Who was Gerda Taro?

A small square in the German city of Stuttgart bears since November 2008 the name of the forgotten first war photographer woman Gerda Taro. Taro was also the first woman photographer killed in mission, as she died at 27 years old in 1937 while on assignment covering the Spanish Civil War. The square, situated at the intersection of Ecke Hohenheimer and Alexanderstraße has 9 rotten-looking rectangles where the letters of her name are inscribed in metal on one side, with extensive information and photographs about her on the other side.

Gerda Taro was born Gerta Pohorylle in Stuttgart in a family of Galitian (Polish) Jews that emigrated to Germany. She attended boarding school in Switzerland and shortly after the National-Socialists arrived to power, she got involved in anti-establishment protests and was shortly imprisoned in Leipzig. After this incident, she decided to move to Paris leaving Germany for good. Most of her family will perish during Shoah and she will never meet them again. In Paris, she met a Hungarian Jew, Endre Friedmann, who later took the name of Robert Capa (capa means 'shark' in Hungarian), with whom she got sentimentally and professionally involved. She changed her name to Taro, inspired by the Japanese avantgarde sculptor and painter Taro Okamoto.

She soon got involved with the activities of the French Communists and decided to continue her search for authenticity in Spain, fighting with her camera to catch on film the moments of the Spanish Civil War. She became friend with Hemingway, George Orwell and the future post-war German chancellor Willy Brandt. Taro was working as what much later was called 'embedded' member of the media corp, journalists working and traveling together with one of the 'armies' of the conflict. She was wounded while on a car caming back from an assignment and died later, on the day of her 27 years anniversary. 

Her funeral was organised by the French Communist party in the famous Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and a monument for her grave was commissioned to Alberto Giacometti. 

Many of her works were kept by Capa and therefore there are not too many specific works left. Her presence into the world was rarely noticed and mentioned despite her pioneering work and artistic achievements.