Robert Capa

Robert Capa
Capa on assignment in Spain, using a Filmo 16mm movie camera. Image by Gerda Taro
Born	Endre Friedmann October 22, 1913 Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	May 25, 1954(1954-05-25) (aged 40) Thai Binh, State of Vietnam
Cause of death	Stepping on landmine
Resting place	Amawalk, New York
Nationality	Hungarian
Occupation	War photographer, photojournalist
Known for	Most famous war photographer in history

Robert Capa (born Endre Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian war photographer and photo journalist, arguably 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 changed his name and became a photojournalist. 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 photographer landing with the first wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, and the liberation of Paris. His friends and colleagues included Irwin Shaw, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and director John Huston.

In 1947, for his work recording World War II in pictures, U.S. President 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.

He was born Endre Friedmann to the Jewish family of Júlia (née Berkovits) and Dezső Friedmann in Budapest, Austria-Hungary October 22, 1913. His mother, Julianna Henrietta Berkovits was a native of Nagy Kapos (now Velke Kapusany, Slovakia) and Dezső Friedmann came from the Transylvanian village of Csucsa (now Ciucea, Romania). At the age of 18, he was accused of alleged communist sympathies and was forced to flee Hungary.