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Gerda Taro, was a jewish war photographer active during the Spanish Civil
Women Photographer
Gerda Taro

Gerta Pohorylle, also known as Gerda Taro, was a jewish war photographer active during the Spanish Civil War. Taro was born August 1, 1910 in Stuttgart Germany to a middle class family who had just emigrated to East Galicia, where she attended high school and college. By 1929 her family moved to Leipzig (a small state in Germany) due to the Nazi rise to power. Taro, just like many people, opposed the Nazi government. In 1933 she was arrested for distributing propaganda against the National Socialists forcing her family to go their separate ways. When she was 23 years old she headed for Paris, never to see her family again.

The following year while in Paris she met Robert Capa, a photographer, and they became lovers. Robert Capa taught her photographic techniques. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 they covered it as a team photographing troops and soldiers. However things took a unexpected turn, Capa became famous for their documentation of the war while Taro was left behind. Eventually she was confident enough to emerge on her own, which she did for five months of her life until July 26, 1937, when at the age of 26 she was crushed by a tank while covering the Republican offensive in the Battle of Brunete near Madrid.

Despite the fact that her career was cut short, her legacy survives to this day. Taro’s bravery in the face of the war and all the conflict she witnessed lives on through her photographs.

It is amazing to see women get attention and even more so in a time when there was so much discrimination against them. She worked hard with her partner to capture images of the Spanish Civil War, but Robert Capa got all the attention. However, she finally got the recognition she deserves. It’s such a shame she died so young and in such a violent way but at least she died doing something she loves.

Let’s not forget amazing women like Gerda Taro.
Spanish Civil War
Jul 17, 1936
Esmarlin Fernandez
Gettyimages
This item is shared by Esmarlin Fernandez with the Community and the World.
Created on 2018-08-13 at 13:24 and last updated on 2018-08-20 at 06:06.