Page "Émile Zola" Paragraph 16

Émile Zola risked his career and more on 13 January 1898, when his " J ' accuse ", was published on the front page of the Paris daily L ' Aurore.

The newspaper was run by Ernest Vaughan and Georges Clemenceau, who decided that the controversial story would be in the form of an open letter to the President, Félix Faure.

Émile Zola's " J ' Accuse " accused the highest levels of the French Army of obstruction of justice and antisemitism by having wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

Zola's intention was that he be prosecuted for libel so that the new evidence in support of Dreyfus would be made public.

The case, known as the Dreyfus affair, divided France deeply between the reactionary army and church and the more liberal commercial society.

The ramifications continued for many years ; on the 100th anniversary of Zola's article, France's Roman Catholic daily paper, La Croix, apologized for its antisemitic editorials during the Dreyfus Affair.

As Zola was a leading French thinker, his letter formed a major turning-point in the affair.