August Landmesser August Landmesser ( born 24 May 1910 ; missing and presumed dead 17 October 1944 ; declared dead in 1949 ) was a worker at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg , Germany , best known for his appearance in a photograph refusing to perform the Nazi salute at the launch of the naval training vessel " Horst Wessel " on 13 June 1936 . Biography . August Landmesser was the only child of August Franz Landmesser and Wilhelmine Magdalene ( née Schmidtpott ) . In 1931 , hoping it would help him get a job , he joined the Nazi Party . In 1935 , when he became engaged to Irma Eckler ( a Jewish woman ) , he was expelled from the party . They registered to be married in Hamburg , but the Nuremberg Laws enacted a month later prevented it . On 29 October 1935 , Landmesser and Eckler ' s first daughter Ingrid was born . A now - famous photograph , in which a man identified as Landmesser refuses to give the Nazi salute , was taken on 13 June 1936 . In 1937 , Landmesser and Eckler tried to flee to Denmark but were apprehended . She was again pregnant , and he was charged and found guilty in July 1937 of " dishonoring the race " under Nazi racial laws . He argued that neither he nor Eckler knew that she was fully Jewish , and was acquitted on 27 May 1938 for lack of evidence , with the warning that a repeat offense would result in a multi - year prison sentence . The couple publicly continued their relationship , and on 15 July 1938 he was arrested again and sentenced to two and a half years in the concentration camp Börgermoor . Eckler was detained by the Gestapo and held at the prison Fuhlsbüttel , where she gave birth to a second daughter Irene . From there she was sent to the Oranienburg concentration camp , then the Lichtenburg concentration camp for women , and then the women ' s concentration camp at Ravensbrück . Their children were initially taken to the city orphanage . Ingrid was later allowed to live with her maternal grandmother ; Irene went to the home of foster parents in 1941 . After her grandmother ' s death in 1953 , Ingrid was also placed with foster parents . A few letters came from Irma Eckler until January 1942 . It is believed that she was brought to the so - called Bernburg Euthanasia Centre in February 1942 , where she was among the 14 , 000 killed ; in the course of post - war documentation , in 1949 she was pronounced legally dead , with a date of 28 April 1942 . Meanwhile , Landmesser was discharged from prison on 19 January 1941 . He worked as a foreman for the firm Püst , a haulage company . The company had a branch at the Heinkel - Werke ( factory ) in Warnemünde . In February 1944 he was drafted into a penal battalion , the 999th Fort Infantry Battalion . He was declared missing in action , and presumed killed during fighting in Croatia on 17 October 1944 . Like Eckler , he was declared legally dead in 1949 . The marriage of August Landmesser and Irma Eckler was recognized retroactively by the Senate of Hamburg in the summer of 1951 , and in the autumn of that year Ingrid assumed the surname " Landmesser " . Irene continued to use the surname " Eckler " . Recognition . In 1996 , Irene Eckler published the book " Die Vormundschaftsakte 1935 – 1958 : Verfolgung einer Familie wegen " Rassenschande " " ( " The Guardianship Act 1935 – 1958 : Persecution of a Family for " Dishonoring the Race " " ) . This book about the story of her family includes a large amount of original documents from the time in question , including letters from her mother and documents from state institutions . A figure identified as August Landmesser is featured in a photograph taken on 13 June 1936 , published on 22 March 1991 in " Die Zeit " . It shows a large gathering of workers at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg , for the launching of the navy training ship " Horst Wessel " . Everyone in the image has raised his or her arm in the Nazi salute , with the exception of a man toward the back of the crowd , who grimly stands with his arms crossed over his chest . Whether the depicted man is Landmesser is not known with certainty .