One Last Shot: Based on a True Story of Wartime Heroism: The Story of Wartime Photographer Gerda Taro


 
 
 
 
 Dedication
 
 
 Para Bernardo
 
 
 
 Epigraph
 
 Si muero,
 dejad el balcón abierto.
 —FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA
 
 
 Contents
 Cover
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Epigraph
 Combat
 Beginnings
 Growing Up
 Change
 Independence
 Partners
 Success
 Extremes
 Dramatis Personae
 Author’s Note
 Acknowledgments
 Selected Sources
 Glossary
 About the Author
 Books by Kip Wilson
 
 Back Ad
 Copyright
 About the Publisher
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BRUNETE, SPAIN
 JULY 1937
 THE SPANISH SUN
 Searing heat bakes
 the dusty earth
 rusty vehicles
 our thirsty bodies
 as most soldiers seek
 whatever shade
 they can snatch
 in these trenches
 while others call out for me
 ¡Gerda! ¡Señorita!
 trying to protect
 la pequeña rubia
 (the little blonde)
 me
 but in fact the cacophony
 of battle energizes
 me, galvanizes
 me, pushes
 me to
 get every shot
 I can.
 NEW CAMERAS
 I’m on this battlefield lugging around
 a cumbersome camera and tripod
 to film
 motion pictures
 along with the one he gave me
 for photographs
 the
 Leica
 and it might seem
 too much to carry two
 but I need them both
 to have any chance
 of capturing moments
 like this one.
 CLOSE-UP
 Bullets fly
 artillery booms
 officers yell
 soldiers charge
 and I
 crouch
 shoot
 follow
 the action
 closer to the line
 between
 us
 and
 them
 also known as the line
 between
 life
 and
 death.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 STUTTGART, GERMANY
 NOVEMBER 1917
 NAMES
 My parents have been
 Heinrich
 and
 Gisela
 my whole life
 yet sometimes they still
 slip up
 calling the other
 Hersch
 or
 Gittel
 which is probably why
 they made sure
 to give us children
 good German names
 Gerda
 Oskar
 Karl
 right from the start.
 LIGHTING THE CANDLES
 Friday nights
 just before sundown
 we light
 candles, sing
 the blessing, share
 homemade challah
 all seven of us:
 me and my mama and papa
 Mama’s sister, Tante Terra
 her husband, Onkel Moritz
 my brothers, Oskar
 two years younger than me
 and Karl
 two years younger than him
 because family
 is stronger
 together.
 FAMILY LIFE
 Oskar and Karl tend to
 clump
 together
 like dumplings just added
 to broth
 and though Oskar busies
 himself being
 the best 
 
 
 
 
 SEPTEMBER 1925
 LOOKING UP
 The years pass
 our luck changes
 our lives change
 when Onkel Moritz takes on
 Papa as a permanent employee
 in his more established delivery business
 fanciful Papa
 always dreaming of more
 and I march into a new
 year of school like
 I run the place myself
 which works
 not only because I’m
 smart and ambitious and a little bit wily
 but also because I’m
 attractive and coquettish and petite
 weapons
 that seem
 to matter
 more.
 Of course
 it also helps that
 I wear my otherwise
 unremarkable
 brown hair
 as short as a boy’s
 (compared to everyone else’s long locks)
 because nothing
 boosts a girl’s confidence more
 than fearlessness.
 FRIENDSHIP
 I’ve finally worked my way into
 the tight-knit fabric
 of