J'Accuse

Antisemitism is discrimination against Jewish people. Antisemitism is a charge that Zola levies at a number of people throughout J’Accuse…!, namely Lieutenant Colonel Picquart. He also states that antisemitism could “destroy the freedom-loving France of Rights of Man” if left “unchecked” (26). Antisemitism was at the root of the Dreyfus Affair, as Dreyfus’s Jewish identity was the foremost reason why the military, the press, and the public found it expedient to assert Dreyfus’s guilt despite a complete lack of evidence. A key component of antisemitism, when it intersects with nationalism, is the belief that Jewish people cannot be loyal to both their religion and their country. This was a key issue in the allegations of treason against Dreyfus. Zola condemns this flawed belief, referring to it as “odious” (26).

A bordereau is a detailed note or memorandum of account. The bordereau in this case was a list of documents that were stolen and sold to the German embassy by a military officer. The bordereau was found in a trash can in the German Embassy in Paris, by a maid working as a French spy. This woman alerted the military authorities who opened an investigation to identify the traitor. In reality, the investigation identified an “ideal” culprit, and the bordereau was used to accuse Dreyfus.