SUMMER 1944 – Kids enjoy a good time at the public beach in Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: Otto Schweim
The story behind the image
This image from the family archive shows the two Schweim kids (my aunt and my mother Inga [right]) and their cousin as they take a bath in the public beach of the Dieksee lake in Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany, supervised by my grandmother, Edith Schweim.
I think this is a remarkable image because it shows no signs of the fierce and depressing war that was actively hitting Kiel, the hometown of my family, just 40 kilometers away. The city had been severly bombed for months by the time this photo was shot (summer 1944). But this photo looks just like “business as usual”, and anyone has a good time at the beach.
It is difficult to imagine that Kiel had been destroyed to a large degree by then.
A postcard I recently acquired shows the public beach in Malente-Gremsmühlen, probably shot around the same time.
Design ideas
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 | 2541 x 2541 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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