Poster of a pro-Dreyfus parlor game

Poster of a gameboard for a parlor game about the Dreyfus Affair, a political scandal revolving around antisemitism that inflamed late 19th century France. The game was created by Dreyfus supporters during the scandal. The winner is the player who reaches La Veritie or the Truth, represented as a naked woman rising from a well. Board symbols include broken tablets of the Rights of Man, and promotes the idea that hatred and discrimination against one miniority, the Jews, is an attack on the rule of law and the rights of all. Alfred Dreyfus was an army captain found guilty of treason in 1894 for selling military secrets. Antisemitic politicians and publications used Dreyfus as a symbol of the disloyalty and treachery of all French Jews. Zola wrote a letter, J'Accuse, to protest the verdict, in which he accused the Army of a cover up. He was charged with libel and the Dreyfus Affair grew into a national political crisis. It was discovered that the document proving Dreyfus's guilt was forged. But in a second trial, despite the confession of the traitor, the Army again convicted Dreyfus. The verdict was met with outrage around the world. In 1899, Dreyfus was pardoned by the president to end the crisis. The game board poster is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.