This demonstration by the collective, organized on the anniversary date of the publication in 1898 of Emile Zola’s famous letter to the President of the Republic, “J’accuse…!”, aimed to challenge the statements made in the fall of 2020. on CNews by the one who at the time was not yet a far-right candidate in the presidential election.
“It’s trouble, this story,” said Eric Zemmour about the Dreyfus affair. “We will never know, it’s not obvious,” he also said about the innocence of Captain Dreyfus, convicted in 1894 of spying for Germany, before being rehabilitated in 1906.
“No, Mr. Zemmour, since 1897, there has been no doubt, absolutely none, as to the innocence of Captain Dreyfus”, hammered the Mulhouse comedian Christophe Oster, reading a text on behalf of the collective, in front of the birthplace by Alfred Dreyfus.
“We can’t say anything, we can’t cross the red line, and Eric Zemmour crosses this line”, declared to AFP Bernard Eichholtzer, spokesman for the collective, and elementary school director at retirement.
“These are words that are not acceptable with regard to the values of the Republic. When Eric Zemmour calls into question the judicial institution, the work of historians, academics, he conveys nauseating ideas which are not acceptable, it is living together which is threatened, ”he added.
The group’s approach, which aims to be apolitical, has received the support of nearly 500 citizens and associations, mainly in Alsace, but also within the university community, and is considering a way to extend this mobilization to react to the expression public of distortions of history.