SUMMER 1944 – At the pier in Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany, two girls and a boy watch as a ship stops to pick up passengers for the popular ‘5 Lakes Tour’. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
This image from the family archive shows the two Schweim kids (Editha and Inga) and their cousin Peter as they watch a ship of the popular ‘5 Lakes Tour’ stopping at the pier of Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany.
I think this is a remarkable image because it shows no signs at all from the war that was actively hitting the city of Kiel, the hometown of my family. Kiel was just 40 kilometers away and had been severly bombed for months by the time this photo was shot (early summer 1944). But this photo looks just like “business as usual”, and the many tourists look forfard to the relaxing trip across the beautiful lakes. It’s difficult to imagine that Kiel had been destroyed to a large degree by then.
This discrepancy puzzled me so much, that I double checked the correctness of location and time. Indeed, this is Malente-Gremsmühlen, and it must be the summer of 1944, because my mother (in the middle) was just two years old by then.
This image remains remarkably weird.
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | Summer 1944 |
| Location | Malente-Gremsmühlen, Germany |
| Image Source | 6 x 6 cm Print |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, AdobeRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 2574 x 2500 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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