(1859-1935)
French soldier. He was born in Alsace. He became a captain on the general staff of the French army in 1892. In 1894 he was accused of treason, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He protested his innocence and was eventually exonerated, but the case plunged France into a state of virulent anti-Semitism for a decade. The so-called Dreyfus Affair deeply influenced Theodor Herzl and contributed to the development of Zionism. Dreyfus' The Letters of Captain Dreyfus to His Wife and Five Years of My Life depict his ordeal.
Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Dan Cohn-Sherbok.