Today marks the 90th anniversary of this photograph. June 13, 1936, Hamburg.
The man in the photograph, August Landmesser, is known for the iconic image in which he refused to give the Nazi salute (Sieg Heil), standing with his arms crossed while thousands around him raised their hands in support of Hitler. The photograph was taken on June 13, 1936, during the launching ceremony of a naval vessel at the Blohm Voss shipyard in Hamburg.
Landmesser joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1931 in the hope of finding work. A few years later, however, he fell in love with a Jewish woman named Irma Eckler and became engaged to her in 1935. Under the racist Nuremberg Laws introduced by Nazi Germany that same year, marriages between Aryans and Jews were prohibited. Although their marriage application was rejected, Landmesser refused to abandon his partner and their two daughters.
In 1937, he was arrested while attempting to flee to Denmark with his family. Accused of “racial defilement,” he was sent to concentration and labor camps. Irma Eckler was murdered by the Nazis at the Bernburg concentration camp.
After his release, Landmesser was forcibly conscripted into a penal battalion (Strafbataillon) in 1944 and was killed during fighting in Croatia.