Martha Gellhorn (1908-98)Gellhorn’s first reports were on the impact of the Depression on working families in the USA. She went to Spain with Ernest Hemingway to cover the civil war in 1937 and went on to report on wars across the globe. She was among the first journalists to enter Dachau after it was liberated. Gellhorn was passionate about truth and the power of witness, and I saw the effect she had on my friend Marie Colvin. Now I see how Marie’s life is an inspiration to the next generation who risk their safety to bear witness to the human sufferings of war

Photograph: Corbis