The Long Fight for Justice—Auguste Scheurer-Kestner

From the first accusations in 1894, Dreyfus’s wife Lucie and brother Mathieu remained steadfast in their belief that Alfred was innocent. Mathieu worked tirelessly behind the scenes to enlist the help of others to reopen the case. The vice-president of the Senate, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, became convinced early on of the truth that Georges Picquart had uncovered and fought for a reexamination of the case. He faced withering public criticism for undermining the the army. In the wake of the acquittal of Esterhazy, public intellectuals like Zola, his editor Georges Clemenceau, and journalist Sévérine also joined the fight for justice, risking their careers and even their lives.

Any defenders of Dreyfus, or anyone who even raised any doubts about the correctness of any of the judicial proceedings, risked being targeted in the anti-Dreyfus media. “Le Retour de l’Ile du Diable,” for example, viciously attacks all of those in favor the retrial of Dreyfus at Rennes. The Dreyfusard struggle continued after the Rennes trial at had found Dreyfus guilty.

On the very day that Dreyfus received a presidential pardon, September 19, 1899, Scheurer-Kestner died. It was not until 1906, twelve years after Dreyfus was first accused of treason, that he was finally reintegrated into the army.