In January 1898 French novelist and critic mile Zola played an important part in the defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew unjustly accused of selling military secrets to Germany. On the front page of a Paris newspaper, the author published a terrific denunciation of French government officials, entitled "J'accuse... " ("I Accuse... ") It was written as an open letter to F lix Faure, President of the French Republic, and accused the government of anti-Semitism in the Dreyfus Affair. The brave letter had much to do with freeing Dreyfus in 1899.