us-005578-irn50040-irn129
type: RecordSet
archival history: The drawing was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988.
biographical history: Lili Andrieux (1914-1996) was born Lili Sophie Abraham in Berlin, Germany, to Hans (1880-1955) and Margarete (nee Landau, 1887-1963) Abraham. She had two brothers, Joachim (1912-1958) and Peter (1916-1988), and a sister, Gabriele (later Nanda, 1928-2014). The Abrahams were a wealthy, assimilated Jewish family, and Hans was a respected notary or lawyer . On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Anti-Jewish decrees were passed that restricted every aspect of Jewish life. Despite this, that same year, Lili became the only Jewish woman admitted to the Hochschule fur Kunsterzeichnung (the State College for Art Education) in Berlin. Admittance to the school was based on portfolio work. In September 1935, the Nazis announced the Nuremberg Laws, which excluded Jews from citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having relations with non-Jewish persons. This likely prompted Lili’s brother, Peter, to immigrate to England in 1936 and find work in leather tanning and shoe manufacturing. In the 1930s, the other members of her family also immigrated to England, where Margarete’s brother lived. Because of the laws, Lili was not permitted to take her final exams in 1937. In 1938, she went to Paris to continue her studies at the Ranson Academie and permanently adopted the French surname Andrieux. Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, two days after Germany invaded Poland. In November 1939, Lili’s brother, Peter, left England for Melbourne, Australia, and changed his name to Peter Landan. On May 7, 1940, Lili’s parents and her siblings, Joachim and Gabriele, sailed from England, to the United States. The family settled in Massachusetts, with the support of Hans Apel, a family friend from Berlin who had immigrated to the United States in 1937. Lili’s father obtained a research position at Harvard University, and Joachim worked as a gardener, farmer, and a stockman. German forces invaded France on May 10, 1940, and the fol…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Drawing in black ink on wove paper drawing depicting a standing woman bent over and combing the hair of another woman seated on the ground outside a building with clothes hanging out of windows. The woman standing wears a short sleeved dress, and the other has a cloth draped over her body; both have their back to the viewer. The figures and building are sketched with short lines and shadowed with gray ink wash. It is initialed and dated in the lower right.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1940 June-1940 December
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had subject: 162
has or had subject: 1980
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn129
is or was included in: us-005578-irn50040
record resource extent: overall: Height: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) | Width: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) pictorial area: Height: 8.875 inches (22.543 cm) | Width: 6.000 inches (15.24 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Ink drawing of a woman combing another woman's hair in Gurs internment camp, by Lili Andrieux, a German Jewish internee. Lili created over 100 detailed drawings of people and daily life in the internment camps where she was held from May 1940 - September 1942 in France. Alençon was a collection center for transport to Camp de Gurs in Vichy France. After surrendering to Nazi Germany in June 1940, France was divided into two zones: a German military occupation zone and Free France under the Vichy regime. Gurs, built in spring 1939 to hold refugees from Spain, became an internment center for Jewish refugees. Lili, originally from Berlin, moved to Paris in 1938. She was taken to Alençon in May 1940 and reached Gurs on June 4. From March 1941-September 1942, she was held in the Hotel Terminus in Marseilles waiting for a visa. She was then sent to Les Milles internment camp where she became ill with typhus. When she recovered, she escaped and, with the help of the resistance, lived in hiding until fall 1944, when the war ended in France. Lili was a translator for the US Army and US Graves Registration Command until immigrating to America in September 1946.
title: Drawing of a woman combing another woman's hair by a German Jewish internee