Knowledge of India as "Political Science" in Nazi Germany

Presenter:

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Abstract

This paper examines how knowledge of contemporary India was deployed in “politically useful” ways in two academic institutions of Nazi Germany, namely the Deutsche Auslandswissenschaftliches Institute or the DAWI (German Institute for Study of Foreign Countries) and the Auslandswissenschaftliches Fakultät or AF (Foreign Studies department), both affiliated to the University of Berlin. These closely connected institutes were established in 1940 with the purpose of fulfilling the “cultural political” aims of the Third Reich. In case of India, such aims included collecting information about India as well as conducting anti-British and pro-National Socialist propaganda. Both the institutes were closely monitored by the SS. The appointment of Indologist Ludwig Alsdorf (a member of the NSDAP whose academic works found favour among the ruling elite) in 1941 as a lecturer for Indian Studies at the AF was a reflection of the Nazi regime’s interest in training students who could conduct National Socialist cultural politics concerning India. This paper examines the roles of Alsdorf and a few of his colleagues who used their knowledge of India to further certain objectives of Nazi Germany through these organisations. The paper also looks at publications that formed the teaching curriculum on India in these institutes. These included books and articles written by the aforementioned academics, as well as “politicised” reports on India published in German newspapers, sometimes written by the same scholars, anonymously or under pseudonyms.