A peaceful final resting place for celebrated war photographer
By ROBERT BRUM
A short walk uphill behind the Amawalk Friends Meeting House in Yorktown Heights leads to the final resting place of one of the world’s greatest combat photographers.
Robert Capa, known for his iconic images of the Spanish Civil War and World War II, including the landing of U.S. troops at Omaha Beach on D-Day, is buried in this modest Quaker cemetery.
Upon his death in 1954 at age 40 in Vietnam, Capa was entitled to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
The story of how a Hungarian-born Jew came to rest in this Quaker cemetery was traced by Elise Graham, whose curiosity led to the founding of The Capa Space gallery in a small building adjacent to the graveyard.
“I wondered, ‘Why is the man considered the world’s greatest war photographer buried in Yorktown Heights?’ and that became quite a question,” said Graham, “because the answer wasn’t easily accessible. We had to dig.”
While renowned for his battlefield images, Capa’s mother, Julia, said her son was not a soldier but a man of peace and would not have wanted a military burial, Graham said.
At the suggestion of Capa’s photo editor, John Morris, a lifelong Quaker and a pacifist who belonged to the Purchase Friends Meeting, the Capas decided a simple Quaker service attended only by family and friends would be most fitting.
Julia Capa and her younger son, Cornell, a photographer in his own right and founder of the International Center for Photography, are buried alongside Robert at Amawalk, their graves marked by small granite headstones. A wooden case containing details about the family sits nearby.
Copyright Photograph by Robert Capa from the Robert Capa and Cornell Capa Archive at ICP/Magnum Photos
Left. Sicilian Peasant Telling American Officer Which Way Germans Had Gone, near Troina, Sicily, 1943. Right, Huston Riley Landing on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944.
Advancing social justice
Robert Capa, born Endre Ernő Friedmann in Budapest in 1913, gained attention in 1932 when he photographed Leon Trotsky as the exiled communist revolutionary delivered a speech in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He gained fame for his images of the Spanish Civil War in the mid- to late-1930s, covering the conflict with the photographer Gerda Taro. Described as the love of his life, Taro, who died near Madrid, will be the subject of an exhibit at The Capa Space in April 2025.
Capa’s World War II assignments took him to North Africa, Anzio, the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Paris. He waded ashore with U.S. troops on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, dodging bullets to capture images that have become legendary since their publication in Life magazine.
Capa, who was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower for his World War II work, later co-founded Magnum Photos, an agency that allows photographers to retain the rights to their pictures.
He then went on to work as a photojournalist during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was on assignment for Life in Vietnam when he stepped on a landmine and was killed in 1954.
Capa placed himself under fire to document war’s destruction as well as its survivors’ struggle against adversity. His maxim, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,” has often been invoked by other photojournalists.
Capa’s images didn’t glamorize war, but instead sought to capture the destruction and suffering, Graham said.
Cornell Capa “coined the phrase ‘concerned photographer,’ and really that is our ethos here,” Graham said. “Highlighting concerned photography, basically documentary and journalistic photography that can advance notions of social justice, which is exactly what Cornell perceived as the strength of the camera and photography in general; that bringing images to people can change the way they think.”
The tidy two-room Capa Space was built in the 1980s as a nursery school for the Amawalk Friends, and was later a caretaker’s residence before it became a gallery in 2022. Prior to that, the organizers exhibited at Bethany Arts Community in Ossining.
The small, all-volunteer nonprofit is run by a board of directors that includes Graham, an artist who founded the Roti Gallery, a mobile exhibit space housed in a 12-foot step van, and architect Timothy Hartung, who co-founded The Capa Space. Funding comes mainly from donations.
The gallery presents lectures, demonstrations and classes in addition to exhibits. The space features a projection and sound system to accommodate documentary film screenings and musical performances.
Left, Elise Graham during the “We The People” exhibit at The Capa Space. Right, Doorway to The Capa Space.Robert Brum photos
Faces of Exodus
Keeping with the gallery’s mission, its upcoming exhibit by Getty Images photojournalist John Moore will feature Moore’s documentation of migration along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The exhibit, titled “Faces Of Exodus,” opens Dec. 7 and runs through March 23. It will also premiere Moore’s latest work focusing on Ecuador’s internal armed conflict and its impact on migration.
“It’s been very easy for Americans to ignore over the years the desperation that people have to have a better life,” Moore stated. “They often leave with their children with their shirts on their backs.”
During the exhibition’s run, The Capa Space will host a series of related events, including a Moth-style storytelling evening Jan. 18 during which attendees can hear firsthand accounts from people affected by the immigration crisis.
Graham said Moore’s photographs “have the power to move, educate and inspire. His unwavering commitment to chronicling the human stories behind the headlines is remarkable.”
The opening reception Saturday, Dec. 7, from 5 to 7 p.m., will offer visitors a chance to meet the photographer, who received the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, World Press Photo honors and the Robert Capa Gold Medal.
The Capa Space is located at 2467 Quaker Church Road, Yorktown Heights. For more information, visit thecapaspace.org
Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about the Hudson Valley. Contact him and read his work at robertbrum.com.