London library displays 19th-century antisemitic press
An exhibition at the Wiener Holocaust Library features posters and newspapers from the Dreyfus affair, described as the first viral antisemitic campaign.
By Kwame Silva ·
The Wiener Holocaust Library in London is opening an exhibition of 19th-century media that fueled the Dreyfus affair.
Barbara Warnock, a co-director of the library, described the events of 1894 as the world's first experience of antisemitism gone viral. The controversy centered on the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a 36-year-old French army captain, for treason. At the time, France had lifted strict censorship laws, and printing presses operated with new speed. This combination allowed a public shouting match to explode into a deluge of newspaper specials, bespoke journals, and posters.
The display marks 120 years since Dreyfus received his exoneration, promotion, and the Légion d'honneur. The library, founded by Alfred Wiener, holds approximately 40 Dreyfus-related items. Wiener fled Germany for the Netherlands in 1933 and later escaped to London in 1938, bringing a collection of documents chronicling the rise of antisemitism. The current exhibition also includes materials collected over the decades and items on long-term loan from Birkbeck, University of London.
One prominent exhibit is a large poster from the series titled Musée des Horreurs. Clara Dijkstra, a curator for the show, noted that these posters were published from autumn 1899 to 1900. There are between 45 and 50 versions of the series, all depicting key figures who supported Dreyfus. One poster caricatures Arthur Ranc, a leftwing politician and newspaper editor, as an alligator-like creature with razor-sharp teeth. Dijkstra stated the point was to dehumanize the figures defending Dreyfus. The government eventually shut down the publication after a year, deciding the imagery was too grotesque.
The collection also includes a copy of La Libre Parole, a rightwing newspaper founded by Édouard Drumont, the initiator of the Antisemitic League of France. Dijkstra pointed out the paper's grotesque antisemitic imagery and large circulation. It was the first publication to report that Dreyfus was guilty, effectively breaking the story. A special 45-page edition of the British weekly newspaper the Graphic is the only English-language Dreyfus-themed publication in the collection. Its front page featured the headline Dreyfus the martyr above an image of his arrest. Dijkstra explained that the British focus was less on antisemitism and more on the miscarriage of justice, framing the events as a courtroom drama.
A French journal published specifically to cover the affair emerged in response to J’Accuse, an 1898 open letter from novelist Émile Zola to President Félix Faure. Zola accused the government of antisemitism and a cover-up. He was later convicted of libel and fled to England. An image in the journal titled Psst….! shows a Prussian officer pulling the strings of a mask of Zola’s face, with a caricature of a Jewish man behind it. Dijkstra said the image implied a German conspiracy. The exhibition, titled J’accuse! Press, Polemic and the Dreyfus Affair, runs from 5 November to 19 March at the Wiener Holocaust Library.
Warnock noted that the topic is relevant now, with interesting echoes in how antisemitism manifests today. The library aims to bring to life the toxic debate that split France in the 1890s and early 1900s while Dreyfus languished in solitary confinement on Devil’s Island.
