Martha Ellis Gellhorn

If Owen wrote about wars in a poetic way, Martha Gellhorn — the war journalist and the novelist — stripped all the poetry out of wars. This accomplished war correspondent of the 20th century showed the world the destruction and the hopelessness that war brings. Martha was an ambitious woman who never settled for anything average. Her first meaningful work began in America when she started reporting on the sufferings of the people living in North Carolina and New England. Her career as a war journalist started when she was hired by Collier’s weekly to cover the Spanish Civil War. She went on to cover most of the major wars in the 20th century. From Finland to China, from Italy To France — her footsteps graced many countries. When the men were fighting the World War, Martha had to take part in another kind of war — the war to snatch her rightful place as a journalist — fighting the patriarchy. Martha Gellhorn was the wife of Ernerst Hemingway. However, their marriage was never meant to be a happy one — Martha being a free spirited woman. At the time when the word — feminism had not become fashionable, Martha Gellhorn proved to be a true feminist.

Childhood & Early Life -

• On 8th November 1908, Martha Gellhorn took birth. Her father was Doctor George Gellhorn. He was a gynaecologist and Professor of Medicine at Washington University. Her mother was Edna Fischel Gellhorn. She fiercely advocated for the women’s right to vote. Martha was a rebellious girl from her childhood. She used to take part with her mother in the suffrage campaigns.
• Martha studied in John Burroughs School in St. Louis. In 1926, she enrolled herself in the Bryn Mawr College.
• She dropped out of college in 1929. Her hunger to “go everywhere, see everything” prevented her from wasting her life’s precious moments.

Career -

• Martha Gellhorn started her career as a freelance reporter. Her reports were first published in the New Republic.
• Martha formally became a reporter when she joined the Times Union. While working for the Times Union, she covered news on crimes, police cases and abuses.
• Martha was a woman who had an unquenchable thirst for travelling and doing meaningful work. This thirst urged her to travel to France in 1930. She started working for the United Press. At that time, when there was no ‘me-too’ movement, she courageously complained that one of the employees at the United Press sexually harassed her. However, she was unfairly fired because of her complaint.
• Martha travelled extensively through Europe after she reached France. However, what she reported at that time was mainly fashion and beauty related news.
• Her first real journalistic work began after she returned to the US. The Federal Relief Administration, in 1932, gave her a job to document the plight of the people who bore the brunt of the Great Depression.
• It was Collier’s weekly that started her adrenaline-pumping career. She was assigned to cover the Spanish Civil War for the weekly. So, in 1937, Martha Gellhorn travelled to Spain.
• Later, in 1939, Martha went on to cover the Russian-Finland Winter War. She travelled to Britain and then, Germany to document the rise of Adolf Hitler. Martha’s vivid description of World War II shook the readers. The next year, she cleverly chose China as her honeymoon destination to cover the China-Japan war.
• Then came Martha’s act of defiance. She was not allowed to go to Normandy to cover the D-Day (1944) as she was a female. However, a defiant Martha hid herself in a hospital ship bound for France. She reached Normandy and captured the invasion of the Nazi Dominated Normandy by the Allies.
• She was there when the US Seventh Army freed the people from the Dachau Concentration camp in 1945. She covered the Vietnam War in 1966. In 1967, she reported on the Six Day war.
• During the last phase of her career, Martha Gellhorn covered the civil war in Central America. Her last important assignment was to report on the US invasion of Panama in 1989.

Major Works -

• Martha Gellhorn was primarily a war journalist. Her reporting on the Spanish Civil War, the World War II, D-Day, Vietnam War etc earned her fame.
• Martha was a skillful novelist too. Her writing was lucid. It captured the harshness of the reality. Yet it was pleasurable to read. Her notable books include, ‘The Trouble I’ve Seen’ (1936), ‘The Heart of Another’ (1941), ‘The Wine of Astonishment’ (1948), ‘The Face of War’ (1959), ‘Vietnam : A New Kind of War’ (1966) etc.

Awards And Achievements -

• During her time, although she was respected and appreciated, Martha did not receive any award — partly because of her acts of defiance that enraged the authorities and partly because her designation as the wife of Hemingway outshone her works. She did receive the O. Henry Award First Prize for her short story ‘The Smell of Lilies’ in 1958.
• Her achievements include never bowing down in front of the patriarchy or other adversities.

Personal Life And Legacy -

• Martha Gellhorn was the third wife of the author Ernest Hemingway. Her sense of independence and progressive attitude did not go down well with the author. Their marriage lasted only four years. However, people never stopped addressing her as ‘the wife of Hemingway.’ She resented it.
• Martha had an adopted son whom she lovingly called ‘Sandy’. She later married T.S Mathews. However, this marriage, too, proved to be short lived.
• As the world was emerging from the ravages of the war and becoming more and more calm, Martha lost her purpose. She still covered some of the later conflicts in countries like Panama or in the Middle East.
• During her last years, Cancer clipped her wings. Her illness became so unbearable that she committed suicide on 15th February 1998.

Trivia -

• From 1999 onwards, Martha Gellhorn Trust started giving Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism to the accomplished journalists.
  • Martha Gellhorn loved to give nicknames to people. Hemingway, for her, was Pig’ or ‘Bongie.’

This article was written for Banyan Tree Infomedia. Unfortunately, it did not please them!

References -

1. https://www.historynet.com/martha-gellhorn-woman-war.htm
2. https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/g/gellhornem/
3. http://www.theheroinecollective.com/martha-gellhorn/
4. https://www.lennyletter.com/story/martha-gellhorn-changed-war-reporting-foreverhttps:/
5. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/08/remembering-martha-gellhorn/305232/