Devil's Island, an islet in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Cuba, part of a French prison camp complex in northern French Guiana, used from 1852 to 1946. Alfred Dreyfus, a completely innocent man, spent four years in solitary confinement in a stockade here, and an additional seven years in France trying to clear his name--until he was finally vindicated, on July 20, 1906.
The Dreyfus Affair contains important lessons for today. 1) It shows the lengths to which officially-sanctioned injustice can go, while actual offenders within the government are officially protected. 2) It reminds us of Devil's Island, the far-off extra-territorial prison camp the French government maintained for 94 years, where prisoners could be held in perpetuity, with no hope of appeal, eventually forgotten. 3) It is a demonstration that many people on the far right can be so pig-headed that they go on believing falsehoods they endorse, years or even generations after the truth has come out. 4) It shows that justice can finally prevail, if people continue to fight for it, for a long time if need be, without ever giving up.
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