When Papillon arrives on Devil's Island and is walking around, he sits on a crude stone bench overlooking the sea. Another prisoner walks by and says, "How dare you sit there. That bench belongs to Captain Dreyfus." This is a reference to the "Dreyfus Affair" which was a scandal in France from 1894 to 1906. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the French army. He was accused of treason (giving secrets to Germany), convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. An article titled "J'accuse...!" by French journalist Émile Zola brought public attention to the case. An investigation revealed Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted because he was Jewish and another man, an anti-Semite, had forged the documents that convicted Dreyfus. Dreyfus was released, reinstated to the army at his previous rank, and served honorably in WWI.

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