Zola risked his career in January 1898 when he decided to stand up for Alfred Dreyfus. Zola wrote an open letter to the president of France, Félix Faure, accusing the French government of falsely convicting Alfred Dreyfus and of antisemitism.

Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel on 7 February 1898, and was convicted on 23 February and removed from the Legion of Honour. The first judgment was overturned in April on a technicality, but a new suit was pressed against Zola, which opened on 18 July.

Le 23 février 1898 Émile Zola est condamné à un an de prison et 3.000 francs d’amende pour diffamation, à la suite de la publication le 13 janvier 1898, de son célèbre et audacieux...

My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul. Let them dare, then, to bring me before a court of law and let the enquiry take place in broad daylight! I am waiting. With my deepest respect, Sir. Émile Zola, 13th January 1898

J’accuse, celebrated open letter by Émile Zola to the president of the French Republic in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer who had been accused of treason by the French army. It was published in the newspaper L’Aurore on Jan. 13, 1898.

"J'accuse", an argument by novelist Emile Zola that Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted, was published on January 13, 1898. Zola's argument appeared on the front page of the Parisian daily L’Aurore in the form of an open letter to the President of the Republic.

On February 23, 1898, the renowned French novelist Émile Zola was imprisoned for his bold public defense of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army officer wrongfully convicted of treason.

Dec 18, 2020 · A gross miscarriage of justice led Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain of the French army, to be sentenced in a penal colony and publicly degraded. All seemed lost for the Dreyfusards in 1898, until Emilie Zola published an explosive letter – J’Accuse …! – arguing Dreyfus’s innocence and highlighting judicial errors in the Dreyfus case.

On February 23, 1898, Emile Zola was convicted of libel in a Parisian court, in connection with his dramatic article, headlined “ J’accuse,” that appeared the preceding January 13 in the daily paper L’Aurore.

Jan 15, 2025 · On January 13, 1898, Émile Zola made his choice. He wrote an open letter titled “J’Accuse!” and published it on the front page of the newspaper L’Aurore.