Introduction: Persecution Through Prosecution: Revisiting Touro Law Center’s Conference in Paris on the Alfred Dreyfus Affair and the Leo Frank Trial

Abstract

In July 2011, Touro Law Center hosted a three-day conference on the Alfred Dreyfus affair and Leo Frank trial in Paris, France. The theme of the conference, developed by the Honorable Sol Wachtler, was persecution through prosecution. Perhaps no case so clearly presents that theme as that of Alfred Dreyfus. The Dreyfus affair began in 1894 when Alfred, a Jewish French officer, was falsely charged with treason. He was subsequently convicted on the basis of flimsy evidence (including forged documents) in a secret court-martial proceeding and sentenced to prison on Devil's Island. Anti-Semitism played a critical role in the military's decision to charge and then convict Dreyfus.

Keywords: Dreyfus affair, Alfred Dreyfus, treason, court-martial, persecution, prosecution