PURANDARE’S VOLUME IS EXTREMELY READABLE... FINALLY, SOMEONE HAS WRITTEN THE DECISIVE BOOK. – C. CHRISTINE FAIR, PROFESSOR, SECURITY STUDIES, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY‘THE INDIANS CAN THINK THEMSELVES LUCKY THAT WE DO NOT RULE INDIA. WE SHOULD MAKE THEIR LIVES A MISERY!’ – ADOLF HITLER IN 1942 HITLER’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, MEIN KAMPF, IS A PERENNIAL BESTSELLER IN INDIA, WITH EVEN STREET-SIDE BOOKSTALLS PROMINENTLY DISPLAYING STACKS OF IT. THE NAME ‘HITLER’ —ANATHEMA ALMOST EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD—IS TOSSED ABOUT CASUALLY IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, NOT INFREQUENTLY INVOKED IN PRAISE. MANY INDIANS STILL HARBOUR THE NOTION THAT THE FÜHRER WAS A FRIEND OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE AND HAD EXTENDED WHOLEHEARTED SUPPORT TO THEIR FREEDOM STRUGGLE. TO JOURNALIST AND HISTORIAN VAIBHAV PURANDARE, THIS CLEARLY SUGGESTED THAT INDIANS CONTINUED TO BE LARGELY UNAWARE OF THE GERMAN DICTATOR’S VIEWS ON INDIA, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT THEY ARE UNAMBIGUOUSLY EXPRESSED IN HIS OWN WRITINGS. THIS LACUNA SPURRED HIM ON TO DELVE INTO THE ARCHIVES—IN GERMANY, INDIA AND ELSEWHERE.THE RESULT OF PURANDARE’S RESEARCH IS THIS COMPREHENSIVE AND PAINSTAKING PORTRAIT AND ANALYSIS OF HITLER’S OUTLOOK ON INDIA AND ITS PEOPLE, HIS OPINION OF THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE BRITISH RAJ, AND HIS TAKE ON INDIAN HISTORY, CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION. ALSO WITHIN THESE PAGES ARE SURPRISING DETAILS OF NETAJI BOSE’S ENTANGLEMENT WITH THE REICH, THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHER INDIANS LIVING IN NAZI GERMANY, THE MISSION THAT HITLER SENT TO THE HIMALAYAS IN SEARCH OF ‘PURE-BLOOD ARYANS’, AND A NUMBER OF OTHER LITTLE-KNOWN HISTORICAL NUGGETS. ACCESSIBLE AND RICH IN DETAIL, HITLER AND INDIA IS THE VERY FIRST EXAMINATION OF WHAT INDIA MEANT TO A FIGURE WHO, PERPLEXINGLY, REMAINS QUITE ALIVE IN THE COUNTRY.
हिटलर - जगात सर्वत्र अत्यंत तिरस्कारानं उच्च्चारल्या जाणारं नाव – भारतीय उपखंडात मात्र काही वेळा हा गैरसमज पाहायला मिळतो की फ्युहरर हा भारतीयांचा मित्र होता. पत्रकार वैभव पुरंदरेंना जाणवलं की या जर्मन हुकूमशहानं स्वत:च्या लिखाणात भारताविषयी त्याचं खरं मत बेधडकपणे मांडून ठेवलेलं असूनही या विषयी भारतीय जनमानसात घोर अज्ञान आहे. ही उणीव भरून काढण्याच्या निकडीतून त्यांना जर्मनी, भारत आणि इतर जागची अभिलेखागारं खंगाळून काढण्याची प्रेरणा मिळाली. हिटलरची भारत देश आणि इथल्या लोकांबद्दलची धारणा, ब्रिटिश राजवटीविरुद्ध त्यांनी केलेल्या संघर्षाविषयी त्याची मतं आणि भारताचा इतिहास, संस्कृती आणि सभ्यते विषयी त्याचा अभिप्राय ह्यांचं समर्पक विश्लेषण या पुस्तकात आहे. या शिवाय हे पुस्तक नेताजी सुभाषचंद्र बोस ह्यांची तिसर्‍या साम्राज्याशी झालेली गुंतागुंत, नाझी जर्मनीत राहिलेल्या इतर भारतीयांचे अनुभव, हिटलरद्वारे हिमालयात ‘शुद्ध रक्ताचे आर्यन’ शोधण्यासाठी चालवली गेलेली मोहीम आणि या संदर्भातील अनेक अप्रचलीत घटनांवरदेखील प्रकाश टाकतं.