Kishinev pogrom begins

The French army arrested Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus on suspicion of treason. Antisemitic assumptions helped direct suspicion toward him despite weak evidence. The case became a public conflict over...

A military court convicted Dreyfus of treason and sentenced him to penal transportation to Devil’s Island. The case exposed how institutional authority and antisemitic prejudice could overwhelm...

The first Zionist Congress brought delegates together to organize a political movement seeking a Jewish national home in Palestine. Zionism was one response among varied Jewish political currents to...

Jewish socialist activists founded the Bund to organize Jewish workers and oppose tsarist autocracy and antisemitism. It promoted labor organizing and Yiddish cultural life and argued for Jewish...

Zola’s open letter accused French military and state authorities of suppressing evidence in the Dreyfus case. Published in L’Aurore, it intensified public debate and made antisemitism and...

Tsar Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto (October 17 Old Style) under pressure from a mass strike and revolutionary unrest. It promised civil liberties and an elected legislature, but state...

France’s highest court overturned Dreyfus’s conviction without a retrial, clearing him of the charge. His rehabilitation was a major victory for those challenging antisemitism and military secrecy,...

After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government ended many legal restrictions based on religion and nationality, including limits affecting Jews. The decree dismantled formal disabilities...

Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote that Britain supported a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. The declaration was made by an imperial power without consultation with the Arab...

President Friedrich Ebert signed a constitution establishing a parliamentary republic and fundamental rights, including equality before the law and freedom of religion. Jewish citizens participated in...