This photograph shows Jacques Kurer, an Austrian refugee dentist, alongside his wife Theodora. The photo was taken in the 1950s.

Short biography

Jacques Kurer was one of 40 Austrian refugee dentists who were permitted to enter the UK in 1938. He was able to move another eight members of his family, including his wife Theodora and two sons Peter and Hans, thanks to the sponsorship of two Quaker families. Although Jacques had acquired a medical degree from Vienna University in 1925, he was forced to complete another dental degree at Manchester University in 1939.

He was given permission to open a practice, but in 1941, both properties where the family were staying in were bombed, and they were all evacuated to Llandudno. Here, Jacques opened another practice, the high standard of which was popular among the local population. Jacques and Theodora had another child, a girl, and Hans and Peter had their bar mitzvahs. They moved back to Manchester in 1944, and both Peter and Hans also became dentists. Jacques died in 1974.