Yanky Fachler
Reading Gaol and Devil’s Island
Summary
While the disgraced man of letters, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), was languishing in Reading Gaol, the French Jewish Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), the disgraced former artillery captain, was languishing in solitary confinement on Devil’s Island. Although the two never met, their lives unexpectedly collided when Wilde provided the Dreyfus camp with proof that Dreyfus had been framed and was not a German spy.
Yanky Fachler
Yanky Fachler is chair of the Jewish Historical Society of Ireland. He has a regular slot, Word in Edgeways, on early-morning Irish radio. He delivered 250 Zoom lectures during COVID and is the author of several books, including Kaleidoscope: 100 Characters Who Helped Shape the Irish Jewish Community; Jewish Letchworth: A Microcosm of the Jewish Communal Experience; The Vow: Rebuilding the Fachler Tribe After the Holocaust; and 6 Officers, 2 Lions and 750 Mules.