NDLI: Devil's Island, September 1896-March 1897

Please wait, while we are loading the content...

(p. ix) Dedication, Introductiory Note, & Editor's Preface

(p. 1) A Sketch of My Life, The Arrest, The First Court Martial

(p.25) After the Condemnation

(p.49) The Degradation

(p. 73) The Ile de Re Prison

The Journey to Devil's Island; The Diary April 14-15, 1895

The Devil's Island Diary, April 15-May 27, 1895

The Diary, May29-July 14, 1895

The Diary, July 16-November 4, 1895

The Diary, November 7, 1895-March 12, 1896

The Diary, March 15-September 10, 1896

Devil's Island, September 1896-March 1897

Devil's Island, April-November 1897

Devil's Island, November 1897-September 1898

Devil's Island & the Return to France, October 1898-June 1899

In France, the Second Court Martial, June-September 1899

Devil's Island, September 1896-March 1897

Content Provider	Librivox
Author	Dreyfus, Alfred
Abstract	Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French Army was court martialed in 1894 on a trumped up charge of treason and condemned to life imprisonment on Devil’s island, a penal colony off French Guiana. His prison diary, published as Five Years of My Life in 1901 is a heroic tale of survival against daunting odds: isolation, deprivation, torture . . Alfred left behind in Paris his wife Lucie, who, forbidden to join her husband in exile, struggled to protect their two children from the rampant anti-Semitism that swirled about them, while she begged her husband to hold onto life as she tried to clear his name. Excerpts from the letters that Alfred and Lucie wrote to each other, between Devil’s island and Paris, are included in Five Years. Their letters are one of the great love stories of all times. “I live only by feverish will from day to day,” Dreyfus wrote to Lucie on September 4, 1897. Imprisoned in a walled-in hut in brutal heat, for months chained to his bed at night so that he could not turn over, watched 24-hours a day by guards who were forbidden to speak to him, denied books to read or any means of exercising, and only at several months lapse receiving any letters from his wife, (and those often just censored copies), his health rapidly deteriorated, but his determination to survive and prove his innocence remained strong. “Truly,” he writes to Lucie, “were it a question of myself alone, long ago would I have gone to seek in the peace of the tomb forgetfulness of all that I have seen, all of that I have heard . . . But my spirit soon revives, quivering with pain, with energy, with implacable desire for the most precious thing in this world, our honor, the honor of our children, the honor of us all.” Lucie writes back with passion and courage: (March 6, 1898) . . .”There are moments when my heart is so swollen, when your sufferings re-echo in my soul with such force, so piercingly, that I can no longer control myself . . .With a supreme effort I seek to reach out to you. Then I believe myself to be near you, I speak softly of hope. All too soon, I am awakened from my dream and brought back to reality by a child’s voice . . “ Five Years of My Life speaks to the fortitude, perseverance, and love of Alfred and Lucie Dreyfus, two innocent people snared in a web of evil. It is a book that unquestionably resonates with us today. (Summary by Sue Anderson)
Related Links	http://www.archive.org/details/fiveyearsofmylife_1007_librivox http://www.archive.org/details/fiveyearsofmylif00drey
File Format	MP2 / MPA / MP3
Language	English
Part of Series	Five Years of My Life 1894-1899
Requires	HTML5 supported browser
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	memoirs nonfiction biography & autobiography
Alternative Title	Five Years of My Life 1894-1899 - Devil's Island, September 1896-March 1897
Content Type	Audio
Resource Type	Audiobook

Central Library (ISO-9001:2015 Certified)
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Kharagpur, West Bengal, India | PIN - 721302

See location in the Map
03222 282435
Mail: support@ndl.gov.in

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in