Event
The Lorraine Beitler Lecture Series presents The Dreyfus Affair and the Transformation of Jewish Identity
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center 3240 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104
The Dreyfus Affair transformed French society, and the nature of Jewish identity, at the end of the nineteenth century. This lecture explores Jewish reactions to the Affair in different national contexts.
The Dreyfus Affair transformed French society at the end of the nineteenth century. It also transformed the nature of Jewish identity, changing how Jews saw their place in the world and their relation to other Jews. This lecture, by the author of Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair (2024), explores Jewish reactions to the Affair in different national contexts, with particular attention paid to the effect of the Affair on various Jewish political ideologies.
About the speaker
Maurice Samuels is the Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French at Yale University, where he chairs the French Department and directs the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism. A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library, he is the author of five books, including most recently Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair, published by Yale University Press in 2024.
This event is hosted by the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts and the Jewish Studies Program.
Registration is required for guests of the Penn Community and encouraged for all participants.
In 2002, Dr. Lorraine Beitler donated a collection of over 1,000 items documenting the history of the Alfred Dreyfus affair and its impact on the art, society, and politics of France and the modern world. A few years later, Dr. Beitler and her husband, Martin, established the Lorraine Beitler Lecture Fund to serve as a catalyst for the examination of the issues of prejudice and intolerance. The first lecture was held in 2007, and lectures have been presented on an annual or semi-annual basis since then.