Mumbai’s Thing about Hitler

One of the biggest slaps in the face that a European visitor to India experiences is the all-pervading presence of the swastik – what we foreigners perceive as the Nazis’ swastika. The first few times I came across it, on the gates of a college, on the back of a truck, and in a prominent place in a shop, it chilled my blood. Of course it was obvious quite quickly, even to me, that the symbol was not being used here in the same way as in Europe, but, still, my upbringing means I and many others in the West have a visceral and intense reaction as soon as it is seen, and it didn’t feel good in my first days to see it around the place so much.


What’s more…. perhaps the confusion between the European and the Indian significance of the swastik (which actually originated in India, is a long-established religious emblem of good fortune, and which Hitler stole, for his own movement’s use) might contribute to why, strangely to me, there seems to be an inordinate amount of interest here in Hitler’s philosophy …

I’m not talking about the crass right-wing politicians in India who say rather silly approving things about Hitler – after all, that happens in Europe too, sadly.
No, it's more than just the statements of rather ignorant politicians. For example, in Gujarat, the neighbouring state to this one, the school textbooks referred to Hitler the Hero. (However, as you can imagine, there was eventually some objection to that).

Indeed, even on the shelves of the trendy modern bookshops in this city you can see displayed prominently ‘Mein Kampf’ (Hitler’s autobiography, written by him when he was a young revolutionary, and in which he first outlined his views). To my surprise, I learnt that it is on quite a few local bookshops’ ‘constantly-selling’ list.
In fact, quite a few Indian publishing houses (of which two, Jaico Books – which specialises in New Age works surprisingly! - and Embassy Books, are based in Mumbai) compete to produce in-print versions of Mein Kampf. Interestingly, all the versions I saw use the 1939 edition (Patrick Murphy’s translation) – without any modern preface to give it a post-1945 historical context!
Then there was the bizarre incident of the restaurant that opened here in Greater Mumbai in the summer of 2006 – as “a tribute to General Hitler” (see Hindustan Times, August 21, ‘06). The owner of ‘Hitler’s Cross’, as it was called, was quoted as saying “we named it after the general Hitler, and we hope our customers gobble up our food just as he gobbled up countries”. Eh?? As you can imagine, I was incredulous, and wondered what naivety/ignorance could be behind this ‘reasoning’. (As it was, the big newspapers had a field day going after this man, and he later had to change the name.)

Soon after this incident, the Times of India (Oct 29 2006, pg 4) quoted a charity worker who was mentioning, approvingly, one of Hitler’s maxims about being independent. The man, who was being feted as a community hero by the paper, went on to say that Mein Kampf was his “favourite book” which he read in Marathi translation. The report added (without any other comment!), “...like Hitler, he too is a vegetarian teetotaller”.

**

What on earth does it all add up to? Well, as usual, I’d love any reader’s thoughts on why they think this happens, but I’m beginning to think it’s an interesting example of just how wide the gap between India and Europe really is.

Here are a few guesses on why some ordinary Indians have a soft spot for Hitler.

*First, and obviously, the swastik. Hitler’s German race theories postulated an Aryan root for Germans. The modern peoples of north India are (believe it or not) descended from the same Aryan stock, because the Aryans migrated into the Indian sub-continent… which is why in fact Hitler adopted the swastik – an authentic Aryan symbol. Indian people love the swastik, and so did Hitler, so, maybe some ignorant people think this is a reason to admire Adolf? Maybe.
Incidentally, a recent move by German politicians to try to have the swastika outlawed in the European Union countries was greeted with outrage by … guess who… European Hindus!
The fact that Hitler was a vegetarian, like so many Hindus, only adds to this sense of approval.

*Secondly, though Indians did fight in the Second World War on the side of the Allies (and lost a helluva lot of soldiers incidentally), they were reluctant allies. Indians were part of the British Empire at the time and had to follow Britain into the war, at a time when many Indians actually desperately wanted independence from what they saw as the equally tyrannical regime of the Brits. Perhaps, perhaps, Indians who opposed Britain saw a ‘friend’ in Hitler, who also was fighting the British?
Certainly, he is admired by those same silly Indian politicians I referred to earlier as a Man Who Achieved Things.

*Thirdly, many of the Mumbaikers that I have come across have a fierce sense of Individualism, which is, I suppose, why they make great entrepreneurs.
So, despite the fact that government here is largely paternalistic, many men (and more and more women) sincerely believe they can find success through their own individual strength of will. That attitude is of course echoed in the language of right-wing zealots… such as Hitler.
For example, another hugely popular right-wing book here is Ayn Rand’s 'The Fountainhead', which can be found in every bookshop. Her book (published in 1943) is also a hymn to the power of the Individual who cares nothing for Society as a whole. It’d be interesting to see statistics, but Rand is seen as pretty old-fashioned in Europe, while here, yup, her books are still being bought in numbers, presumably as life-guides.

*Lastly – and I don’t know how many Indians will agree with this – maybe Hitler is a bit of a remote figure to them.
Most Europeans nowadays don’t feel threatened by the figures of Attila The Hun, or indeed Napoleon, even though in their own centuries, they were regarded with horror by anyone who wasn’t on their side. Well, maybe distance, as well as time, softens images. Perhaps Hitler (“general Hitler”) whose appalling activities were carried out largely in Europe is not someone who registers too largely with ordinary Indians?
Indeed, while news of Hitler’s atrocities were trickling out of post-war Europe in 1945-7, India had its own terrible history – when hundreds of thousands were dying and being slaughtered in the mess of Independence and Partition. So maybe Indians had other things to worry about then than Hitler.
And of course, there are also very few Jews today in Bombay to remind Mumbaikers of Hitler’s genocidal actions. Despite the fact that this is a city that has huge public endowments from the Jewish Sassoon family, many of the Jewish inhabitants have left – including the Sassoons themselves – and the two main synagogues have comparatively small congregations.
(As a sidebar on this point, one of the objectors who was quoted as opposing the Hitler’s Cross restaurant said – “even restaurants in Germany do not have such a name” as though it seriously might be possible! It just shows how out of touch with European feelings the man was).

Finally - here’s a question for you…. I don’t feel afraid of any book, nor would I ban one; but what would you think of a Bombay book-club that put ‘Mein Kampf’ on its reading list?
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Links: Jaico Books and Reuters News Video report – Hitler’s Cross