Maximilien Charles Alphonse Cerfberr of Medelsheim (20 July 1817, Epinal – 16 December 1883, Paris) was a French journalist, writer and governmental official. After traveling extensively in Algeria and the East, Cerfberr was attached in 1839 to the penitentiary administration in the Ministry of the Interior. In 1848 he held for a short time the position of commissary of the Republic in the Department of Saône-et-Loire. Among Cerfberr's numerous writings the most noteworthy are: Projet d'un Etablissement Pénitencier à Paris, 1841 La Vérité sur les Prisons, 1844 Le Silence en Prison, Réflexions d'un Condamné, 1847 Ce Que Sont les Juifs en France, 1843 Les Juifs, Leurs Histoire, Leurs Mœurs, 1846 La Guyane, Civilisation et Barbarie, Coutumes et Usages, 1854 Paraboles, 1854 La Police d'Assurance, 1867 L'Epargne par la Dépense, 1867 Biographie Alsacienne, 1878 Histoire d'un Village, 1881 L'Architecture en France, 1883 Cerfberr wrote on several other subjects of less importance; and he translated several works from German into French. Bibliography Larousse Dictionnaire xvii. (2d Supplement), p. 761 La Grande Encyclopédie, x. 50 1817 births 1883 deaths People from Épinal 19th-century French Jews 19th-century French journalists French male journalists 19th-century French male writers