Marie-Georges Picquart

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Marie-Georges Picquart, 1906
Picquart in the uniform of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, 1887
Tomb in the Saint-Urbain cemetery in Strasbourg

Marie-Georges Picquart (born September 6, 1854 in Strasbourg , French Empire , † January 18, 1914 in Amiens ) was a French officer, minister of war and involved in the Dreyfus affair .

Life

Picquart was born in Strasbourg on September 6, 1854, as the son of Marie Charles François Hubert Picquart and Louise Henriette Mélanie, born. Debenesse, born. After graduating from high school there, he attended the military academy in Saint-Cyr from November 1872 . He was promoted to corporal on August 30, 1873, and was promoted to sergeant that same year. October 1, 1874 he was appointed lieutenant . December 28, 1876 during his time at the school for the General Staff he was promoted to lieutenant. He was made captain while serving in a Zouave regiment stationed in Algeria from March 8, 1879 to May 21, 1880. He then took part, with the rank of major, in the campaigns in Tonkin and Annam (October 20, 1885 to June 30, 1886). On July 5, 1887, he was accepted into the Legion of Honor . On May 14, 1888, he was given command of a battalion . On his return to France he taught at the École de Guerre and was appointed to the staff of General Gaston de Galliffets .

The Dreyfus Affair

In 1895 he took over the Deuxième Bureau from Colonel Jean Sandherr . Here he was commissioned by General Raoul de Boisdeffre to look for further evidence against Captain Alfred Dreyfus , who had already been convicted of high treason . Personally convinced of his guilt, however, he found out that evidence against him had been falsified and that the real traitor was Ferdinand Walsin-Esterházy . He reported these results to his superiors, who refused to reopen the process.

Picquart was sent on an advance inspection tour by Secretary of War Jean-Baptiste Billot on the advice of General Charles Arthur Gonse . Following this, he was transferred to Algeria and Tunisia . Fearing he would die there in an accident or a battle, he put the facts he had established in writing, confided in a lawyer friend and presented the case to General de Pellieux. Meanwhile, Esterházy requested a military trial to prove his innocence . The trial took place behind closed doors and was directed against Picquart. A judge had to remind General de Pellieux that Picquart was not the accused. Esterházy was unanimously exonerated and Picquart was arrested for passing on state secrets and forging evidence and imprisoned for 60 days in Mont Valérien .

According to Émile Zola's open letter J'accuse , he was charged with defamation and found guilty on February 23, 1898. Picquart was heard as a witness and had testified in Zola's favor. Colonel Hubert-Joseph Henry had called Picquart a liar during the trial, after which there was a duel with Degen , which is why Picquart was expelled from the army.

On June 1, 1898, the new Minister of War Godefroy Cavaignac gave a speech before the Chamber of Deputies , in which he reiterated all allegations against Dreyfus. In September Picquart was arrested and taken to the Cherche-Midi military prison in Paris , where he spent the next eleven months.

The trial against him began on November 26th and resulted in a guilty verdict. The verdict was suspended on December 8th. On June 3, 1899, the verdict against Dreyfus from 1894 was cashed and this was brought back to court in Rennes . Again Picquart testified as a witness in favor of Dreyfus'. This was again found guilty on September 9th. However, the court recognized attenuating circumstances. On September 19, 1899, President Émile Loubet pardoned Dreyfus. The President of the Council of Ministers, Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau , intended to draw a line and passed an amnesty law on November 17th that affected everyone involved in the Dreyfus affair. It became law on December 19. It was not until July 12, 1906, that the Court of Cassation overturned the second judgment against Dreyfus and acquitted him, finally rehabilitating him. Dreyfus was appointed squadron commander and Picquart was appointed brigadier general. On November 27, 1906, he was promoted to Général de division .

The further career

On October 25, 1906, he became Minister of War in the Georges Clemenceau cabinet . He held the post until July 20, 1909. Then he took over the command of the 2e corps d'armée in Amiens as the successor to General Joffre .

On January 18, 1914, he died in Amiens at the age of 59 years from the consequences ( uremia ) of a riding accident.

Today, the Rue du Général Picquart in Strasbourg, the Avenue Colonel Picquart in Brussels and the Place Marie-Georges Picquart in Geudertheim remind us of Picquart . His final resting place is in the St. Urbain cemetery in Strasbourg.

novel

The English writer Robert Harris published in 2013 about the Dreyfus affair the thriller An Officer and a Spy (German translation intrigue ), which is told from the perspective Picquart. The novel was in 2019 by Roman Polanski filmed .

literature

  • Vincent Duclert : The Dreyfus Affair. Military mania, hostility to the republic, hatred of Jews . Translation of Ulla Biesenkamp. Berlin: Wagenbach, 1994.
  • Jean Jolly (ed.): Dictionnaire des parlementaires français. Volume VII. Paris 1972.

Web links

Commons : Marie-Georges Picquart  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Marie-Georges Picquart. In: LH / 2150/38. Base Leonore, accessed December 8, 2019 (French).
  2. a b Le Grand Echo du Nord de la France . Écho du Nord, Lille 1890 ( bnf.fr [accessed December 8, 2019]).
  3. ^ Marie-Georges Picquart. In: Basé Leonore. culture.gouv.fr, accessed on December 11, 2019 (French).
  4. Vincent Duclert: The Dreyfus Affair , 1994, p. 53
  5. Vincent Duclert: The Dreyfus Affair , 1994, p. 82
  6. ^ L'affaire Dreyfus: la révision du procès de Rennes: débats de la Cour de cassation (chambres réunies) 15 June 1906-12 June 1906. T2 . 1906 ( bnf.fr [accessed December 8, 2019]).
  7. Gina Thomas: The spy who did not win . Interview, in: FAZ , October 26, 2013, p. 35
predecessor Office successor
Eugène Etienne Minister of War of France
October 25, 1906 - July 20, 1909
Jean Brun