Portfolio of 15 (30) original pen and ink caricatures concerning the Dreyfuss affair by Alpha, probably intended for, and possibly, published. front, top page, handwritten, black ink : Affaire Dreyfus / illustrée par / Alpha - [The Dreyfus Affair, illustrated by Alpha.] front, bottom page, top left, handwritten, black ink : De temps en temps, ce bon frĕre / ?enai? savoir si ca marchai?. [From time to time, this good brother…] front, bottom page, top right, handwritten, black ink : 6
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The portfolio was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Portfolio of 30 caricatures by Alpha on the Dreyfus Affair, a political scandal revolving around antisemitism that inflamed France in the late 19th century. Alfred Dreyfus was an army captain found guilty of treason in 1894 for selling French military secrets. Antisemitic publications used Dreyfus as a symbol of the disloyalty of all French Jews. In 1896, another man was tried and acquitted of the same crime. Emile Zola wrote a letter to protest the verdict, titled"J'Accuse" in which he accused the French Army of covering up its unjust conviction of Dreyfus. Zola was charged with libel and the Dreyfus Affair grew into a national political crisis. An Army intelligence officer was found to have forged the document proving Dreyfus's guilt. But in a second trial, despite the confession of the traitor, the Army again convicted Dreyfus. The verdict was met with outrage around the world. Dreyfus was offered a pardon by the president to end the crisis, which he accepted. The portfolio is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Portfolio of 30 antisemitic caricatures about the Dreyfus Affair