Antisemitism (prejudice or bias against Jewish people) has occurred throughout history. The Dreyfus Affair is considered a significant example of the institutional and widespread antisemitism that existed in France during the Third Republic.

A notable piece of antisemitic literature was La France Juvie, French for “Jewish France,” a 1,200-page manifesto written against the Jewish people of France by Edouard Drumont in 1886. Virulently antisemitic, this publication became a bestseller. Drumont made deeply racist claims and supported the oppression of Jewish people. His work was in large part an unfounded conspiracy theory, asserting that Jewish people controlled French commerce. He also caused religious division by renewing the established antisemitic trope that the Jewish people were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. Drumont was a founding member of the Antisemitic League of France, which organized riots during the Dreyfus Affair. Neither Drumont’s publications nor organizations were illegal at the time, reflecting social attitudes in France.

Zola addresses the role of rampant antisemitism in the Dreyfus Affair head on, writing that “the ‘dirty Jew’ obsession […] is the scourge of our time” (14). Zola, a liberal intellectual who openly discredited antisemitism, directly calls out the harmful tropes that Drumont and others were espousing in the press and across society.