Weirdness

Monday, November 08, 2010

New book on Indians who fought for the nazis

http://www.freeindianlegion.info/
I've always had an interest in the foreign legions of the third reich.  This is one more example of how a conflict as big as WWII can be shown to have many different social and political shadings and complexity.  It's interesting to note that, from the notes on this website, the book appears to be rather complimentary to the Indian leader, Bose, whom I consider to be a rather naive, pathetic and possibly cynical creature.  The Japanese had plans for India - and those plans didn't include independence.  As for the Germans that the book concentrates on - this was another example of himmler's silly dreaminess and pseudo-mystical actions.  The rest of the hierarchy was under no such delusions, and viewed the Indians who came over to their side as little more than a minor propaganda tool.  Hitler was apparently more cynical and there are nasty quotes by him regarding his regard for these troops and the nation they represented.  In his desperation for independence, Bose hitched himself to people who probably had a lesser view of him than the British. 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home