For almost 80 years, the story of a lonely man who refused to raise his hand and salute Hitler was forgotten. The photograph appeared here and there, but the identity of the man, as well as the reasons that made him make this daring but also suicidal move, were largely unknown. Only recently, the public learned about the tragic fate of this brave individual. It was 1936 in Hamburg… Port workers, gathered for the launch of Germany's new warship rising from the ashes of the Great War and poverty in those years, enthusiastically greeted their new leader Adolf Hitler with his newly established greeting - "Sieg heil" "Long live victory"). Hundreds of hands went up… all but one!
August Landmeser stood defiantly holding his arms tightly crossed, and his act of rebellion traveled the world after the photograph was developed.
Love is stronger than prohibition!
Accepted by the Nazi Party in Germany during the 1930s, Hitler's salute "Sieg heil" ("Long live victory") was obligatory for all German citizens to demonstrate loyalty to the Führer, his party and the nation. To add to the irony, August Landmeser was otherwise loyal to the Nazis. Landmeser joined the Nazi party in 1931 and began to slowly climb in the hierarchy of what would eventually become the only legal political force in the country, Business Insider writes. Two years later, he fell madly in love with Irma Eclair, whom he proposed to shortly afterwards, in 1935. The only problem? Irma was Jewish.
When it was revealed who August was with, he was expelled from the Nazi party. He and Irma planned the wedding no matter what and submitted the request in Hamburg. Due to the so-called Nuremberg laws, passed in September 1935, their marriage was forbidden, but the couple still began to live unmarried. That is how they welcomed the birth of their first daughter, Ingrid, in October 1935. And then, on June 13, 1936, a rally took place at which Hitler launched a new navy ship, and August Landmeser followed it with folded arms. It was a silent act of rebellion by an individual who did not want to participate in the collective madness that was spreading like a contagion in Germany.
Family in the hell of Nazism!
A year later, in 1937, Augustus had had enough of both Hitler and the Nazis, and he tried to flee to Denmark with his family. He was detained at the border and accused of "disgracing the nation" and, according to the Nuremberg laws, "disgracing the race". Some 12 months later, Landmeser was released for lack of evidence, but was advised to sever ties with Irma. As he did not want to do that, Landmeset ignored the wishes of the Nazis and was arrested again in 1938, when he was sentenced to three years in prison, which he served in a concentration camp, and he never saw the woman he loved or his daughter again. The Gestapo then arrested Irma, who was pregnant again at the time. She gave birth to a girl, Irena, in prison, after which she was sent to a women's concentration camp. The last letter from the camp was sent by Irma Eckler in 1942, after which all trace of her is lost. She is believed to have been transferred to a Nazi euthanasia center where she was executed along with 14,000 other people. The children - Ingrid and Irena, were separated. Ingrid was allowed to live with her grandmother, and Irena was first in an orphanage and then with a guardian. August Landmeser was released from prison on January 19, 1941. In February 1944, he was mobilized into the penal platoon - the 999th Light African Battalion. He disappeared in action and is considered dead.
Justice is served!
The love of Augustus and Irma, stronger than anything and everyone, in the end still won… at least symbolically. In 1951, it was legally recognized when the Senate in Hamburg accepted that the couple was married. The fact that August is the man in the picture was discovered by his older daughter Ingrid, who dedicated her life to preserving the memory of her parents.