Subhas Chandra Bose's activities in Germany - preparations for the revolution and battles, Indian Legion, meeting Hitler and journey to Far East

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"Free India" activities in Germany

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While the geopolitical activities were shaping up, Subhas Chandra Bose was busy in giving shape to his plan. Indien-Büro (India Office) which later became the Zentralstelle Freies Indien (Central Office Free India) became his operational Head Quarter. Its primary goal was to spread information on India’s independence struggle. It published a regular news magazine Azad Hind and also established broadcasting facilities to India. Although the German Government never recognised Bose's office as the Government in Exile, the office practically functioned as an embassy with German counterparts in the Foreign Office. Adam von Trott zu Solz headed the Sonderreferat Indien (Special Department for India). The Indische Legion was created. Bose had visited Rome in May 1941 via France. He reached Rome on 14th June and received a grand reception befitting the Head of a State. Mussolini received him personally on the following day. Even though the Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano, the son-in-law of Mussolini, did not like Bose's preference to be closer to the Germans, Mussolini, having met Bose thrice during the period of his exile in Europe in 1933-36 and being aware of his revolutionary ideas, was open and friendly towards him. After his return from Rome and Vienna in July 1941, Bose lived, along with Emilie, in a mansion at Sophienstrasse 7 in the Charlottenburg neighborhood of Berlin.

Swami and a band of young men received special training as members of an elite commando force. Rudolf Hartog, who served as an interpreter for Hindustani in the India League, writes about the structure, the training, the difficulties and above all about Bose’s concept of a future Indian society, where religious, linguistic, caste and regional groups would be one. The unit recruited itself from Indian students in Germany and Austria and from Indian prisoners of war caught at the North African Front. They were part of the Wehrmacht (the Armed Forces) and wore German style uniforms, but with a flash on the left sleeve showing a springing tiger and Freies Indien Tricolour. Sikh soldiers and officers wore turbans. Walter Harbich was the commander in charge of the training camp and he implemented Bose's plan to unite members across religious, caste and linguistic barriers. The recruitment into the Indische Legion began by December 1941. Bose persuaded them to join the cause of their motherland by reminding them that their oath and allegiance should be to their motherland India and not to the British Government. Subhas Bose's power of persuasion worked miracles and around four thousand soldiers captured by Germany and Italy had joined with him. Zentralstelle Freies Indien was formally opened in November 1941 in Berlin. "Jai Hind", which was originally coined by Chempakaraman Pillai in 1907 and later adopted by Abid Hasan, became the national greeting among the soldiers. Jana Gana Mana, the Tagore's immortal song eulogizing the Indian civilization, was adopted as the National anthem. Subhas's plans of revolutionary activities were compromised owing to the betrayal of Bhagat Ram as mentioned earlier. But he could communicate with Sarat Bose through wireless messages from Berlin to Tokyo that were delivered by the Japanese consulate to Sarat. The British intercepted a message from Japanese foreign ministry to his Ambassador in Berlin, that contained one of Subhas's communications with Sarat. Sarat had been instrumental in forming a new Government in Bengal by allying with Fazlul Haq of Krishak Praj Party and he was supposed to be its home minister. However in December 1941, he was arrested and detained by British Government. Gandhiji, emboldened by the reversals that Britain suffered in the hands of Japan, was preparing for a final showdown with Britain in early 1942.

In the meanwhile Japanese Ambassador in Berlin Lt. General Oshima Hiroshi and Col. Yamamato held several meetings with Subhas in Berlin.

Cripps Mission - India gears up for the final revolution

Churchill was under pressure from Franklin D Roosevelt to enter into a favourable agreement with Indian Nationalist leaders. Viceroy Lord Linlithgow was opposed to any conciliation. A reluctant Churchill had sent Stafford Cripps on a mission to India. Cripps belonged to Labour Party and was sent to negotiate a wartime agreement with the Congress and Muslim League. Cripps began by offering India Dominion Status at the end of the war, with chance to secede from the Commonwealth and go for total independence. Cripps also promised privately to get rid of Linlithgow and grant the Dominion Status with immediate effect. However in public he had little to offer.  There was little trust between the British and Congress by this stage, and both sides felt that the other was concealing its true plans. The Congress stopped talks with Cripps and, guided by Gandhi, the national leadership demanded immediate self-government in return for war support. Gandhi said that Cripps's offer of Dominion Status after the war was a "post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank" (source: Wikipedia). Jinnah also rejected Cripps's proposals as it did not contain any explicit offer on Pakistan and he felt that the Muslim right to self determination was ignored. The Viceroy Linlithgow and the Secretary of state for India Amery had also worked in the background to sabotage the mission. Sri Aurobindo was one person who had expressed a positive approval of the Cripps's proposal in his private letter on March 31, 1942. He also sent a personal message to Congress to urge them to accept Cripps's proposals. Gandhiji rejected the advice. Possibly Sri Aurobindo as a prophet of humanity was trying to avoid the violence and bloodshed associated with Partition which he might have foreseen.

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Subhas writes in the Indian Struggle, "The desire of the British Government for a compromise with the Congress was reciprocated by the Gandhi Wing. The Congress Working Committee, meeting at Wardha on the 16th January, 1942, passed a resolution offering co-operation in the war-effort once again. Soon after — that is, in February, 1942, at the instance of the British Government, Marshal Chiang Kai Shek visited India with a view to inducing the Congress leaders to come to an understanding with the British Government. Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in India in March, 1942, under auspicious circumstances. In view of the rapid and brilliant success of the Japanese forces, the British Government was in a chastened mood and Cripps was regarded by the general public as the right man for the right job. But his efforts, nevertheless, failed, because all that he had brought with him, was a promise of Dominion Status after the war ended. Coupled with this promise, was the threat that India would probably be divided, when the war was over. On April 10, the Congress Working Committee rejected the Cripps proposals on the ground that they in no way met India's demand for freedom. Sir Stafford Cripps made his farewell broadcast to the Indian people on the 11th April and then left India a disappointed man."

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International support for India's effort to get freedom: The anti Subhas  propaganda of British media

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In Germany, declaration for India's freedom seemed to be on anvil and the draft declaration of the Foreign Office in Berlin contained many of Bose's demands. It started with, "Germany, Italy and Japan are convinced that the Indian nation will break the political and economic bonds of British Imperialism and then as master of its own fate will carry out a sweeping transformation of its national life..." (His Majesty's Opponent - Prof. Sugato Bose).

However there were problems galore in the relationship between Japan and Germany and it resulted in lost opportunities for Subhas Bose. This pertained to Japan's unilateral plans in the Pacific theater, its relationship with Soviet Union and other war strategies. Ribbentrop therefore turned down Bose's plan of travelling to Asia in 1942. Precious moments were lost. Bose even thought that he and the Indian cause were being used as a bargaining chip for a possible German compromise with the British. Bose therefore focused on the propaganda war with the aid of Berlin Azad Hind radio. On 10th November 1941, Eric Conran Smith, secretary of the Home Department of the government of India had told the Indian Council of State, that Bose had „gone over to the enemy‟ and signed a pact with the Axis designed to lead to the invasion of India. This was the start of a tremendous propaganda offensive against Bose. The British press, which had so far been speculating in which ashram he was, and how he had escaped, now latched on to the notion of Bose "the Quisling‟. The Daily Mail, with a photograph of Bose under the caption "Indian turns traitor‟, announced, "Indian Quisling No 1 flees to Hitler‟. The Daily Express carried a photograph of Bose in a long overcoat and Gandhi cap talking to a German guard at a Berlin zoo in 1934, and the heading: "Indian leader plans invasion 5th Column‟. In India the Anglophile newspapers like the Statesman and the Englishman carried out the assault on Subhas Bose and Communist Party of India joined the league of Subhas haters. On 24th March, 1942, British News Agency Reuters had reported that Subhas Chandra Bose was killed in an aircrash on his way to attend a conference in Tokyo. Gandhi sent a condolence message to Prabhabati Devi. Subhas then made a radio broadcast on March 25 - "My death is perhaps an instance of wishful thinking." Bose also asked the Indian people to reject the offer of Dominion Status of Cripps.

Maulana abul Kalam Azad had said that Bose's escape to Germany had made a great impression on Gandhiji. He admired the courage and resourcefulness possessed by Subhas.

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In the meanwhile Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo had openly declared "India for the Indians." Japanese had sent a draft declaration to the other Axis powers proposing freedom for India and Arab. On April 16, Ribbentrop produced an amended version and presented to Hitler. But Hitler rejected the declaration. He also urged the Italians not to accept the same. On May 5, Bose went to Italy to meet the Duce to reverse the Salzburg decision of Hitler and Mussolini on April 29. Ciano reported that Mussolini was persuaded by Bose to obtain a tripartite declaration in favour of India's independence. However Hitler turned down Mussolini's proposal. Subhas had now no doubt as to where he should be. He wrote to Ribbentrop on May 22, 1942 that "Now the time has come when the final effort should be made for achieving India's political emancipation. For this purpose it is absolutely essential that I should be in the East."

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Did Subhas support Nazis

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It is however pertinent to note that Bose had no sympathy with Nazi ideology. Writes Girija Mukherjee who was close associate, "The first thing we need to do in order to have a clear understanding of Subhas Bose’s views on Germany, Italy and the countries which fought against England is to refer to Subhas Bose’s numerous writings and statements on them. If we do that, we will find that nowhere in his speech or in writings and he has ever praised or supported Nazi or Fascist ideas. I have read practically everything he has written and nowhere could I discover any writing of his in which he shows that he was attracted by the ideas of depriving others of liberty or of oppressing people because of their political beliefs or because of the race they belonged to. On the contrary, a child of Indian Renaissance of the nineteenth century, Subhas Bose, who imbibed in his youth the ideas of Tagore, Aurobindo, Vivekananda and Gandhi, was a profound humanist in the Hindu sense of the term as revealed in his letters written in Bengali, published in the book Patravali. These letters are eloquent testimonies of his deeply ingrained sense of liberalism and love of liberty. We have a further testimony of this love of liberty in his now famous letter he wrote to Dr. Franz Thierfelder of Munich in March 1936. Subhas Bose was in Munich towards the end of 1935 and he tried to meet an important German Minister in order to make him acquainted with the Indian situation. Dr. Thierfelder, the founder, together with Dr. Taraknath Das of the Indian Institute of Munich, tried to arrange this interview. As he was unable to meet him and as he was deeply pained at the racial discrimination practised by the Nazis, he left Germany in disgust and expressed this feeling in a letter to his friend Dr. Thierfelder. Bose writes that before leaving Germany (1935) he should say a few words about what he thought of the country and the people. He writes: “When I first visited Germany in 1933, I had hopes that the new German nation which had risen to a consciousness of its national strength and self-respect would instinctively feel a deep sympathy for other nations struggling in the same direction. Today, I regret that I have to return to India with the conviction that the new nationalism of Germany is not only narrow and selfish but arrogant.” Referring to a speech made by Hitler, Bose writes: “Herr Hitler has talked of the destiny of the white races to rule over the rest of the world. But the historical fact is, that up till now the Asiatics have dominated Europe more than have the Europeans dominated Asia ... We who are struggling for our own freedom desire that all nations should be free and that Europe and Asia should be at peace with one another. It, therefore, pains us that the new nationalism in Germany is inspired by selfishness and racial arrogance”. He then adds: “Germany in her desire to curry favour with Great Britain finds it convenient to attack India and the Indian people."

The same idea had been echoed by Kitti Kurti, a Jewish German friend of Bose who deeply respected and appreciated the spiritual side of Subhas.

Between 1933 and 1939, for example, he had for friends Kitty and Alex, a Jewish couple in Berlin. In 1965, Kitty Kurti wrote a book, "Subhas Chandra Bose as I knew Him". She reminisced that Bose “did not attempt to hide” from her his deep contempt for the Nazis. In the same vein, he cited India’s exploitation by British imperialism and explained why he had to do business with the Nazis. “It is dreadful but it must be done. …India must gain her independence, cost what it may,” he told the couple after a meeting with Hermann Göring. He added with passion, "Have you an idea, Mrs. Kurti, of the despair, the misery, the humiliation of India? can you imagine her suffering and indignation? British Imperialism there can be just as intolerable as your Nazism here, I assure you."

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Girija Mukherjee rightly points out that the closest collaborator of Bose had been Adam von Trott zu Solz who in 1944 plotted the assassination of Adolf Hitler along with Count Stauffenberg. Even though Subhas had taken material help and support from Nazi Germany, he took it as a loan to be paid off in full when India would be free and set up its Independent Government in India. Later in 1944, as the Head of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, Bose remitted 5 million yen (equivalent to 200,000 Reich Marks) through the German Ambassador in Tokyo, with the full knowledge of the Japanese Government, as the first of four installments towards the repayment of the loan by the German Government to the Free India Office.

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