SUMMER 1944 – Two women and two girls sit in a boat of the ‘5 Lakes Tour’ prior to departure in Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
This image from the family archive shows the two Schweim kids Inga (center) and Editha (right) with her mother Edith and her nanny Irmgard (left). They have sat down in a boat of the 5 Lakes Tour (Fünf-Seen-Fahrt) and wait for departure in Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany.
Since the 1890s, Malente had become a popular wellness destination. It’s beautiful location between two lakes (Dieksee and Kellersee), the fresh, tasty air, and the mild climate were increasingly demanded by the people living in the big cities. What’s more, it could be reached by train (on the line between Kiel and Lübeck).
When this photo was shot, Kiel had been severly bombed for months, and the family had moved into their ‘makehift home’ (as they called it) in Malente to protect the kids from the worries of the war. On this summer day in 1944, the family had decided to take a break and attend the 5 Lakes Tour that connects five lakes between Malente and Plön: Dieksee, Langensee, Behlersee, Höftsee and Edebergsee. (At the time of writing, the 5 Seen Fahrt is still operating.)
This sounds like “business as usual”, and it’s difficult for me to imagine that the city center of Kiel had been destroyed to a large degree by that time. Of course, my grandmother and the nanny were aware of that and probably concerned about the rest of the family in Kiel, but they tried to shield the girls from the war as well as possible.
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, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 2521 x 2521 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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