Indo-German Connections, Critical and Hermeneutical, in the First World War

McGetchin, Douglas T.

doi:10.1353/com.0.0053

Cited by 1 publication

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“…The German Foreign Ministry’s efforts to engage in anti-British propaganda with the help of the Indian diaspora involved the young Indologist Helmuth von Glasenapp whose collaboration with the German government foreshadowed that of Alsdorf. Glasenapp was, like Alsdorf, an expert on Jainism (McGetchin 2010 : 105). However, unlike Glasenapp, whose political engagements were limited primarily to the years of the First World War, Alsdorf’s deployment of certain kinds of knowledge of India was consistent with his deep involvement in various aspects of Nazi politics, as we shall see in the following section.…”

Section: Special Office Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Roy

2023

N.T.M.

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Ludwig Alsdorf (1904–1978) is primarily remembered as a scholar of ancient and medieval India. This paper examines a little known aspect of Alsdorf’s career: his role as an expert of modern India in Nazi Germany. Alsdorf, who was in India from 1930 to 1932, joined the NSDAP and a few of its subsidiaries after 1933. Political contacts as well as his claims of having “first-hand experience” of India secured Alsdorf writing assignments that aimed to fulfil the regime’s political objectives. In return, he gained professional advancement and the reputation of being an authority on modern India. This paper reviews Alsdorf’s trajectory within the NS state by focussing on the following aspects: the ways in which Alsdorf offered his knowledge of India to the Nazi regime; the material and symbolic resources that he received in return; the relative importance of political affiliations, professional networks and academic accomplishments for Alsdorf’s career; the “politics of the past” practised by Alsdorf and some of peers after 1945; and the (re)presentation of the “uses” of Indology in the “Third Reich” and in the Federal Republic of Germany by Alsdorf and his colleagues.

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Section: Special Office Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Roy

2023

N.T.M.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Indo-German Connections, Critical and Hermeneutical, in the First World War

Cited by 1 publication

References 29 publications

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

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