The Capa House is a building in the Lindenau quarter of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany at Jahnallee 61. It is named after the American war reporter and photographer

Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to ...

, and is the location where Capa took ''

The Picture of the Last Man to Die ''The Picture of the Last Man to Die'' is a black and white photograph taken by Robert Capa during the battle for Leipzig, depicting an American soldier, Raymond J. Bowman, aged 21 years old, after being killed by a Nazi Germany, German sniper, o ...

'' of the United States army soldier Raymond J. Bowman, who was killed there two weeks before the end of the Second World War in Europe. The images became internationally known when they were published in ''Life'' magazine.

Present

The majority of the house has been empty since the late 1990s. On New Year's Eve 2011/2012, part of it burned down and the demolition could only be stopped by a citizens' initiative. The investor Horst Langner undertook the extensive preservation, which was completed in 2016. The Café Eigler was opened in December 2015. To commemorate the events of 18 April 1945, an exhibition room in the café was opened on 17 April 2016. Lehman Riggs, an American veteran who was eyewitness to the death of his comrade Raymond Bowman, attended the renaming of the street on the corner of Jahnallee/Lützner Straße to Bowmanstraße. A commemorative plaque dedicated to Bowman was also unveiled. This plaque was based on a design by Harald Alff, who was personally involved in the Capa House. On 18 April 2019, US

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Emily Yasmin Norris commemorated the victims of World War II in front of the Capa House. At the same time, she recognized Lehman Riggs for fighting alongside Bowman on that balcony. Lehman Riggs died at age 101 in 2021. The new building complex around the Capa house is called Palmengarten-Palais after the renovation. In September 2021, it was announced that Café Eigler would close at the end of the month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 1 July 2023 the Capa-House Memorial Site was reopened in the former Café Eigler as an exhibition, event and meeting place dedicated not only to Robert Capa, but also to his partner, the (war) photographer

Gerda Taro Gerta Pohorylle (1 August 1910 – 26 July 1937), known professionally as Gerda Taro, was a German Jewish war photographer active during the Spanish Civil War. She is regarded as the first woman photojournalist to have died while covering the ...

. CAPA Culture gGmbH is responsible for events, projects and special exhibitions, and the ''Hentrich & Hentrich Publishing House for Jewish Culture and Contemporary History'' supports the Capa-House Memorial Site both professionally and personally. The ''Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig'' curates and develops the permanent exhibition area. The Capa-House initiative is a project partner. Capastraße.jpg, Capastraße in Leipzig Bowmanstraße.jpg, Lehman Riggs in Leipzig on 17 April 2016

Historical value

The Capa House, built in 1909 to 1910 as a tenant house, is a listed building in the German Reform Architecture style.Monument object Saxony ID 09261425 with "national historical value, memory value, value for popular education as well as historically important and essential for urban development." It was initially a "grand house" for the goldsmith Oskar Menzel jun. (Architect: F. Otto Gerstenberger). It changed hands in 1914. The premises of the above-mentioned Café Eigler used to house the "Confectionery and Coffee House of the West", then the Anger-Tanzbar, and later the Handelsorganisation dance bar "Melody" during the time of the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In the final days of World War II, American soldiers entered the building along with reporter Robert Capa. Capa took several photographs of the soldiers, including one which became known as ''

''.

Literature

* , (2nd, revised edition), translation of the title: ''Theater of war in the south of Leipzig, 1945'' * Book title: ''Leipzig – Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege''; without imprint, without year (around 2017), without ISBN, pages 26–27

References

External links

Capa Haus blog

Palmengartenpalais

Fading
a radio playfilm by Alina Cyranek and Jan Frederik Vogt

in: ''

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...

'', 8 February 2013
Photo collection and information about the Capa House.
in: WW2Dodge.com, Forum (English)
Kate Connoly, Leipzig flat made famous in Capa war photo becomes poignant memorial
in:

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, 1 September 2016 (English)
Sean Lahman, Rochester WWII soldier honored in Germany
in:

Democrat and Chronicle The ''Democrat and Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving the greater Rochester, New York, area. At 245 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, the ''Democrat and Chronicle'' operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production fa ...

, 15 April 2016 (English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Capa House Buildings and structures in Leipzig World War II sites in Germany Robert Capa