Subhash Chandra Bose and the Third Reich

Interesting documents about Subhash Chandra Bose's days in Germany and about his attempts to interest the Germans in his plan to convert the Indian aspirations for freedom from the British rule into a military operation may be seen at
http://projectsouthasia.sdstate.edu/Docs/history/primarydocs/SCBose/index.htm

One can see that while Bose was keen on such a plan for a military operation, the Germans were not much interested in it and were putting him off. Even meeting with Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, was proving difficult for Bose and
he had to wait for several months before he could meet the Foreign Minister. Meeting Hitler took even longer. (I remember to have read in William Shirer's 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' that such a meeting did take place, but almost towards the end of Bose's stay in Germany.)

One also gets the feeling that the Indians were not much enchanted by the racial theories of the Third Reich. They could probably sense what their place would be in the world order that Hitler wanted to create.

It is interesting that the words 'Aryan' (from Sanskrit Arya) and 'Swastika' are one hundred percent Sanskrit words and are a gift from India to the racial theories of Hitler. Yet, I am quite certain that Hindus and Indians would have been relegated to permanent servitude and slavery under the German scheme because they do not conform to - or even come anywhere near - the Nordic ideal of an Aryan, as perceived by Hitler.

In retrospect, one feels thankful that the Germans did not show much interest in Bose's plan!