World
Why Adolf Hitler hated Indians? What was Hitler's attitude towards India? Modern World History UPSC
September 13, 20211 min read
Team
Here's an interesting post from Quora,
"
Kevin Oliver
I've studied Nazi history, and I still agree with Hellboy.
Updated 3 years ago · Author has 8.5K answers and 13.3M answer views
Hitler’s attitude towards Indians was complex and changed during the course of the war. He was a great admirer of the British Empire, and expressed no sympathy for any of the subject people's, including the Indians. Hitler was impressed with the way the British in India were able to control a population of tens of millions, with only a, comparative, handful of white civil servants and soldiers. He regarded this as a role model for German subjugation of the Slavs, and other “inferior" races.
However, Hitler also thought Indian Nationalism was a potential weapon against the British Empire. So in April 1941, Hitler personally received Subhas Chandra Bose, and his Austrian wife Emilie Schenkl Bose, and authorised Bose to establish the Free India Committee in Berlin, under the sponsorship of the German Foreign Office.
Shortly afterwards 3rd (Indian) Motorised Brigade was captured, almost intact, in Libya. They, and other Indian prisoners, were brought to a special POW camp in Germany. Here, Bose and other members of the Free India Committee spent 6 months trying to convert the prisoners to their cause. In January 1942 the existence of the Indian National Army was formally announced and 3,000 of the Indian Prisoners were transferred, as Arbeitskommando Frankenburg, to a new camp where military training commenced. In July, 300 of the Indians were moved to another camp. There they were issued with German Army uniforms. Together with some Hindi speaking German NCOs, they formed the cadre of the Indian National Army.
By Spring 1943 the INA (aka the Free India Legion, aka Infantry Regiment 950) had 2,000 men in three battalions. By then, Bose’s hopes of leading the INA into his homeland had been thwarted by events on the Eastern Front and in North Africa. In March, Bose left for the Far East, to raise a new branch of the INA, leaving the Free India Legion without a clear role.
In May 1943 the Legion was sent to the Netherlands to build coastal defences. In August they were sent to France on similar duties. They stayed their for a year, during which time they gained a reputation for indiscipline and internal conflict. Some of the troops had been press-ganged into joining the legion and others were bored and disillusioned. There were clashes between them and loyal Nationalists, and also conflict between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. At least one Legion NCO, a Muslim and an Indian Nationalist, was murdered by his own men. When D-Day came the Legion was thought not ready for combat and was ordered to return to Germany, in August 1944. During this retreat, there were several clashes with the French Resistance, the INA’s only combat in Europe. These firefights left three of the Legion dead and several wounded.
In September 1944 the Legion was transferred to the Waffen-SS, although this was largely a paper exercise. The new Waffen-SS commander also had other duties, and left the day to day running of the Legion in the hands of it’s army commander, Oberstleutnant Krappe. A few Indians formally became officers of the Waffen-SS, but the rest of the Legion remained in Army uniforms. The INA took no further part in the War in Europe.
In March 1945 Hitler gave his opinion of the Free India Legion:
“The Indian Legion is a joke. There are Indians that can’t kill a louse and would be prepared to allow themselves to be devoured. They certainly aren’t going to kill any Englishmen…I imagine that if one was to use the Indians to turn prayer wheels or something like that, they would be the most indefatigable soldiers in the world. But it would be useless to commit to a real blood struggle…the whole business is nonsense. If one has a surplus of weapons, one can permit oneself such amusements for propaganda purposes. But if one has no such surplus it is simply not justifiable.” [George H. Stein “The Waffen SS” Cornell University Press, 1966]
tl;dr Hitler had no love for the Indians but was willing to accept them as allies against the British. When the INA proved wanting, his attitude turned to Indians became openly contemptuous."
Considering the love of Hitler among fascist outfits like RSS and Shiv Sena among others, and them trying to model themselves after Hitler's Brown Shirts, is this not a joke itself??
www.britannica.com
journals.openedition.org
nzhistory.govt.nz
calenda.org
