Today's Date:

On 5 January 1895, Captain Dreyfus was demoted for betraying France. The worst crime for an officer. But Dreyfus did not commit this crime.

In the morning, in the court of honour of the Ecole militaire [Military Academy], a warrant officer came up to him. He tore off Dreyfus' buttons, trouser stripes, the insignia of his rank. He broke the officer's sword. In front of him, Dreyfus remained upright and dignified.

A photographer chose, seized that moment. And a hundred years later, we still feel all its violence. Captain Dreyfus saw the shreds of his honour fall at his feet. He had to confront the crowd's abuse. A terrible moment for that Alsatian officer who had chosen in 1872, after Germany had annexed Alsace-Lorraine, to remain French. Who, as an adolescent, had sworn to become a soldier to defend his homeland.

He found himself banished to Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana. For nearly five years, Dreyfus was confined to a few square metres. From 1896, every night he was clapped in irons. A double fence was build around him: he could no longer see the sea, his great comforter. Never again was anyone ever supposed even to hear of Dreyfus.

Yet people talked about him. In fact, that was the only thing people talked about: since Dreyfus was innocent.

There should never have been a Dreyfus Affair: that second-rate conspiracy could have been exposed from the outset. But because his superiors could not have made a mistake, the captain had at all costs to remain guilty. The nation's higher interest was invoked. The only aim was to conceal the failings of a few top men.

But others refused to go along with the conspiracy to commit the injustice. In the face of adversity, they fought the battle for honour, the battle for truth.

And first of all, of course, Dreyfus himself. Coming from a Jewish family deeply rooted in the Republic, a former student of the Ecole polytechnique [prestigious engineering college], he passed out of the Ecole de Guerre [French Army Staff College] with flying colours and joined the military staff. Through his work and skills, he pursued an exemplary career of elite officer of the new army. Suddenly, this man is caught up in the spiral of a terrible judicial error. But he does not give up: he wants to save his honour and the honour of his family. More than anything else, he believes in France and in the Republic.

While in 1899 he accepts the presidential pardon, it is on condition that he continues to fight for recognition of his innocence. He fights to get his case reopened. Rehabilitated, he is mobilized during the First World War and fights valiantly for his country.

Alfred Dreyfus' firmness of spirit, uprightness and exemplary courage command admiration. An exemplary officer who, in the most terrible ordeals, always acted as a soldier. A patriot who passionately loved France and never doubted her. A man too, let's admit it, who never received full justice: with an aching heart, because he could not pursue the career to which he was entitled, the officer had to leave the army. This is why the nation was duty-bound today to pay him solemn tribute.

And then there was Lt. Col. Picquart: appointed military intelligence chief, he understands that Dreyfus is not guilty. A loyal officer, he opens his heart to his chiefs. "If you say nothing, no one will know" is the answer he gets. He is removed from his post, sent on a dangerous mission. He could have remained silent. He chooses to speak. This almost destroys his career, his life. But he too loves the army. He believes in it: he wants it to be just. His superiors refuse to understand the great harm the denial of justice to Dreyfus is doing to the army's interests, France's interests. Lt. Col. Picquart fulfilled his duty as an honest man: his patriotic duty.

These men created the conditions which allowed the Republic to wake up to what was happening. Already, almost no one any longer doubts Dreyfus' innocence. The judicial error which has struck him takes on a new dimension. And the Affair really begins: a major crisis, but also a founding moment for the Republic's entrenchment.

Everyone has to decide which side they are on. Two conceptions of the individual and of the nation clash. On one side, there are those for whom the reason of State, the army's honour has to override every other consideration, including human rights. For them, even innocent, Dreyfus has to remain guilty. There is nothing they won't do to bring him down and, through him, attack a still fragile Republic.

On the other side stand those fighting for every person's fundamental right to justice. They feel that by recognizing the error committed, by clearing Dreyfus, France will grow in stature.

Those men come from very different walks of life, hold quite different beliefs and opinions: Clemenceau, Emile Zola, the committed writer and Anatole France, a member of the Académie française at the peak of his glory. Léon Blum, the socialist and Charles Péguy, the Catholic poet. Bernard Lazare, the anarchist, and the Vice-President of the Senate, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner. Jaurès, eloquence personified, and the pure-hearted ardent Lucien Herr, librarian of the Ecole normale supérieure [grande école (prestigious higher education institutes with competitive entrance examinations) for training teachers]. What brings them all together is their commitment in the Affair. It transcends their differences in the struggle for common values.

With them, the battle for Dreyfus becomes a battle for huge numbers of French people. A universal battle. A battle for everyone. Clemenceau writes, in "l’Aurore" [French newspaper]: the Republic, founded on freedom and justice, is incompatible with the arbitrary and reason of State.

The violence of the antagonism aroused by the Affair was brutal. In a country where Jews won equal civic rights back in 1791, anti-Semitism is unleashed, in nationalist ranks, with unprecedented violence. For or against Dreyfus, duels are fought. Men die. Families are torn apart.

But thanks to the mobilization of Dreyfus' supporters, the path is finally opened for the case to be appealed. On 12 July 1906, 100 years ago to the day, the Cour de Cassation delivered its decision. After concluding, as you have just heard "no part of the accusation made against Dreyfus still stands", it annuls the verdict of the Rennes Council of War.

Rehabilitating Dreyfus, its decision is based on principles: the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the fundamental rules of natural law and primacy of individual rights over reasons of State.

The judicial error which caused Dreyfus' misfortune has taken on a universal dimension. The Affair could have dealt a fatal blow to the Republic: instead, the Republic not only overcame the crisis, but emerged stronger from it. More confident of its legitimacy and values and with its pillars strengthened: the army, of which so many sacrifices were to be demanded in 1914, was definitively rooted in the Republic; the judicial system, Justice, with the Cour de Cassation, had demonstrated its impartiality and commitment to human rights; and the press had successfully taken on the role of counter power, an essential one in a democracy. The Republic's elite – professors, scholars, writers, those who since then have been known as the "intellectuals" – had for the first time exercised this moral magisterium which was to have a major impact on the century.

Captain Dreyfus' tragedy awakened the human conscience. It continues to resound in our hearts and minds. After dividing the country, it helped strengthen the Republic. It was the melting pot in which the development of the humanist values of respect and tolerance was completed. Values which today still cement it. Dreyfus' rehabilitation was the Republic's victory. Victory of France's unity.

The rejection of racism and anti-Semitism, defence of human rights, primacy of justice: all these values are today part of our heritage. We may think them secured for good. But we must always be extremely vigilant: the battle against the forces of darkness, injustice, intolerance and hatred is never won for good.

Ladies and gentlemen.

On 21 July 1906, at the Ecole militaire, Alfred Dreyfus was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Here too, a photographer captured the event for history: the rehabilitated officer chats with his peers. There is pride on the men's faces: the honour stolen from a soldier of the Republic had been restored. To the enthusiastic cries of "Long live Dreyfus!", the captain nobly replies: "No, gentlemen, please. Long live France!"

Today, by honouring Dreyfus, Picquart and so many exceptional men, we are in fact paying tribute to the Republic and the values on which France has been built.

Long live the Republic! Long live France!./.