The world hates Hitler. What about India? The Nazi dictator with someone India's leaders engaged with in popular culture in India. Hitler is synonymous with rigidity people many times referring to their boss or a strict teacher as Hitler. So what was India's connection with this man. India has been mostly unaware about Auschwitz blame it on the country is physically disconnected from the Holocaust or the missing emotional strength for India. The stories of the Holocaust were like tales from a land far, far away the early 1940s were India's final years under the British rule. India was a country looking for an independence would appeal to the Indian masses. Back afterwards was the image of Hitler a supposed no-rubbish man.Someone who was evidently fighting to make Germany a powerful country to top. This both India and Hitler had a common enemy Britain.
It was a direct connect. Hitler recognized India's power, but in his own special way, for him India was one of the most resourceful lands on earth and Britain's rule of India was a classic example of governance. That's how he wanted to govern Russia and Italy. Frequently asked his men to get lessons from India this is a quote from 17th October 1941. "The core reason for English pride is India 400 years ago the English didn't have this pride earlier". Hitler also added, "Britain knows very well that its empire depends on the presence of India".
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In 1942 he met Indian freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Army Subhash Chandra Bose. Bose, the most wanted Hitler's help in organizing a revolution in India. His plan of action included distracting the British government with an uprising in India, this would weaken British forces in its war against Germany. According to historians, both his calculation Germany because of its military superiority would defeat Britain and the mask effect would liberate India to Hitler.
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However, Hitler denied to help Bose. Historians indicate that, one of the reasons was because Bose had requested the Nazi leader to cut out a couple of passages from mine Kampf. But Hitler and his forces helped to Bose to escape from Germany to Japan through sub-marine and plane.
In his biography, Hitler had written "It might be better for India to continue under British domination." However, Hitler and his forces help Bose in escaping to Japan, here's what Hitler said later that year in a book on India and also wrote that, "India educated the British and gave them their feeling of superiority".
Mahatma Gandhi once wrote to Hitler this was back in 1939 post Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia. Gandhi wrote he was appealing for the sake of humanity for whatever it may be worth history has it.
Hitler was a fan of Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. Germany's lost to India in the 1936 Olympics made Hitler reach out to the unseen, he even offered him a position in the German army, which he later refused.
Over the years of the Holocaust Hitler's interaction with India were mostly defined by the country's point of contact with the Nazi leader and Subash Chandra Bose.
