THE ANTI-FASCIST Gerda Taro

A young white woman holds a Leica camera up to her face, squinting as she photographs something off-camera to her right. She is wearing a light-colored collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up above her elbows, and her hair is cropped fairly short. — Gerda Taro on the Guadalajara Front, July 1937
unknown photographer, image in the public domain

How did a 25-year-old German Jewish refugee with no formal photography training become ‘half of’ the most celebrated war photographer in history? Returning guest Kip Wilson takes us right into the heart of the Spanish Civil War to meet Gerda Taro – subject of Wilson’s newest novel One Last Shot and the most famous photojournalist you’ve never heard of.

See many more photos by Gerda Taro at the International Center for Photography. There you can also see more photos by Robert Capa – including the controversial “Death of a Loyalist Militiaman” aka “The Falling Soldier.”

Learn more about Taro in this interview with biographer Jane Rogoyska, this presentation by biographer Irme Schaber, this presentation by ICP curator Cynthia Young, and this documentary on the discovery of The Mexican Suitcase.

Photo of Gerda Taro, Paris 1935
photo by Fred Stein
© Fred Stein

Photo of Gerda Taro, Paris.
photo by Fred Stein
© Fred Stein

Gerda Taro on the Spanish front at Brunete, 1936
photo by Robert Capa
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Crowd outside morgue after air raid, Valencia 1937
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Republican militiawoman training on the beach outside Barcelona. August 1936
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Refugee family, Spain 1936
photo by Gerda Taro<
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Robert Capa (aka Endre Friedmann)
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Republican soldiers, La Granjuela
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Two boys on a barricade, Barcelona.
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Tank and other military vehicles, Battle of Brunete (where Gerda Taro was later killed)
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Republican soldiers, Battle of Brunete
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Republican soldier combing his hair
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Children amid rubble of bombed buildings, La Granjuela
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Loyalist soldiers engaged in gunfight, using small rocks for cover, Malaga
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Republican soldiers carrying a stretcher, Brunete
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Spectators at the funeral parade of General Lukacs. Valencia, 1937
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Republican soldier behind barricade, Battle of Brunete
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

War orphan eating soup, Madrid
photo by Gerda Taro
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

One of the boxes of negatives in the “Mexican Suitcase,” containing film by Gerda Taro, Robert Capa and others
Robert and Cornell Capa Archive

Kip Wilson is the author of young adult verse novels White Rose (Versify 2019), about anti-Nazi political activist Sophie Scholl, The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin (Versify 2022), set in a queer club in Berlin during the last days of the Weimar Republic, and One Last Shot (Versify 2023), about anti-fascist Spanish Civil War photojournalist Gerda Taro. Kip holds a Ph.D. in German Literature and works in a high school library. Find her online at kipwilsonwrites.com and on Instagram @kipwilsonwrites.