German General Staff

The German General Staff is portrayed in the Dreyfus affair both as the alleged recipient of stolen French military information and as an institution whose supposed connection to Alfred Dreyfus is examined and denied. Reports attributed to German intelligence helped sustain suspicions of a spy inside the French army, but the records Picquart uncovers undermine the claim that Dreyfus was that spy: one crucial “D” is identified as a printer named Jacques Dubois, while German officials say they knew Dreyfus only from the newspapers.

Intelligence Reports and Alleged Sources

The French intelligence narrative places German military attaché Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen at the center of several suspected channels. A deposition by Major Henry states that in June 1893 the Statistical Section obtained a note indicating that Schwartzkoppen was receiving plans of fortifications at Toul, Reims, Langres, and Neufchâteau through an unidentified informant. In January 1894, another intercepted note reportedly showed that Schwartzkoppen had paid the informant an advance of six hundred francs for plans of Albertville, Briançon, and Mézières, as well as new embankments along the Moselle and Meurthe.

A separate report described an unnamed agent said to hold the rank of battalion commander, to be between forty and fifty years old, and to have supplied information to Schwartzkoppen for roughly two years. The material was said to concern artillery, including a gunnery course at Châlons, and to have travelled up the command chain to von Schlieffen. Yet the account also records that von Schlieffen doubted the source, suspecting either a hoax or an agent provocateur, and instructed Schwartzkoppen to have nothing further to do with him. The reports therefore depict not a confirmed, dependable source but intelligence whose credibility was already in question within the German command.

The Dreyfus Allegation and the Identity of “D”

The French secret file attempted to connect Dreyfus to German and Italian military attachés through circumstantial claims about his access to fortification plans. It alleged that, while attached to the First Department of the French General Staff in the second half of 1893, Dreyfus could access a safe containing blueprints, including plans of Nice, and could have removed them while the office was unattended. The file asserted that these materials reached the German Embassy and were later passed to the Italian military attaché. But Picquart finds no document or witness in the file that directly names Dreyfus as a traitor; its nearest approach is an initial, “D.”

The underlying chronology further weakens the accusation. Henry’s deposition says that Schwartzkoppen already possessed plans in June 1893, whereas the file places Dreyfus’s attachment to the First Department in July. Picquart also considers the alleged removal and return of architectural plans implausible: their disappearance would have been noticed, and there had been no complaints about missing documents. In a separate April 1894 report, Henry identifies the suspected agent “D” as Jacques Dubois, a printer who could make copies of publicly available plans. The report says Dubois had no access to classified material and recommends no further action. For Picquart, the conclusion is decisive: “D” is not Dreyfus but Dubois.

German Inquiries and Denials

The account also follows a chain of inquiries on the German side. According to Richard Cuers, the Kaiser demanded to know whether the Imperial army had ever employed Dreyfus. Von Schlieffen asked Dame, who said he knew nothing of any Jewish spy. On von Schlieffen’s orders, Schwartzkoppen was recalled to Berlin for consultation; Cuers reported seeing him in the Tiergarten. Schwartzkoppen maintained that he first heard Dreyfus’s name only after reading about the arrest in a newspaper. Dame subsequently made discreet inquiries of other friendly European intelligence agencies, which likewise found no record that they had employed Dreyfus.

These denials do not end the diplomatic dispute. The Germans are described as angry at being treated as fools and as suspecting that the French affair was a sophisticated maneuver intended to discredit them internationally. The exchange makes the German General Staff more than a distant recipient in the French case file: it is also an institution whose account of its own dealings becomes part of a broader contest over credibility, secrecy, and national reputation.

Evidence, Secrecy, and the French Investigation

The German connection is mediated throughout by French documents and by the French officers who collect, interpret, and control them. Picquart’s inspection of the secret file exposes the gap between its allegations and what it can actually prove. Later, while searching the intelligence archives, he gathers Agent Auguste materials, including correspondence involving Schwartzkoppen and other foreign military representatives, and locates Henry’s report naming Dubois. The documentary trail thus contains both incriminating-looking fragments and records that complicate or contradict the accusation against Dreyfus.

That tension has consequences for the investigation. After Picquart presents his findings to Charles-Arthur Gonse, Gonse tells him to pursue Esterhazy if he wishes but to leave the bordereau out of the inquiry. Later, Gonse formally orders him to stop investigating anything connected with the Dreyfus case and not to disclose it to unauthorized people. When Picquart is due to leave on an inspection tour, Gonse transfers the Agent Auguste material to Henry, requiring it to be brought directly to him. These actions belong to the French chain of command, not to the German General Staff, but they show how claims about German espionage become bound up with a struggle over access to evidence and control of the investigation. The German institution’s significance in the narrative rests finally on that unresolved contrast: it is invoked as the destination of treasonous secrets, while the evidence meant to prove Dreyfus’s connection to it repeatedly fails to establish that connection.