Capa House

The Capa House at Jahnallee 61 in Leipzig - Lindenau is named after the American war reporter and photographer Robert Capa. There Capa photographed the photo The Picture of the Last Man to Die of the United States army soldier Raymond J. Bowman who was killed there during the Second World War. The recordings became internationally known when they were published in Life magazine.[1]

Capa House in December 2015

Present

The majority of the house has been empty since the late 1990s.[2] On New Year's Eve 2011/2012 it burned down in part and the demolition could only be stopped by a citizens' initiative.[3] The investor Horst Langner undertook the extensive monument-compliant renovation, which was completed in 2016. The Café Eigler was opened in December 2015.[4] So that the events of 18 April 1945 are not forgotten, an exhibition room in the café has been commemorating them since 17 April 2016. For the occasion, the now 96-year-old American eyewitness Lehman Riggs (he witnessed the death of his comrade Raymond Bowman in the immediate vicinity) traveled back to the historic site to see, among other things, the renaming of the street on the corner of Jahnallee/Lützner Straße to Bowmanstraße and the unveiling of the commemorative plaque Raymond J. Bowmann, based on a design by Harald Alff,[5] was personally involved in the Capa House. On 18 April 2019, US Consul Emily Yasmin Norris commemorated the victims of the World War in front of the Capa House, in particular the US soldier Raymond J. Bowman who died in this house. At the same time, she reminded of Lehman Riggs fighting alongside Bowman on that balcony.[6] Lehman Riggs was 101 years old, when he died in Cookeville, Tennessee in 2021. The new building complex around the Capa house is called Palmengarten-Palais after the renovation.[7] In September 2021 it was announced that Café Eigler[4] would close at the end of the month. "Corona destroyed our café in the Capa House," explained tenant Thomas Eigler.[8]

  • Display case in the Capa House exhibition room 2016
    Display case in the Capa House exhibition room 2016
  • Capastraße in Leipzig
    Capastraße in Leipzig
  • Lehman Riggs in Leipzig on 17 April 2016
    Lehman Riggs in Leipzig on 17 April 2016

Historical value of the Capa House

The Capa House, built in 1909 to 1910 as a tenent house in reform style architecture, is a listed building.[9] Initially a "grand house" for the goldsmith Oskar Menzel jun. (Architect: F. Otto Gerstenberger)[10] it already 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 dance bar "Melody" during the time of the GDR.[11]

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 The Picture of the Last Man to Die.[1]

Literature
  • Jürgen Möller: Kriegsschauplatz Leipziger Südraum 1945. Deutscher Rockstuhl Verlag, Bad Langensalza, ISBN 3-86777-168-5; 2nd, revised edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-86777-168-9, in German, translation of the title: Theater of war in the south of Leipzig, 1945
  • Ulrike Baumecker. Jahnallee 61 – Das Capa-Haus (in German). Merseburg: Gehrig Verlagsgesellschaft mbh. Book title: Leipzig – Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege; without imprint, without year (around 2017), without ISBN, pages 26–27

References
  1. "An Episode: Americans Still Died". Life Magazine. 14 May 1945. pp. 40B–40C. LIFE Photographer Robert Capa, who went into the building with the heavy-machines platoon, took the picture at top, opposite page. Then one soldier (left in picture) went inside and the other manned the smoking gun alone. While absorbed in reloading it, a German sniper's bullet from the street pierced his forehead.
  2. Bensch, Daniela (4 February 2017). "Das Capa-Haus und seine Geschichte". Leipziger Denkmalstiftung (in German). Archived from the original on 2017-03-17. Die Stiftung. Das Capa-Haus und seine Geschichte. (The Foundation. The Capa house and its history.)
  3. Jens Rometsch: Matinee zum 100. Geburtstag von Robert Capa im Theater der Jungen Welt. (Matinee for the 100th birthday of Robert Capa in the Theatre of the Young World In: Leipziger Volkszeitung, 16. october 2013.
  4. "Café Eigler" (in German). Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2021-09-23. Das Café Eigler im Capahaus gehört zu einem der schönsten und traditionsreichsten Cafés in Leipzig.
  5. "Gedenktafel (commemorative plaque)". harald-alff (in German). Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  6. Jens Rometsch: Befreiung von Leipzig. Gedenken an alle Weltkriegsopfer. (Liberation of Leipzig. Commemoration of all World War victims.) In: Leipziger Volkszeitung, 20 april 2019.
  7. "Palmengarten Palais" (in German). Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  8. Jens Rometsch. "Café Eigler schließt". Leipziger Volkszeitung, 21. September 2021 (in German). Retrieved 2021-09-23. Translation of the title: Café Eigler closes: That's the background - Leipzig is again poorer by a piece of café culture. On 30 September, Thomas Eigler closes a hospitable place in Lindenau, which was not only loved for its apple and poppy seed cake, but also offered authentic insights into the town's history. "Corona destroyed our café in the Capa house," he says.
  9. 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."
  10. Jahnallee 61, Capa-Haus at the web page of Lindenauer Stadtteilverein (Lindenau neighbourhood association)
  11. Melodie des Westens, at web page Geheimtipp Leipzig 24 May 2018, retrieved on 24 March 2023
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