic
• 1852-1870 Second Empire (Napoleon III)
• 1870-1940 Third Republic
• 1940-1944 Vichy Regime
• 1944-1958 Fourth Republic
• 1958-    Fifth Republic

Principal People Involved in the Dreyfus Affair

• George Clemenceau (1841-1929) was a journalist, politician, and leading Dreyfussard. He was the Political editor for the newspaper, L'Aurore, and chose the name, J'Accuse, for Emile Zola's controversial open letter to the president of the Republic. Clemenceau himself actually wrote articles protesting Dreyfus's unfair conviction and imprisonment.
• Edgar Demange (1841-1925) represented Mathieu Dreyfus in the Esterhazy trial, and was Dreyfus's co-defense attorney with Labori at the Rennes trial. Though both Demange and Labori staunchly supported Dreyfus, they had opposing strategies on how the representation should be conducted.
• Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) was serving a Jewish General Staff officer in 1894 when he was falsely accused of high treason for allegedly telling French military secrets to the Germans. Dreyfus was convicted on shaky evidence, then sent to Devil's Island as punishment. His case was retried in 1899, but he was reconvicted. Ultimately, the President of the republic offered him a pardon, which he accepted reluctantly on the condition that he could continue trying to prove his innocence. In 1906, Dreyfus was finally rehabilitated.
• Lucie Dreyfus was the wife of Alfred Dreyfus. She worked closely with her husband's defense counsels. She was instrumental in Dreyfus's retrial in 1998, and his rehabilitation in 1906.
• Further Reading - The Lives of Lucie Dreyfus, Pierre Dreyfus, and Madeleine Levy after the Death of Alfred Dreyfus by Russell Gaines
• Mathieu Dreyfus was the brother of Alfred Dreyfus. Mathieu was the principal organizer of the Dreyfussard campaign, responsible for recruiting Dreyfus devotees such as Edgar Damange, Bernard Lazare, etc.
• Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam (1853-1916), known to be somewhat bizarre, was the General Staff officer who arrested Dreyfus and conducted Dreyfus's prison interrogation. Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam was the first to declare that the bordereau was in Dreyfus's hands, and testified against Dreyfus at his trial. Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam, in cahoots with Colonel Henry, also compiled the fraudulent "secret dossier," designed to help protect Esterhazy.
• Commandant Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy (1847-1923) was a French infantry known to be gambler, debtor, and a womanizer who married into the aristocracy. Esterhazy spied for the German attache in Paris, and Dreyfus was ultimately accused and convicted for Esterhazy's treason. He was protected by Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam and Colonel Henry. Esterhazy was court martialed in 1898 and was acquitted. After Colonel Henry confessed to forging decisive documents in the Dreyfus case and committed suicide, Esterhazy fled to England and remained there until his death.
• Further Reading - Esterhazy, Marie-Charles-Ferdinand Walsin
• Felix Faure (1841-1899) was an anti-Dreyfussard who was the sixth President of the Third Republic.
• Commandant Hubert-Joseph Henry was an officer in the army's statistical section who was later promoted to head of the intelligence office. He conspired with Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam to frame Dreyfus, and forged numerous documents ("secret dossier") to achieve that end. He was arrested in 1898 and committed suicide while he was in prison.
• Jean Jaures (1859-1914) was the leading socialist in the Chamber of Deputies, historian, and journalist. Ultimately he convinced his party to support a review of the Dreyfus case.
• Bernard Lazare (1865-1903) was one of Dreyfus's earliest supporters who devoted much writing to advocating Dreyfus's innocence.
• General Auguste Mercier (1833-1921) was the Minister of War who was responsible for Dreyfus's first arrest in 1894 and testified at every major trial.
• Further Reading - Mercier, Auguste
• Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart (1854-1914) was one of the foremost Dreyfusards. He was promoted to chief of the Statistical Section in 1895. When he discovered Esterhazy's treason, he tried to convince the other members of the General Staff of Dreyfus's innocence. He was imprisoned in 1898, and was dismissed from the army. He was reinstated in 1906 and was promoted to General.
• Further Reading - Picquart, Marie-Georges
• Emile Zola (1840-1902) was another of the formost Dreyfusards. He was a well-known French novelist, who became a chief advocate of Dreyfus's innocence. He wrote many articles defending Dreyfus, the most well known being his letter to the President of the French Republic entitled J'Accuse.

• Madame Bastian / The Ordinary Track 

• Maurice Baumont, Aux Sources De L'affaire (1950)

• Emile Zola, weary from his trial 

• Michel De Lombares, L'Affaire Dreyfus: La Clef Du Mystère (1972)

• Edgar Demange, Dreyfus' attorney, face in hands 

• Robert L. Hoffman, More Than A Trial: The Struggle Over Captain Dreyfus (1980)

• Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam (in drag) as veiled lady and Esterhazy 
• No talk of the Dreyfus Affair at dinner 
• The Last Pin 

• David L. Lewis, Prisoners of Honor: The Dreyfus Affair (1980)

• The Goddess of Truth emerges from the well 
• Assassination attempt on Labori, August 14, 1899 
• Justice and Dreyfus and chariot 
• The fate of Armande Mercier Du Paty De Clam
• The French General Staff besieged at Rennes
• Dreyfus Lives
• Dreyfus looks toward freedom

• Louis L. Snyder, The Dreyfus Case: A Documentary History (1973)

• Emile Zola, emerging from toilet

• Barbara W. Tuchman, The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 (1966)

• Colonel Picquart

• Johnston D. Kerkhoff, Traitor! Traitor!: The Tragedy of Alfred Dreyfus