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.

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.

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. [O]n 15 July 1938 he was arrested again and sentenced to two and a half years in the concentration camp Börgermoor.

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.

Via Wikipedia.