We must fight this battle through education
HER EXCELLENCY SYLVIE BERMANN, FRENCH
AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED KINGDOM
A graduate of the Paris Institute of Political
Studies, the French Institute of Oriental Languages
and Civilizations (Chinese) and the Beijing
Languages Institute, Mme Bermann embarked on
her diplomatic career in 1979. She was appointed
French Ambassador to the United Kingdom in July
2014. She was previously Ambassador to China, from February 2011
to July 2014, and headed the French Foreign Ministry’s directorate
for the UN and international organizations, human rights and
Francophony, from 2005 to 2011.
On his recent visit to London, the
Chief Rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia,
shared with me what his father used
to tell him when he was a child: “a
country that tore itself apart about
the fate of an obscure Jewish artillery
captain is a country where there will
always be hope and room for us”.
These words resonated with me.
The Dreyfus affair can indeed be
understood in two different ways
– and this is something that has
always struck me. It is the story
of an honourable man that was
unfairly convicted of passing military
secrets to the Germans, against the
background of persistent antisemitism
in French society. But it is also the
story of a great national reaction led
by in