This photograph shows the painter and graphic artist Helmut Krommer together with his family as they are leaving a wedding ceremony in a church in Prague. The image was taken on 15 March, 1939, a fateful day in the context of the artist’s future.

Helmut Krommer emigrated with his family from Berlin to Prague in 1933 where he struggled to sustain his professional career. The income from the sale of his works in Czechoslovakia only amounted to a third of his earnings prior to exile. Nevertheless, his outspoken political stance against Hitler continued unabated during his period in Czechoslovakian. When the German migrant population began searching for candidates for city council elections, Krommer put himself forward, campaigning on the basis of his anti-Hitler policy. His political views would go on to put his life in danger as German troops carried out the forceful annexation of Czechoslovakia.

This happened on the morning of 15 March, 1939, the day on which this photo was taken. The sense of tension and fear is palpable in Krommer’s facial expression. The same day, the German Wehrmacht reached Prague and Czechoslovakia was annexed a day later. For the second time since 1933 the artist felt himself forced to flee and start his life anew. His entire collection of belongings, including his artworks, was abandoned. His family fled from the German occupiers, taking with them only the bare essentials, and they were also forced to separate for a period. While Krommer’s wife, along with the couple’s two daughters, left for England via the British embassy in Prague, Helmut Krommer set off for Yugoslavia.