After four decades of constant relocation, the bronze statue of Captain Alfred Dreyfus has secured a permanent home in central Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire will unveil the monument on July 12.
The 3.5-meter statue will stand on Rue de Harlay on the Île de la Cité, directly in front of the cour de cassation, France's highest civil court.
The court officially exonerated Dreyfus of all treason charges on July 12, 1906.
French authorities twice blocked the statue from standing at l'École Militaire, where the Jewish officer was wrongfully stripped of his rank in 1894 due to antisemitism.
Officials also rejected a proposal to place the 1985 monument opposite the Palais de Justice.
Overcoming Decades of Official Resistance
Ariel Weil, mayor of Paris Central and a descendant of the Dreyfus family, noted that past authorities preferred to keep the controversial statue out of public sight.
"It's been wandering around Paris for years," Weil said.
"The general idea seemed to be: we'll put it in a corner of Paris where it won't embarrass anyone and won't be seen and we can forget about it."
The statue was previously hidden in temporary locations across the River Seine and the Tuileries garden.
The Dreyfus affair remains an impactful political crisis that nearly collapsed the Third Republic. The military forged evidence to convict Dreyfus of passing secrets to Germany.
"From now on, every July 12, a commemorative ceremony will be held for Dreyfus, celebrating the victory of justice and truth over hatred and antisemitism," Macron wrote last year.
"Thus, Alfred Dreyfus and those who fought through him for liberty, equality and fraternity will continue to serve as the example that must inspire our conduct."
The Socialist government of President François Mitterrand originally commissioned the artwork from political cartoonist Louis Mitelberg in 1985.
It was intended for the École Militaire courtyard.
"As president, Mitterrand was head of the military and if he had said: 'It goes in the École Militaire courtyard', where it was supposed to go, that's where it would have gone.
But he didn't," Weil explained.
The original piece suffered from obscurity and vandalism on Place Pierre Lafue.
Resin duplicates displayed in Tel Aviv and the Museum of Jewish Art and History became more widely recognized.
"The Dreyfus affair is one of the five most politically significant events in the history of France," Weil said.
"As well as the antisemitism, there was the question of the influence of the army within the state and all the values promised by the republic."
"The statue is being placed in an incredibly powerful spot in the very centre of Paris.
It is perhaps fitting that the statue is not being placed in École Militaire where Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his rank, but outside the court that completely exonerated him.
This puts right a final injustice."
