Italian Echoes of the Dreyfus Affair: the Press and Anti-Semitism

The short essay is part of the catalog of the exhibition "Jews in the Italian twentieth century", hosted in Ferrara by MEIS. The paper summarizes the role of the Italian press in observing and restoring to readers the fundamental features of the Dreyfus affair, which animated the public debate in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. A multifaceted picture emerges, in which the press of all orientations became part of the movement for the review of the trial of the Jewish Captain or tried to sediment further prejudices. The issue of modern anti-Semitism and militarism became the cornerstone of a collective reflection on the links between people and power, State and society, stereotypes and modernity.