Zola and the Dreyfus affair

Published: Jan. 11, 2012, 9 a.m.

In 1898 the novelist Emile Zola took up the cause of the imprisoned Jewish army officer - Alfred Dreyfus.

He began by publishing an open letter to the French President under the title J'accuse.

Photo of Dreyfus at his court-martial. Getty Images/Hulton Archive.