Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] DREYFUS ON DREYFUS 295
Lorraine, where Maurice Barrès’ ideas were thriving and where the influence
of the Catholic Church remained vivid, demonstrations became commonplace
in May 1898. If Marseilles became a hotspot for antisemitic
agitation, mostly due to the presence of Max Regis, the mayor of Algiers
and an accomplished agitator, no region was spared of riots and
demonstrations.
A chapter is dedicated to the attitude of the French police, torn
between its own antisemitism and prejudice and its loyalty to the republic;
some policemen remained passive in face of violent demonstrations. The
last chapter of the book is dedicated to the reassessment of Jewish attitude.
When French Jews have been described as indifferent or passive—by Léon
Blum or by Hannah Arendt, for example—countless stories exhumed by
Pierre Birnbaum show the opposite.
In his conclusion, Birnbaum expresses a mixed verdict on 1898’s
France. Yes, millions of people voted for openly antisemitic candidates,
even if few were elected. But the time of the Franco-French wars was over
and the street agitation led to no deaths. Not one Jew was killed in those
riots, “and yes, certain ingredients of civil war even came into being at
Tivoli Hall and on the avenue de Wagram. But none of it went very far,”
Birnbaum writes. “The police charged, but they did not fire; nationalists
demonstrators and Dreyfusard counterdemonstrators—long the minority—
did not murder each other.” The republican state and police stood strong:
they prevented murderous violence; they protected the Jews. “Countless
mayors, prefects, subprefects, and police superintendents, constantly present
in the streets, checked, broke up, or diverted the antisemitic violence.”
In reviewing this classic text, I note that the translator succeeded in
rendering a clear text is not surprising considering that Pierre Birnbaum
writes in a clear and articulate way, but the lively rendering in English of
the numerous antisemitic songs, libels, flyers, and other material is in itself
a tour de force.
*Jean-Marc Dreyfus is a reader in Holocaust studies at the University of
Manchester. He can be contacted at Jean-marc.Dreyfus@manchester.ac.uk.