Meyer, Arthur

Arthur Meyer ( June 16, 1844 , Le Havre - February 2, 1924 , Paris ) - French journalist, one of the largest figures in the French press in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He came from a poor Jewish family; his work was a rabbi ; subsequently converted to Catholicism . He began his career as a secretary with actress and model Blanche d'Antigny , then was a journalist in Revue de Paris. In 1869 he was appointed head of the office of the prefect of the department of Er . After the fall of the Second Empire, he was in opposition to the republic and waged an active campaign in favor of Prince Louis-Napoleon , but after the death of the latter (1879) he moved to the camp of the monarchists, was considered one of the largest public figures of such views.

He founded a number of magazines and newspapers. Having become an employee of “Gaulois” and “Paris-journal”, by 1870 took possession of the first controlling stake, in 1879 he completely redeemed “Gaulois”, having established its daily issue since 1882; soon united Paris-journal, Gaulois and Clairon into one monarchist Gaulois newspaper (the ESB erroneously indicated that he headed the newspaper only in the 1890s). This newspaper had a circulation of 20-30 thousand copies, but enjoyed great influence. From June 1897 to August 1914, a weekly Sunday supplement was published for her, where feuilletons were printed.

In 1888, he campaigned for the idea of ​​General Georges Boulanger about the restoration of the monarchy and was against the revision of the Dreyfus case (apparently, considering him guilty); at the same time, he opposed the possible defense of counterfeiters. Meyer’s duel with Eduard Adolph Drumont became scandalous after the release of Drumont's book “Jewish France”: Meyer considered himself offended by references to himself in this book. On June 5, 1882, together with the cartoonist and sculptor Alfred Greven, who worked with him, he opened a wax museum in Paris, which today operates as the Grevin Museum . In 1890, together with the Duke, Liuin made an unsuccessful attempt to organize the passage in France of the military service of Philip of Orleans .

His memoirs “What I saw with my own eyes” ( Fr. Ce que mes yeux ont vu ; 1911) and “What can I say” ( Fr. “Ce que je peux dire ; 1912) were very successful; they have two chapters affecting the Jewish question: “Dreyfusarism” and “Anti-Semitism”. In them, he connected anti-Semitism with the Third Republic, which, in his opinion, declared war on Catholicism, and urged Jews to support monarchism. In 1914, the only play he wrote was staged at the Buff Theater in Paris. He was also known as a bibliophile, who ordered artists to draw drawings for their publications of various outstanding works in order to make such publications unique.