Object numberM2017/026:003
DescriptionCigarette case, silver, initialled W.L. Belonged to Pierre Lang. Dated circa 1930s.
Pierre was born Wilhelm Lang into a wealthy Austrian Jewish family on 31 January, 1913. In the final days before the annexation of Austria by Germany, Pierre fled Austria and attempted to gain entry to Switzerland and, failing that, France, where he worked as a chauffeur for a countess and later enlisted in the French Army. When France was defeated by Germany, Pierre stayed in the small town of Condom working odd jobs until 1942 when, upon trying to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, he was arrested and deported to a series of slave labour camps in Eastern Europe. He survived through to the end of the war and returned to Condom where he married Raymonde Duler (1925-?). The pair immigrated to Australia in 1950, the one working as a refrigeration engineer, the other as a hairdresser. The remaining years of his life were spent in lecturing students in Jewish history and the Holocaust. Pierre died aged 96 on 6 August, 2009.
Pierre was born Wilhelm Lang into a wealthy Austrian Jewish family on 31 January, 1913. In the final days before the annexation of Austria by Germany, Pierre fled Austria and attempted to gain entry to Switzerland and, failing that, France, where he worked as a chauffeur for a countess and later enlisted in the French Army. When France was defeated by Germany, Pierre stayed in the small town of Condom working odd jobs until 1942 when, upon trying to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, he was arrested and deported to a series of slave labour camps in Eastern Europe. He survived through to the end of the war and returned to Condom where he married Raymonde Duler (1925-?). The pair immigrated to Australia in 1950, the one working as a refrigeration engineer, the other as a hairdresser. The remaining years of his life were spent in lecturing students in Jewish history and the Holocaust. Pierre died aged 96 on 6 August, 2009.
Production periodpre-World War II
SubjectHolocaust, World War II (1939-1945), immigration, smoking
Object namecigarette tins
Materialmetal
Dimensions
- height: 78.00 mm
width: 86.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Valerie Stern