Jonathan Netanyahu Endowment Lecture by Maurice Samuels

In 1894, a Jewish captain in the French army was falsely accused of treason and sent to Devil’s Island to serve a life sentence under unbelievably brutal conditions. Meanwhile, back in France, his wife and brother began a campaign to clear his name that wound up dividing France and riveting the world. In this talk, Yale Professor Maurice Samuels describes the significance of the Dreyfus Affair in French and Jewish history, showing how it marked a decisive moment in the evolution of antisemitism and helped create a modern form of Jewish identity.

Maurice Samuels is the Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French at Yale University, where he also directs the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism. He is the author of five books on nineteenth-century French literature and culture, with a special focus on French-Jewish history. His latest book, Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair was published by Yale University Press in 2024 in the Jewish Lives series.