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History in a hotel

We are visiting family in Paris. We take a brief excursion into Provence where we see the landscape several months before it bursts into the vineyard-and-lavender glory we have all seen in pictures. We arrive before the tourist crush and all is peaceful and gorgeous.

On our final day, we find a hotel just outside the city of Carpentras. Elie asks the owner if it was once a private home. She does not speak English and I still need a few more French lessons, so Elie translates. The owner explains that it was once the private home of Henri Dreyfus, nephew to legendary Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Alfred Dreyfus even stayed in the home briefly after his “pardon.”

For those who don’t know, Alfred Dreyfus, a captain in the French army and a Jew, was falsely accused of espionage in 1894. In spite of strong evidence that he was innocent, he was deported to the French penal colony on Devil’s Island until 1899, when the President pardoned him. He was finally exonerated in 1906 by the military, at this point a broken man. The chants of “Death to the Jew,” even with evidence of his innocence, forced the public to recognize this travesty of justice as an anti-Semitic act. The case tore the country apart. Theodore Herzl heard the chants and read Emile Zola’s published letter J’accuse, motivating him to pursue his vision of establishing a Jewish homeland.

Back to Henri. As it turns out, Henri Dreyfus, nephew of Captain Dreyfus, was mayor of Carpentras for about three decades. There was a brief interruption in his term when he and his family were sent to the camps during World War II. His brother was murdered in Auschwitz. Henri was not sent to Auschwitz, but remained in a detention camp. He was married to a Catholic woman and this might have saved his life.

I try to picture how this played out. The people of Carpentras looking on as their beloved mayor is taken away with the other Jews of France. Then, years later, they welcome him back. Not only that, but Mayor Dreyfus chose to return. It’s an amazing story.

Soon, I will return to Jerusalem. There are many French Jews in Jerusalem, including my in-laws. We hear that France is becoming less and less welcoming to Jews. So, the French Jews move to Israel, the country that started as a vision of Theodore Herzl, who was inspired to create a safe haven for Jews after the false accusation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whose nephew was the mayor of Carpentras, who lived in the home that is now the hotel we enjoy on our lovely excursion to Provence.

Vineyards in Provence, months before harvest.

Vineyard, plane trees, charming homes.

Plane trees outside our hotel.

I examine a clay relief of Dreyfus in the hotel living room.

Posted by Ilene Weismehl  at 5:58 AM | Permalink | Comments 0