In the spring of 1942, three years after the fall of Spain to Franco’s Nationalists, a suitcase containing an archive of 4,500 negatives of photographs of the Spanish Civil War by three photojournalists—Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour (known as Chim)—was smuggled out of the country and into Mexico. The images remained hidden for nearly seventy years, and only now can the public fully view these works, currently on display at the International Center for Photography through May 8. In his piece in this issue of The Nation, "A Secret Archive," Dan Kaufman chronicles the history of the images in the Mexican Suitcase that, taken together, "portray a besieged country’s fight for its survival and its soul amid a Nazi-backed Fascist revolt."
© International Center of Photography
[Two Republican soldiers carrying a crucifix, Madrid], October-November 1936
By Chim (David Seymour)
© Estate of David Seymour / Magnum International Center of Photography
Outdoor mass for Republican soldiers, near Lekeitio, Basque region, Spain, January-February 1937
By Chim (David Seymour)
© Estate of David Seymour / Magnum International Center of Photography
[Crowd at the gate of the morgue after the air raid, Valencia], May 1937
By Gerda Taro
© International Center of Photography Collection International Center of Photography
[Spectators at the funeral parade of General Lukacs, Valencia], June 16, 1937
By Gerda Taro
© International Center of Photography Collection International Center of Photography
[Ernest Hemingway (third from the left), New York Times journalist Herbert Matthews (second from the left) and two Republican soldiers, Teruel, Spain], late December 1937
By Robert Capa
© International Center of Photography / Magnum Collection International Center of Photography
Exiled Republicans being marched down the beach to an internment camp, Le Barcarès, France, March 1939
By Robert Capa
© International Center of Photography / Magnum Collection International Center of Photography
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