Gerda Taro: The Price of a War

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Erda Taro, originally named Gerta Pohorylle, was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1910. As a Jewish woman with leftist political views, she was already affected by the rise of Nazism before becoming a key photographer of the Spanish Civil War.

Following the Nazi rise to power, she fled Germany and eventually settled in Paris. There, she met André Friedmann, who would later be known as Robert Capa. The two collaborated, took photographs, and adopted new professional identities. For a long time, Taro’s contributions were overshadowed by the legend of Capa. However, her own significance and authorship later gained recognition.

For Taro, Spain was more than just a photographic subject. The Spanish Civil War was deeply connected to the struggle against fascism, a threat she understood personally due to its impact on her life.

Her career was brief. Most of the photographs we remember were made in 1936 and 1937. But in that short time, she worked close to the front and close to the people living through the war. She photographed soldiers, militia members, funerals, refugees, bombed cities, hospitals, and civilians waiting for news no one wants to receive.

The photographs in this post carry that range.

In one, grief becomes public and political.In another, people are forced onto the road.In another, a crowd waits outside a morgue after an air raid.

There is no need to make war look dramatic. War already is. Sometimes it looks like a raised fist. Sometimes it looks like a family leaving home. Sometimes it looks almost ordinary: people standing together, waiting to learn who is dead.

In July 1937, Taro was covering the Battle of Brunete when she was fatally injured. She was twenty-six years old. She is remembered as the first woman photojournalist killed in action.

Her life was short, but the photographs do not feel unfinished. They show exactly why she was there.

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