August Landmesser is best known from a photo as the man who refused to go along in Nazi Germany. When the Nazis came to power, some risked their lives to save Jews from the persecutions that followed. Unlike in movies and fiction, though, heroism that comes at a cost is not that widespread in real life. In the grand scheme of things, those who ran risks to help Jews were a distinct minority. Even more unfortunate, they failed more often than not. Two thirds of Jews in countries occupied by the Germans were killed. In Germany, Poland, and the Baltic countries, the death rates were as high as 90% or more. Still, people like Landmesser did what they could, as best they could.
Those Who Had the Courage to Act During the Holocaust
Of those who tried to help Jews or save them from the Nazis, most did not resort to arms. They did what they could to help in nondramatic ways that nonetheless required great courage. Especially in light of the draconian they faced if they were caught. They offered fugitive Jews shelter, food, fake identity papers, smuggled them to safety beyond Nazi-controlled territory, or otherwise supported and enabled them to hide or save themselves. Some lacked the means to do even that much. So they did the only thing they could, and set a moral example by refusing to go along with the Nazis.
Among those who lacked the means to help Jews through any means other than moral example was August Landmesser. A German shipyard worker from Hamburg, he became an exemplar of the moral courage to refuse to go along with evil. He is best-known for appearing in a photograph in which he conspicuously stood out from the crowd by refusing to perform the Nazi salute. It happened in 1936, at the launch of a new ship. A crowd can be seen raising their hand in the infamous gesture, except for Landmesser.
The Man Who Stood Out From the Crowd
August Landmesser literally stood out from the crowd. While everybody else performed the Nazi salute, he refused to go along, and kept his arms crossed. To be sure, his actions then and afterwards probably did not save a single Jew. He nonetheless set a moral example of a man who did what was within his power to do. He was willing to give it all up, including his life, rather than succumb to peer pressure, go with the crowd, and go along with evil.
Landmesser was born near Hamburg in 1910. He joined the Nazi Party when he was twenty-one-years-old, in the hopes that party membership would help him secure employment. He was expelled in 1935 when he fell in love with and got engaged Erma Eckler, a Jewish woman. They were prevented from marrying by the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which forbade intercourse and marriage between Aryans and Jews. The couple had a daughter out of wedlock later that year. As such, by the time the photograph that made Landmesser famous was taken, the Nazis were not his favorite people.
The Tragic Fate of August Landmesser and Irma Eckler
August Landmesser and Irma Eckler did not get to live happily ever after. Their love story did not have a fairy tale ending, but ended in tragedy, instead. Unfortunately, tragedy was the more typical outcome of attempts at saving Jews from the Holocaust in the Nazi era. Landmesser tried to save his family by fleeing with his infant daughter and pregnant wife to Denmark in 1937. The attempt failed when the family was intercepted at the border, and forced to turn back to Germany.
Landmesser faced charges for violating the Nuremberg Laws, but only received a warning. He refused to abandon his wife and daughter, however. So he was sent to a concentration camp in 1938. His wife also ended up in a concentration camp, where she died, probably murdered, in 1942. There was nothing her husband could do to save her. Landmesser was released in 1941, and made ends meet with menial jobs for the next few years. He was drafted into the German army in 1944, and placed in a penal battalion.
Units comprised of prisoners and others who ran afoul of the Nazis, penal battalions were routinely used as cannon fodder. As their members were deemed expendable by the Nazis, such units were often sent in on high-casualty missions. Landmesser lost his life on such a mission in Croatia on October 17th, 1944. He and his wife were survived by two daughters, who lived through the war in an orphanage. They were later raised in foster families. In 1953, Hamburg’s authorities retroactively recognized the marriage of August Landmesser and Irma Eckler.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Bartrop, Paul – Resisting the Holocaust: Upstanders, Partisans, and Survivors (2016)
History Halls – Volante Rossa: The Italian Anti-Fascists Who Went on a Revenge Spree After WWII
