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.

[5] In 1937, Landmesser attempted to flee Nazi Germany to Denmark with his family but he was detained at the border and charged with "dishonoring the race," or "racial infamy," under the Nuremberg Laws.

[citation needed] The couple publicly continued their relationship, and on 15 July 1938, Landmesser was arrested again and sentenced to two and a half years in the Börgermoor concentration camp.

[citation needed] The marriage of August Landmesser and Irma Eckler was recognized retroactively by the Senate of Hamburg in the summer of 1951.

[citation needed] A figure identified by Irene Eckler as August Landmesser is visible in a photograph taken on 13 June 1936, which was published in 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.

Another family claims that the man is Gustav Wegert (1890–1959), a metalworker at Blohm+Voss who habitually refused to salute on religious grounds.