Netaji in Europe
On January 19, 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose, being one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement and, at the time, living under British surveillance at his home at Calcutta, escaped to Kabul (Afghanistan), where he established contact with the German and Italian ministers, in order to form an alliance against the common enemy, the British. Invited to Germany, Bose, who was now called Netaji, was supported by the German government to set up the Free India Centre, the radio station Azad Hind, and the Indian Legion in which 4500 Indian volunteers were trained to fight for the freedom of their motherland. This book gives a full and diligent account of Netaji’s activities in Europe. The author shows Netaji’s aims and perspectives, his daily quarrels with the Nazi bureaucracy and how he played the leaders of the Axis powers off against each other. The book also tells the story of the Battaglione Azad Hindostan formed by the Italian Army without Bose’s recognition and which resulted in a big failure. Moreover, it proves how Netaji could influence public opinion in India by radio during the Cripps Mission. Being the first work that narrates the story of Netaji in Europe based on documents from archives in Germany, England, India and Italy this book closes a gap in the research on Bose’s biography.
"Jan Kuhlmann's study of Bose and the Axis powers is extremely well-researched and by far one of the best studies on Bose." --- Romain Hayes
About the author
Jan Kuhlmann studied History, Philosophy, Latin and Education in Würzburg, Heidelberg, Windsor (Ontario), Berlin and Cologne. He got interested in the biography of Subhas Chandra Bose in History classes of the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg. Later he obtained his PhD degree from Humboldt University at Berlin for his research on Bose’s political activity in Europe. For a decade, he worked as a freelance journalist for local newspapers and government publications. He is now teaching history and Latin in a German secondary school.
