Original admission ticket to the ceremony – attended by a handful of journalists, including Theodor Herzl – in which Alfred Dreyfus was publicly humiliated and formally degraded and stripped of his army rank. Paris, January 5, 1895. French.

The ticket is printed on thick paper, and is filled in, in handwriting, bearing the official inked stamp of the French army ("l'état-major du Gouvernement militaire de Paris"):

French: "Laissez-passer n 148 valable le 5 janvier 1895. M. Schneider représentant du journal ‘La Paix’ est autorisé à assister à la parade d’exécution qui aura lieu le 5 janvier à 9 h. du matin dans la cour de l’École m[ilitai]re" ["M. Schneider, representing the newspaper ‘La Paix, ’ is hereby entitled to participate in the sentencing ceremony on the 5th of January, at 9:00 am, in the court of the (Paris) Military Academy"]. Numbered 148 and hand-signed by the ticket holder (the journalist and art critic Louis Schneider).

The ceremony of Alfred Dreyfus’s degradation took place in the courtyard of the Paris École Militaire, before hundreds of soldiers and a select group of journalists and invited guests – just days after Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason. A general, mounted on horseback, read the verdict aloud; Dreyfus’s insignia were torn from his uniform and cast to the ground, and his sword was broken in two – a sight that became one of the most iconic images of the affair, reproduced on countless postcards, newspapers, and illustrations.

Among the personalities in attendance was Theodor Herzl, serving at the time as a reporter for the Viennese newspaper "Neue Freie Presse". In the wake of this experience, Herzl forsook any remaining faith he may have harbored for the values of the Emancipation and began formulating a novel solution the "Jewish Question".

His report on the subject was published the same day, in the newspaper’s evening edition; it provided what would eventually become one of the most memorable quotes in Zionist literature: "They brought him [Dreyfus] before the general. The latter said: ‘Alfred Dreyfus, you are unworthy of bearing arms. In the name of the French nation, I hereby revoke from you this privilege. Let the sentence be carried out!’ Dreyfus raised his right hand and called out: ‘I swear and declare you are demeaning the honor of an innocent man. Long live France!’… He passed in front of a group of officers who shouted at him: ‘Judas!’, ‘Traitor!’" Roughly a year after witnessing this spectacle, in February 1896, Theodor Herzl first published his groundbreaking work, "Der Judenstaat".

Approx. 8X11.5 cm. Good-fair condition. A few stains. Abrasions to edges. Handwritten reparative completion (probably original) of several indistinct letters of print. One corner missing, partly mended with paper.