Posted by Hermoor
(here)
This remarkable photo is one of my favourites of all time.
It was taken during the launch of a new German navy vessel at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1936. One man, believed to be August Landmesser, refrains from giving the Nazi salute like the rest of his colleagues and the other attendees.
By 1934 special courts had been established to punish those who refused to perform the salute. The punishments ranged from imprisonment in concentration camps to intimidation or fines.
Landmesser was opposed to the Nazis and their racial worldview. His partner Irma Eckler was Jewish. Landmesser was later imprisoned in a concentration camp by the Nazis and, upon his release, conscripted into the German Army where he was killed in action.
Attachment 54009
It's entirely possible that the man in the photograph is actually Gustav Wegert. He was a Blohm & Voss metalworker who habitually refused to give the Nazi salute due to his religious beliefs.
The photograph was first shown in public by the newspaper Die Zeit in 1991. Landmesser's story seemed a better fit for the propaganda and historical narrative of the era.
https://medium.com/@cryptotakers/ren...g-a45daf9168d7
Irrespective of the Gordian knot of propaganda and lies in our history books, one big truth can be relied upon: Herr Folded Arms was a lion hearted man with a most admirable moral compass.
Landmesser/Wegert/Herr Folded Arms was one of many heroes in Nazi era Germany. Others of his ilk included the following.
Sophie Scholl.
Some of Sophie's story can be read via the following link.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/wa...and-white-rose
Otto and Elise Hampel.
They were a humble couple who created a simple method of protest against Nazism in Berlin during the middle years of World War II. Otto and Elise wrote postcards denouncing Hitler's government and left them in public places around the city. They were eventually caught, tried and beheaded in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison in April 1943.
Their story was told in the 2016 film called "Alone In Berlin."
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8gkk8y
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
During the covaids scamdemic only three preachers in the whole of Scotland spoke out publicly against it. I know one of them and Bonhoeffer is a hero to him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German pastor, theologian, ecumenist and peace activist. He wrote profoundly about Christian faith, community, grace, and ethics, centered in one way or another on the question of who is Christ for us today?
The atrocities of the Nazi Regime, which resulted in unspeakable human suffering, compelled him to participate in a conspiracy that tried unsuccessfully to assassinate Hitler and install a new government that would end the war and those atrocities. Imprisoned during the last two years of his life, Bonhoeffer was executed just weeks before the end of the war.
More can be read about Bonhoeffer via this link.
https://bonhoeffersociety.org/about/...fer/biography/
All of these beautiful people knew the challenges and odds they were up against. They simply refused to back down. Their principles and humanity were made that way.
Making a better world for ourselves is ultimately a numbers game. Around the WW2 era the numbers were vastly against our predecessors. It didn't stop them trying.
Remember their names and keep fighting the good fight. The numbers are slowly moving in our favour. Make time each day to do one little thing that helps our numbers that little bit more.
Celebrating Our Small Victories
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