For Journalists, The Dreyfus Affair helped a great deal in establishing them.
The defeat at Sedan (1871) and the Paris commune were what came before and resulted in the Dreyfus Affair.
Franco-Prussian War (was the result of the defeat at Sedan) - and was to attempt to unify Germany (Prussian and German states) by growing power and influence of Prussia under Bismark. Napoleon III was captured at Sedan in 1871 after going into war without any allies.
A huge indemnity is to be paid to the Germans by the French and Alsace and Lorraine are taken over by Germany and the French residents took over. 2 million people lived in Paris but were completely surrounded by Germans. With this huge amount of people, there were problems with feeding them, which meant horses, animals from zoos and rats were eaten... YUM.
The Paris commune -
The commune was created 18th March-May 28th 1871.
Lenin called it the "festival of the oppressed".
Marx celebrated it as "the dictatorship of the proletariat".
During the Paris commune it was a communist-style state and social reforms were introduced. Women were important in this with ideas such as - women should have the vote, nurseries (so women could work) and better working conditions.
The commune was destroyed and 20,000-30,000 people were executed - women were shot in their thousands.
"In Paris everyone was guilty"
The Paris commune was short lived but had a huge impact upon European politics.
The Dreyfus Affair -
Defeat of France in Franco-Prussian war (1871) was still casting a strong shadow.
For France, the army was a main symbol of their identity, they became very militaristic. France became extremely paranoid and scared of another war with Germany, so they increased the number of spies they had by all European countries.
the affair turns into right against left - The army, catholic church and monarchists ---> Anti Dreyfusards.
Republicans, socialists, Jews ---> Dreyfusards.
The French army found Dreyfus guilty of Treason after military evidence was leaked. There was a secret court martial and Dreyfus was sent to prison on 'Devil's Isand'.
A man name Esterhazy was tried but acquitted after the evidence was looked at again.
Dreyfus was then tried again but found guilty again even without any evidence and he was released after a pardon but it was kept secret.
After all of this, Journalist Emile Zola wrote 'J'Accuse' saying why Dreyfus was innocent and the trial was all a conspiracy. However, Emile Zola was tried and convicted of libel, fined and sentenced to prison but thankfully he flees to London.
Anti-Semitism and Nationalism (Lazare) -
A nation is called an agglomeration of individuals having in common their territory, language, religion, law, customs, manners, spirit, historic mission.
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Nations do exist --> sometimes they are organised under the same government but lost language.
Jews do not exist in terms of race but a Jewish fellowship.
The Jewish nation stays strong because of religion, social condition and the external conditions forced upon them.
in order to be a part of this nation they have to accept that God and the laws derive from him --> Torah outlines the laws of God - which became the laws of Israel.
This leads to their education and traditions being kept which constitutes them as a nation.
Modern anti-Semitism is different to anti-Judaism, it is more self conscious, more pragmatic, more deliberate (fear and hatred of strangers) Anti-Semitism was one of the ways the peoples would try to reduce individualities - Jews appeared a danger they did not agree with the nation, their concepts were opposed to the social and intellectual conceptions which constitute nationality.
Jews are not assimilated - they continue to differentiate themselves from those around them. If they are a Frenchman or a German they are also a Jew - not just a Frenchman or a German and they maintain their characteristics as people.
Laws, prejudice and persecution prevented them from being part of wider community - they were estranged.
Assimilation caused friction between Jews from different countries, they kept to their separate communities within a particular country.
Anti-Semitism can come from the point that Jews do not have a Fatherland, they are placed in communities within different nations. (the nation continues if the self-consciousness and consciousness of the community doesn't disappear.)
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