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An interview with Ludwig Alsdorf |
Sibabrata Roy
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Ludwig Alsdorf was an authority on Jainism. He travelled extensively in India and promoted a better understanding of modern India and her problems in Germany. Alsdorf was born on 8.August 904 in Laufersweiler in the Rhineland. He studied Indology, comparative linguistics, Persian and Arabic in Heidelberg and Hamburg. Alsdorf obtained a doctorate in 1928 in Hamburg for the thesis Der Kumarapalapratibodha, Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis des Apabhramsa und der Erzaehlungsliteratur der Jainas ("The Kumarapalapratibodha: A contribution to the knowledge of Apabhramsha and the narrative literature of the Jains").
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From October 1930 to May 1932 Alsdorf was a reader for German and French in Allahabad University. He continued his Sanskrit studies with a pundit and worked on a thesis to qualify as university professor. The thesis submitted in 1935 was Harivamsapurana, Ein Abschnittaus der Apabhramsa-Welthistorie Mahapurusa Tisatthimahapurisagunalamkara (Harivamsha-purana: A passage from the Apabhramsha World History Tisatthimahapurisagunalamkara"). In the course of his studies on this text, Alsdorf discovered that the Vasudevahindi, which belongs to the Harivamsha section of Jain mythology, was a new version of the lost Brihatkatha of Gunadhya. It is the oldest extant narrative work of the Jains.
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Alsdorf was lecturer in Berlin University until 1938 when he went to Muenster. He continued to work on Apabhramsha texts and published an essay on R. Pischel's Materialien zur Kenntnis des Apabhramsa ("Materials for understanding Apabhramsha") in 1933 and Apabhramsa Studien in 1937. He also discussed the Prakrit used by the Jainas in Les etudes jaina, which was published in Paris, 1965.
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In 1940, Alsdorf published the book Indien, which dealt with the history of British India and the Indian freedom movement. In 1942, he published Deutsch-indische Geistesbeziehungen dealing with the cultural relations between India and Germany. Indien und Ceylon, which appeared in 1943 was a concise geography of the two countries.
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After the end of the War, Alsdorf became a visiting professor in Muenster. In 1950, he was appointed professor of Indology in Hamburg University.
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From 1951 to 1959 he reconstructed H. Lueders' manuscript on the Vedic god Varuna, which had been damaged during the War. Alsdorf published it in two volumes in 1951 and 1959.
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Alsdorf came to India about twelve times. He visited Sri Lanka in 1978. An insect bite turned infectious and caused his death on 25.3.1978 shortly after his return to Germany.
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As an expert on Indology, he was called to Berlin in 1941 to work in the Foreign Office in the Special Indian Department (Sonderreferat Indien) set up after Subhas Chandra Bose was arrived in Germany. The Foreign Office, under the Secretary of State Ernst Von Weizsacker, set up two committees to help Bose:
- Civil - this committee included scholars like Alsdorf, P Thieme and K Hoffmann
- Military – this committee had as members Adalbert Seifriz and Walter Harbich
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As a civil advisor, Alsdorf used to meet Bose quite frequently. I met Alsdorf at Hamburg University in 1955 and had a long discussion on Bose. Here I will produce a summary of the interview.
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Roy: When did you first meet Bose in Berlin?
Alsdorf: 17 or 18 May, 1941, at Hotel Excelsior
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Roy: Did you have any prior information on Bose?
Alsdorf: I had written about Bose in my book Indien, published in 1940. I had all relevant information on him
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Roy: The Foreign Office sent you to work with Bose. Were you working at the Foreign Office then?
Alsdorf: I was a soldier shortly before, located in France. I was brought to Berlin and there I started working as an advisor to the special committee on Indian affairs. The foremost objective of this committee was to assist the Indian freedom struggle waged by Bose in every way in order to accelerate India’s achievement of independence. The members used to address Bose as ‘Your Excellency.’ Netaji wanted to set up a Free Indian Government at that time, but the Germans advised him to postpone it, in the context of the World War. As the first step towards setting up the Government, Netaji directed to bring together all Indians living in Europe. Bose gave special responsibilities to A C N Nambiar as his deputy. Girija Mukherjee had the responsibility of Azad Hind Radio staion. Initially the station was located in Berlin, and inspirational messages to Indian freedom fighters were aired from the station every day in almost all Indian languages. Later, the station was shifted to Hilversum in the Netherlands. The radio station was run from a local hotel – Bose himself stayed in the hotel for some time to start off the operations. Ganpuley was appointed as secretary. Ganpuley was also involved in organisational activities, along with Nambiar. When the Germans retreated from the Netherlands towards the end of the war, the radio station was shifted to Helmstedt in West Germany. The station was located here till the Nazi government surrendered to the allied powers. The German government viewed the work of the Sonderreferat Indien very favourably. The Sonderreferat helped to set up the Free India Centre, publish newspapers and to bring together Indian and German culture and philosophy – to bring India closer to the German people.
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Roy: Wasn’t this radio station a part of the Nazi propaganda machine?
Alsdorf: Absolutely not! The Nazi propaganda against the allies had a special characteristic. A very powerful member of the special Indian committee – Furtwangler – kept the station out of reach of the Nazis and SS men. Furtwangler was shot dead by the Nazis as a conspirator of the 20 July conspiracy to kill Hitler.
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The summer of 1941
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According to arrangements by the German Government, Bose, along with Emilie Schenkel, stayed in the small hilly town of Badgestein for sometime. I was suddenly directed by the Foreign Office to spend a few days with Bose. It was around this time that German invasion of the Soviet Union began. I spent about three days with Bose. Often we used to walk the hilly roads and discuss how to accelerate India’s freedom. We also used to talk about Indian philosophy. As far as I could make out, Bose was in a great dilemma over the route and form of the struggle. He was greatly concerned as he knew the constraints of running a direct struggle from Germany.
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Bose’s military advisors initially suggested that the Indian Legion, starting from south of Russia, would march through Afghanistan under the leadership of German army towards the Khyber Pass and then enter India with the help of the Pathan tribes.
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Bose did not agree with this plan. He put the message across very strongly that Indian soldiers should be the first ones to enter India. Moreover, he pointed out that the British military might would pose a huge challenge to the Indo-German force in a closed place like Khyber Pass. The supply line for this force would have to be much longer than that of the British Indian Army, which would inevitably lead to defeat. The German military analysts however held the view that the moment the Indians became aware that the Indo-German force had reached the Khyber Pass, there will be a mass upheaval.
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Although this line of thinking was quite logical, Bose refused to accept the inevitable routing of the force. Bose’s thoughts thus reflect Realpolitik. I highly appreciate Bose’s stand.
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Sibabrata Roy, an Electrical Engineer, was a student of Jadavpur University. Roy was initiated to the revolutionary fraternity by Anil and Leela Roy. He was arrested and imprisoned during the Quit India movement of 1942. He has been in Germany since 1953, and is the president of Indo-German Society of Hamburg for last 20 years. He was awarded the Bharat Samman by the then President of India during APJ Kalam. More recently, in December 2008, he was awarded The bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany). Besides, he is the grandson of poet Rajani Kanta Sen.
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