06 July , 2006
The ashes of former Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus will not be moved to the hallowed Pantheon, Paris' most prestigious resting place, following a decision by the French president, Jacques Chirac, to instead hold a national ceremony in honor of Dreyfus. The event is to take place on July 12, the 100th anniversary of Dreyfus' rehabilitation after being unjustly accused of treason in a case that shook the French establishment. AP quotes Chirac aides as saying that the president had decided not to have Dreyfus' ashes moved to the Pantheon. There was no reason for the refusal. Aides said Chirac preferred a large-scale national ceremony. Some groups had requested that the remains of the army captain be installed in the domed Pantheon in central Paris, where those of author Emile Zola, whose defense of Dreyfus led to the rehabilitation, lay. Dreyfus was accused of spying for the Germans. In a famous 1898 article entitled "J'accuse," Zola successfully argued that Dreyfus was framed as a spy by a French military looking for scapegoats. Anti-Semitism was rife in France at the time.
