Edition Axel Menges GmbH Esslinger Straße 24 D-70736 Stuttgart-Fellbach tel. +49-711-574759 fax +49-711-574784 www.AxelMenges.de Irme Schaber Gerda Taro – with Robert Capa as Photojournalist in the Spanish Civil War 156 pp. with 220 illus., 233 x 284,5 mm, hard-cover, English ISBN 978-3-86905-013-3 Euro 59.00, £ 49.90, US $ 69.90 Paris in the summer of 1937. A giant funeral procession wends its way from the city center eastward toward the Père-Lachaise Cem- etery, accompanied by the sounds of Chopin’s Marche funèbre. The photojournalist Gerda Taro had been killed in the Spanish Civil War a few days earlier. Thousands come to pay their last respects to the émigrée from Hitler’s Germany. The poet Louis Aragon speaks at the graveside, young girls hold up a large portrait of the deceased. Why did the French Communist Party honor a foreign- er – one who was not even a member of the Party – with a »first- class« burial? Taro is considered one of the path-breaking pioneers of photog- raphy. She captured some of the most dramatic and widely pub- lished images of the Spanish Civil War and was the first female photographer to shoot images in the midst of battle. Her willing- ness to work close to the fighting set new standards for war pho- tography and ultimately cost her her life. Taro stands alongside early 20th-century war photographers like Robert Capa and David »Chim« Seymour. Despite this, Gerda Taro has largely fallen into oblivion, especial- ly in comparison to her companion and lover Robert Capa. Wheth- er gender and religion played a role in this would require a sepa- Distributors rate investigation. In any case, in her study of women resisting fas- cism, Ingrid Strobl comes to the conclusion that a combination Brockhaus Commission such as woman-Communist-Jew represented a threefold stigma, Kreidlerstraße 9 and would almost guarantee Taro’s exclusion from official history, D-70806 Kornwestheim both in the East and the West. Germany It has been almost twenty years since the first biography of Ger- tel. +49-7154-1327-24 da Taro, written by Irme Schaber, led to Taro’s rediscovery as a fax +49-7154-1327-13 photographer. Since that time, the detection of the »Mexican Suit- [email protected] case«, containing more than 800 of her photos – amongst them many which were thought to be Capa’s –, has made new research Gazelle Book Services on Taro possible. White Cross Mills In this new, fully revised biography, now published for the first Hightown time also in English, Irme Schaber presents groundbreaking in- Lancaster LA1 4XS sights regarding cameras, copyrights and the circumstances sur- United Kingdom rounding Taro’s death. The exact track of Taro’s work also helps tel. +44-1524-68765 to shed light on Capa’s iconic Fallen Soldier photo – but without fax +44-1524-63232 solving its mystery. [email protected] Irme Schaber studied cultural and art history in Marburg. She lives as a freelance author and curator near Stuttgart. Documen- National Book Network tary and war photography, exile and cultural history, and photo- 15200 NBN Way graphic art are the focus of her work. She became known above Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 all for her research work on Gerda Taro. USA ´ tel. +1-800-4626420 fax +1-800-3384550 [email protected] Ir Paris in the summer of 1937. A giant funeral procession wends its way from the me Schaber city center eastward toward the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, accompanied by the Irme Schaber sounds of Chopin’s Marche funèbre. The photojournalist Gerda Taro had been killed in the Spanish Civil War a few days earlier. Thousands come to pay their last respects to the émigrée from Hitler’s Germany. The poet Louis Aragon speaks at the graveside, young girls hold up a large portrait of the deceased. Why did the Gerda Taro French Communist Party honor a foreigner – one who was not even a member of the Party – with a »first-class« burial? Taro is considered one of the path-breaking pioneers of photography. She cap- with Robert Capa tured some of the most dramatic and widely published images of the Spanish as Photojournalist in the Civil War and was the first female photographer to shoot images in the midst of Ger battle. Her willingness to work close to the fighting set new standards for war Spanish Civil War photography and ultimately cost her her life. Taro stands alongside early 20th- da T century war photographers like Robert Capa and David »Chim« Seymour. Despite this, Gerda Taro has largely fallen into oblivion, especially in compar- ison to her companion and lover Robert Capa. Whether gender and religion ar played a role in this would require a separate investigation. In any case, in her o study of women resisting fascism, Ingrid Strobl comes to the conclusion that a combination such as woman-Communist-Jew represented a threefold stigma, and would almost guarantee Taro’s exclusion from official history, both in the East and the West. It has been almost twenty years since the first biography of Gerda Taro, writ- ten by Irme Schaber, led to Taro’s rediscovery as a photographer. Since that time, the detection of the »Mexican Suitcase«, containing more than 800 of her pho- tographs – amongst them many which were thought to be Capa’s –, has made new research on Taro possible. In this new, fully revised biography, now published for the first time also in Eng- lish, Irme Schaber presents groundbreaking insights regarding cameras, copy- rights and the circumstances surrounding Taro’s death. The exact track of Taro’s work also helps to shed light on Capa’s iconic Fallen Soldier photo – but without solving its mystery. Irme Schaber studied cultural and art history in Marburg. She lives as a free- lance author and curator near Stuttgart. Documentary and war photography, exile and cultural history, and photographic art are the focus of her work. She became known above all for her research work on Gerda Taro. Menges ISBN 978-3-86905-013-3 059.00 Euro 56990 049.90 £ 069.90 US$ 9 783869 050133 Irme Schaber Gerda Taro with Robert Capa as Photojournalist in the Spanish Civil War Edition Axel Menges Original German edition: Irme Schaber, Gerda 6 Introduction: from precise observation to discovery Taro, Fotoreporterin: Mit Robert Capa im Spani- schen Bürgerkrieg. Die Biografie, © Jonas Verlag, 9 From east to west (1870–1914) Weimar 2013 12 Childhood: war and revolution (1914–1920) The translation of this work was funded by Geis- 15 Golden Twenties? teswissenschaften International – Translation Fund- 23 Leipzig: relocation and new friends ing for Work in the Humanities and Social Sciences 25 »If only the times would not be that lousy« from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz Thyssen 28 The arrest Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, 32 »Do not buy at Jews« the collecting society VG WORT and the Börsen- 34 Gerta Pohorylle leaves Germany verein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Pub- lishers & Booksellers Association). 37 Days of hunger: Paris 1933/34 41 André Friedmann 49 The birth of Gerda Taro and Robert Capa 63 Documenting war and revolution: the Spanish Civil War 1938 72 Thomas Pantke: Gerda Taro and the 6x6 negative format 73 Experiences on the front and modern war of media 83 »Photo Taro«: photographing meant participating 93 Thomas Pantke: Photo-technical information from the 1930s and distinguishing features of the cameras exemplarily shown at the »Mexican Suitcase« 94 With film camera and camera at the International Brigades 110 The Writers’ Congress and the Brunete Offensive 117 At the front outside Madrid: the last days 126 Return of a hero 134 Giacometti’s tomb for Gerda Taro and the fate of the Pohorylle family 138 East and West: Cold War and culture of memories 144 Acknowledgments 145 Abbreviations 146 Sources and literature 153 Index of names 156 Credits © 2019 Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/ London ISBN 978-3-86905-013-3 All rights reserved, especially those of translation into other languages. Printing and binding: Graspo CZ, s. a., Zlín, Czech Republic Translation into English: Friedrich Ragette Editing: Nora Krehl-von Mühlendahl Design: Axel Menges Introduction: from precise observation to discovery tains, Soma Kurtis spoke eloquently about »the old days in Leipzig«. In Toronto, the screenwriter and film producer Ted Allen reminisced about the time he spent with Gerda Taro in Madrid. Ger- Paris in the summer of 1937. A giant funeral procession wends its way from the city center east- da’s friend Ruth Cerf really did not want to talk »about all that« anymore. Nevertheless, I traveled ward toward the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, accompanied by the sounds of Chopin’s Marche to Zurich anyway and had the history of the times and a life story presented to me in an unex- funèbre. The photojournalist Gerda Taro had been killed in the Spanish Civil War a few days ear- pected, reflective and compelling way. These elderly men and women are all long dead. At that lier. Thousands come to pay their last respects to the émigrée from Hitler’s Germany. The poet time I asked them about friends and acquaintances, everyday life and events that lay more than Louis Aragon speaks at the graveside, young girls hold up a large portrait of the deceased. Why half a century in the past. Fragments emerged, segments of feelings, hopes and fears. Memory did the French Communist Party honor a foreigner – one who was not even a member of the is always formed and overlaid by the subsequent experiences of life, by survival.