Reinach Family

(19–20th century)

   French politicians and writers.

   Joseph Reinach (1856–1921), a Parisian lawyer and political writer, was chef du cabinet to Premier Leon Gambetta (1881) and a member of the Chamber of Deputies (1889–98; 1906–14). He was one of the first prominent Jews in France to throw himself into the bitter struggle to vindicate Captain DREYFUS. He later wrote a seven-volume history of the Dreyfus Affair.

   His brother Solomon (1858–1932.) was a leading French archaeologist and historian of art and religions. In 1902. he was appointed keeper of the national museums. Though anti-Zionist, and rejecting religious faith on rational grounds, he was active in Jewish affairs and a vice-president of the Alliance Israélite Universelle.

   Another brother, Theodore (1860– 1928), was professor of religions at the école des Hautes études, and an authority on coins. Anti-Zionist, he advocated assimilation and wrote a book on the Dreyfus Affair.