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Capa Robert

Name:
Robert Capa
Rank:
Civilian
Serial Number:
Unit:
American War Correspondent
Date of Death:
1954-05-25
State:
Cemetery:
Amawalk Hill Cemetery, Amawalk, New York
Plot:
Row:
Grave:
189
Decoration:
Comments:

Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

Capa fled political repression in Hungary when he was a teenager, moving to Berlin, where he enrolled in college. He witnessed the rise of Hitler, which led him to move to Paris, where he met and began to work with Gerta Pohorylle. Together they worked under the alias Robert Capa and became photojournalists. Though she contributed to much of the early work, she quickly created her own alias 'Gerda Taro' and they began to publish their work separately. He subsequently covered five wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the First Indochina War, with his photos published in major magazines and newspapers.

During his career he risked his life numerous times, most dramatically as the only civilian photographer landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, and the liberation of Paris.

In 1947, for his work recording World War II in pictures, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Capa the Medal of Freedom. That same year, Capa co-founded Magnum Photos in Paris. The organization was the first cooperative agency for worldwide freelance photographers. Hungary has issued a stamp and a gold coin in his honor.

Capa died when he stepped on a landmine while on an assignment for Time-Life in Vietnam on May 25, 1954 at the age of 40. He is now buried in the Amawalk Hill Cemetery, Amawalk, Westchester County, New York, USA.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.com, www.artsy.net, www.findagrave.com