August Landmesser | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 24 May 1910 Moorrege, Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire |
| Died | 17 October 1944 (aged 34) Ston, Independent State of Croatia |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | none; forcible conscription by Nazi Germany |
| Service/ | Deutsches Heer |
| Years of service | 1944 |
| Rank | Soldat |
| Unit | 999th Light Afrika Division |
| Battles/wars | World War II World War II in Yugoslavia |
| Spouse(s) | Irma Eckler (a 1935 marriage illegal under the Nuremberg Laws, but retroactively legalized in 1951) |
| Children | 2 |
August Landmesser (German: [ˈaʊ̯ɡʊst ˈlantˌmɛsɐ]; 24 May 1910 – 17 October 1944) is suggested to be the man appearing in a 1936 photograph conspicuously refusing to perform the Nazi salute.[2][3] Landmesser had run afoul of the Nazi Party over his unlawful relationship with Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman. For this, he was imprisoned and eventually drafted into penal military service, where he was killed in action.[citation needed]
Years after his death, his daughter suggested that he was the man in the famous photograph. However, the identity of the man in the photograph is not known with certainty—another family claims that the man is Gustav Wegert.[citation needed]
- ^ "The Man who defied Hitler died in Yugoslavia". 16 January 2017.
- ^ Straße, Amanda. "Verbotene Liebe | Courage". Fasena.de. 1&1 Internet. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
- ^ Simone Erpel: Zivilcourage : Schlüsselbild einer unvollendeten "Volksgemeinschaft". In: Gerhard Paul (Hrsg.): Das Jahrhundert der Bilder, Bd. 1: 1900–1949, Göttingen 2009, pp. 490–497, ISBN 978-3-89331-949-7.