The story of August Landmesser — the man in the photo who did not raise his hand in a Nazi salute
Many of you have probably seen on the Internet the famous photograph of 1936, which depicts a worker with his arms crossed on his chest, who refused to raise his hand in a Nazi salute. This worker was August Landmesser. We'll tell you why he did it and what happened next.
In the summer of 1936, the last sailing vessel at the Blohm + Voss shipyard was solemnly launched in Hamburg. The 295-meter naval training ship Horst Wessel was named after a Nazi activist who was killed in 1930 during a private dispute by a member of the Communist Party of Germany.
Horst Wessel's death was actively politicized and used in Nazi propaganda, which declared him a real martyr. He was shot in the head on the doorstep of his apartment by Albrecht Heler, an activist of the Communist Party of Germany. Wessel refused first aid because the doctor was Jewish, and died a month later from blood poisoning. Adolf Hitler was also present at the ceremony of launching the ship. Wessel's mother, according to tradition, broke a bottle of champagne on the ship, and the workers and passers-by who gathered at the solemn event enthusiastically saluted. Only one person did not join them all, defiantly crossing his arms over his chest.
Then August Landmesser was 26 years old. He joined the Nazi Party in 1931 hoping to find a job, but four years later was expelled from the NSDAP when he became engaged to a Jewish Irma Eclair.
In 1935, their daughter Ingrid was born. During an attempt to move to Denmark in 1937, they were detained, and August was accused of desecrating the race. He was acquitted after he managed to convince the court that he allegedly did not know that his wife was Jewish. The man was released on the condition that if he continued to have relations with his own wife, he would be sentenced to hard labor. A few months later, August was arrested again and sent to the Bergermoor camp.
Three days later, Irma Eclair was arrested. The mother of two children was taken to the Fulsbüttel prison, from there she was transferred to the Oranienburg concentration camp, then to the Lichtenburg women's concentration camp and, eventually, to the Ravensbruck women's concentration camp. In early 1942, she and another 14,000 prisoners died in the gas chamber.
On January 19, 1941, August Landmesser was released. He began working in the Varnemund branch of the Pyust transport company. In February 1944, he was drafted into the penal battalion and went missing during the fighting in Croatia. He may have been killed on October 17, 1944 near Ston. In 1949, the Rostock District Court declared him dead with the date of death on August 1, 1949.
The children — Ingrid (pictured) and Irena — ended up in the city orphanage. The older girl was able to be picked up by her maternal grandmother, who died in 1953, and the younger one remained in the orphanage until she was taken by a foster family. In 1991, Irena Eclair saw a picture in the newspaper and recognized this man as her father — August Landmesser. Most likely, by such actions he expressed disagreement with the racial policy of the Third Reich, because of which he could not marry her mother.
In the summer of 1951, the marriage of August Landmesser and Irma Eclair was recognized by the Hamburg Senate. In the autumn of the same year, Ingrid and Irena received their father's surname. However, Irena continued to use her mother's surname.