German Photographer on the Front: Some Photos Were Taken in a Secret Location
An interview with Robert Capa, the German-American photographer who was one of the first photographers to capture the horrors of war
Photographer Robert Capa was one of the first to document the horrors of war. His iconic images of the Spanish Civil War and World War II are a testament to the courage and resilience of the human spirit.
In an interview with The Observer, Capa spoke about his experiences on the front lines and the challenges of photographing war.
The first thing I saw was a dead man, Capa said. It was a very strange feeling, because I had never seen a dead man before.
Capa was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1913. He began his career as a photographer in Berlin in the early 1930s. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Capa was one of the first photographers to arrive on the front lines.
Capa’s photographs from the Spanish Civil War are some of the most iconic images of the conflict. They capture the chaos and violence of war, as well as the courage and resilience of the people who fought in it.
In 1939, Capa traveled to the United States, where he continued to work as a photographer. He covered the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944 and the liberation of Paris later that year.
Capa’s photographs of World War II are just as powerful as his images from the Spanish Civil War. They document the horrors of war from a soldier’s perspective, and they offer a glimpse of the human spirit that survives even in the darkest of times.
I believe that photography is a weapon in the fight against war, Capa said. It can show the world the true face of war, and it can help to change the way we think about it.
Capa died in 1954 while covering the First Indochina War. He was only 40 years old, but he left behind a legacy of powerful and moving images that continue to inspire and inform us today.
Kind regards E. Thompson.