Dreyfus au Panthéon

Argues that the Dreyfus Affair did not receive the place it merited in French national consciousness or historiography until the beginning of this century. The tendency to reject the Affair, which was seen as a black page in the history of the nation, began to change only in 1994, on the 100th anniversary since its inception. Discusses the significance of Dreyfus's "second vindication" in 2006, when the centenary of his rehabilitation was marked by celebrations. On the eve of this centenary, Duclert proposed that Dreyfus's remains be laid alongside those of Zola in the Panthéon. The proposal was rejected by French President Jacques Chirac, who decided instead to preside over a special ceremony at the École Militaire on the anniversary. Traces both the Affair itself and reactions to the proposal to transer Dreyfus's remains to the final resting place of the French Republic's heroes.