An Officer and a Spy characters

Appears from the start

A career French army officer who witnesses Alfred Dreyfus's public degradation and later becomes head of the Statistical Section, the army's secret intelligence office. Initially sharing many assumptions of his class and institution, he nevertheless insists that evidence must be genuine. His discovery that espionage continues after Dreyfus's conviction sets him against his own superiors.

Appears from the start

A Jewish artillery captain convicted of passing military secrets to Germany. At his public degradation he continues to declare his innocence before being transported to solitary imprisonment on Devil's Island. His case becomes the test of whether the army will correct a grave injustice or protect its reputation.

First appears in chapter 2

The ailing head of the army's Statistical Section, whom Picquart is chosen to replace. Suspicious and intensely hostile to Dreyfus, he leaves behind an office built on secrecy, informal methods, and a willingness to treat prejudice as proof.

First appears in chapter 2

A senior officer on the General Staff and one of Picquart's immediate superiors. He values the army's institutional standing and initially expects Picquart to handle intelligence discoveries without reopening the Dreyfus conviction.

First appears in chapter 3

An officer in the Statistical Section who had played an important part in the secret case against Dreyfus. Outwardly loyal and industrious, he is closely identified with the office's determination to defend the original verdict.

First appears in chapter 3

A civilian expert in the Statistical Section who works with intercepted and reconstructed material from foreign embassies. His technical work helps compare handwriting and documents as Picquart investigates the continuing leak.

First appears in chapter 3

An administrative official in the Statistical Section. Methodical and discreet, he belongs to the small inner circle familiar with the secret evidence and routines used against Dreyfus.

First appears in chapter 7

A French infantry officer whose expensive habits and access to military information draw Picquart's attention after a message from the German embassy is found addressed to him. His handwriting closely resembles that of the document used to convict Dreyfus.

First appears in chapter 4

Picquart's married lover and a source of private companionship outside his military life. Their necessary discretion also gives him a place of temporary refuge as his conflict with the General Staff deepens.

First appears in chapter 15

A lawyer and trusted old friend of Picquart. Picquart entrusts him with what he has learned when he fears the army may silence him, allowing the evidence to reach civilian defenders of Dreyfus.

First appears in chapter 17

A respected senator and vice-president of the Senate who is persuaded to examine the evidence that Dreyfus was wrongly convicted. His standing gives the campaign for review credibility beyond the Dreyfus family.

First appears in chapter 20

A celebrated novelist who publicly accuses the state and army of condemning an innocent man and protecting the guilty one. His intervention turns a suppressed military dispute into a national political crisis.

Appears from the start

The former minister of war under whose authority Dreyfus was prosecuted. He remains a forceful defender of the conviction and of the secret procedures used to obtain it.