Charles Arthur Gonse

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Charles Arthur Gonse says in court from
February 12, 1898

Charles Arthur Gonse (born September 19, 1838 in Paris , † December 18, 1917 in Cormeilles-en-Parisis ) was a French général de brigade . From 1893 he was head of the Deuxième Bureau in the French General Staff , which also included the intelligence service. The Dreyfus affair therefore falls during his term of office . His responsibility also included the investigation into the Jewish artillery captain Alfred Dreyfus , who served on the general staff. He played a key role in the attempts at deception to cover up the miscarriage of justice against Dreyfus. He is considered a typical representative of Dreyfus' opponents in the French army.

Military career

In 1856, Gonse entered Saint-Cyr . This was followed by a preparation for the general staff deployment at the École d'application d'État-major. In 1861 he was promoted to Sous-lieutenant . From 1868 he served in Algeria . When the Franco-Prussian War broke out , he served in the general staff of the 13th Army Corps and was in besieged Paris . In 1880 he switched to artillery. In 1885 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel , and in 1887 he was chief of staff. Promoted to colonel in 1888 , he returned to the Army General Staff and was appointed head of the Fourth Bureau. He also worked as a teacher at the École de Guerre .

In 1893 he became deputy chief of staff and general de brigade.

Role in the Dreyfus affair

Dreyfus' sentencing to life imprisonment, deportation and demotion was based on questionable manuscript comparisons and unlawful evidence. Initially, only family members and a few people who had doubts about the guilt of the defendant in the course of the trial campaigned for the reopening of the trial and Dreyfus' acquittal. The miscarriage of justice turned into an affair when the new head of the French intelligence service, Lieutenant Colonel Marie-Georges Picquart , was able to identify the actual traitor Ferdinand Walsin-Esterházy . Picquart first became aware of Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy through the so-called Le petit bleu . A little later, based on a handwriting comparison, he noticed that the central piece of evidence against Dreyfus, the so-called Bordereau , had not been written by Dreyfus, but by Esterhazy. Picquart communicated this first orally and then in writing to both the Chief of Staff Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre and Gonse. However, Gonse in particular insisted that Picquart treat the Esterhazy and Dreyfus cases as separate matters.

The press coverage of Dreyfus' alleged attempt to escape led to L'Éclair publishing selected contents of the secret dossier in two articles on September 10 and 14. Picquart believed that the Dreyfus family was behind the L'Éclair publications and had sufficient information to have the trial resumed. According to current research, Picquart was wrong here. The reports had almost certainly been launched by an informant from the General Staff in order to lull the public into believing that the bordereau was not the only reason for the conviction of Dreyfus. It was a risky strategy because it also made the illegal progress of the trial public, as the secret dossier had not been made available to the Dreyfus defense. Picquart advised his superior Gonse to act as quickly as possible and arrest Esterhazy in order to avert damage to the general staff. In a meeting with Gonse on September 15, 1896, of which only Picquart records are available, Gonse made it clear to Picquart that he was willing to accept the conviction of an innocent man in order to uphold the reputation of Mercier and Saussier, both essential had driven the trial against Dreyfus. Gonse also indicated to Picquart that his silence was essential to cover up the matter. Gonse made sure that Picquart was relieved of his office as head of the intelligence service, first transferred to the province and then to North Africa. Esterhazy was acquitted in a court martial on January 11, 1898 on the basis of falsified evidence. The trial was accompanied by hate speech from the anti-Semitic section of the French press accusing Dreyfus' defense lawyers of indicting an honorable officer in the service of a "Jewish syndicate" in order to exchange him for a Jewish traitor.

In response to Esterhazy's acquittal, the French author Émile Zola published the article J'accuse…! On January 13, 1898 . who denounced this misjudgment. The article put the Dreyfus case at the center of public discussion and attracted a lot of attention far beyond the borders of France . As a result, anti-Semitic riots broke out in France and Algeria . Picquart was released from the army on the basis of falsified evidence and arrested for treason. Zola was sentenced to one year in prison for defamation. The trial of Zola stretched over two weeks. In the courtroom, the two Zola lawyers Fernand Labori and Albert Clemenceau succeeded in repeatedly eliciting statements from the witnesses about the Dreyfus affair through their skilful questioning, although the presiding judge constantly tried to limit their questions to facts relating to the prosecution. Cornered, General Pellieux brought another document into play that allegedly clearly proved Dreyfus' guilt, and then quoted the wording of Le faux Henry . When Labori asked for the document to be presented to the court, General Gonse intervened, who, unlike Pellieux, was aware that Le faux henry was one of the forgeries in the secret file . He confirmed the existence of the document, but claimed it could not be made public. The court then had the Chief of Staff Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre appear as a witness. Boisdeffre confirmed Pellieux's statements and then turned to the court as a warning:

“You are the judgment, you are the nation; if the nation has no confidence in the leaders of its army, in the men who are responsible for national defense, then those men are ready to leave their heavy duty to others, you just have to tell. This is my last word."

In Léon Blum's view, the trial made it clear that Zola's allegations were correct. However, Boisdeffre's words, demanding a decision between the army and Zola and the Dreyfusards, had made a strong impression in public and in the courtroom. On February 23, Zola was sentenced to a fine of 3,000 francs and a year in prison. Prime Minister Méline described the Zola and Dreyfus cases as closed the next day in the Chamber of Deputies. Two days later, Picquart was dishonorably discharged from the army.

The new War Minister Godefroy Cavaignac had the evidence re-examined months later. It came to light that parts of the secret dossier were forged. Captain Hubert Henry played a key role in this. Hubert Henry committed suicide on August 31, 1898, Boisdeffre resigned from his position as head of the general staff, Gonse was transferred to reserve service. However, Gonse was instrumental in clearing the Esterhazys name. After the rehabilitation of Alfred Dreyfus, there was a duel between Picquart and Gonse in 1906 .

proof

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Harris, pp. 79-80
  2. ↑ Johnson, p. 45
  3. ↑ a b Kotowski et al., P. 38
  4. ↑ Johnson, pp. 49-51
  5. ↑ Begley, p. 151
  6. ↑ quoted from Begley, p. 152
  7. ↑ Blum, p. 82
  8. ↑ Begley, pp. 152-153
personal data
SURNAME Gonse, Charles Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French professional soldier
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 1917
Place of death Cormeilles-en-Parisis