Esterhazy’s prior Jewish payments were recast by antisemites as proof of Jewish conspiracy.

Evidence

When, from the comfortable security of England, Esterhazy at length made his revelations and thereby compelled a revision of the case, the antisemitic press naturally suggested that he had been paid by the Jews for his self-condemnation. The idea is still advanced as a major argument in favor of Dreyfus’ guilt. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2137

Categorization

• XREF: Exemplifies the mechanism of antisemitic/anti-minority logic retroactively re-reading innocent acts as damning evidence — a definitional mechanism of scapegoating prejudice relevant to the toolkit.