Robert Capa Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline
Emily Baldwin Robert Capa Biography
(Photographer, Photojournalist)Birthday: October 22, 1913 (Libra)
Born In: Budapest, Hungary
Advanced SearchRobert Capa was a Hungarian war photographer and photojournalist who later became a naturalized US citizen. He is considered to be one of the greatest war photographers of all time as he covered the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the First Indochina War. His extensive works include the documentation of the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, the Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach and the liberation of Paris. His action photographs portray a very chilling and up-close view of the violence in war-ravaged regions, like the ones he took during the 1944 Normandy invasion. He risked his life many times during the wars to get extremely critical shots. When he fell in love for the first time, his lady-love was killed during the war. This news emotionally broke him and he vowed never to marry. He founded the Magnum Photos agency with some of his photographer friends to help other free-lancing photojournalists. He was famous for saying, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough". While covering the First Indochina War, he jumped out of the jeep in a dangerous area to get a better shot, stepped on a landmine and succumbed to his injuries.
Quick FactsAlso Known As: Endre Ernő Friedmann
Died At Age: 40
Family:siblings: Cornell Capa
Born Country: Hungary
place of death: Thái Bình, Vietnam
Cause of Death: Accident
City: Budapest, Hungary
Founder/Co-Founder: International Center of Photography, Magnum Photos
More Factseducation: Deutsche Hochschule für Politik
awards: World Press Photo Award for General News
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Hungarian CelebritiesHungarian MenMale JournalistsHungarian JournalistsHungarian Photographers Childhood & Early LifeRobert Capa was born as Endre Friedmann on October 22, 1913 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. His parents, Dezso and Julia Friedmann were Jewish tailors.In 1931, a group of socialists, artists, photographers and intellectuals inspired him to participate in the demonstration against the Miklos Horthy regime. The Hungarian secret police arrested him and released him on the condition that he would leave the country immediately.He moved to Berlin, Germany, and started studying journalism at the German Political College, but then the Nazi party implemented laws that restricted Jews from going to college.Robert Capa wished to be a writer, but he got a photographer's job and eventually he started liking it. His first published photograph was of Leon Trotsky making the 'Meaning of the Russian Revolution' speech at Copenhagen in 1932.In 1933 he moved to France as the Jewish journalists and photographers were being persecuted in Germany with the rise of Nazism.Fearing for his life he chucked his Jewish name and adopted the name “Robert Capa”, as he believed this was more American-sounding. The name change even helped him in selling his photos.