A RARE 1944 INTERVIEW WITH NETAJI

A new name as appeared like a meteor in the headlines of the news papers of East Asia, that of Subhas Chandra Bose. Since his arrival in East Asia after a mysterious trip from Germany, his fiery speeches and confident enthusiasm have made him a celebrated personality. As there are not many people, however, who have met him face to face, we are now publishing a living portrait of him drawn by Wilhelm Schulze, the East Asia correspondent of the "Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" in Berlin - K.M.

In my life as a journalist I have interviewed all kinds of prominent people. Yet to this day I have a feeling of tension and uncertainty when I am about to meet some particularly outstanding personality. The question of what to say to such a man always disconcerts me.

In the case of Subhas Chandra Bose, the man who for so many years has been fighting the British Empire with singular daring, this feeling of uncertainty did not survive very long when I called on him a few days ago. And as for the question of what to say to him, this did not arise at all. I had been in his presence for less than two minutes, and tea had hardly been served, when his ease of manner and personal charm drove away the last vestiges of my shyness. After an hour of animated conversation between the two of us, my feeling of unfamiliarity had given way to complete agreement with his ideas and sympathy with his problems, more so than is usually possible with other people even after months of acquaintance. I admit quite openly that Subhas Chandra Bose has won me over to his cause - lock, stock, and barrel.

Subhas Chandra Bose is the Head of the Head of the Provisional Government of Free India and Generalissimo of the Indian National Army of Liberation. To capture him must be the dream of every British Secret Service agent. Subhas Chandra Bose has offered the members of this organization plenty of opportunity since his fight from India to Germany and his adventurous journey to Japan; but the British always missed the bus. In Tokyo, where he was staying as an observer of the Congress of the Independent Nations of Greater East Asia and was, no doubt, the most sensational personality present, a single Japanese policeman stationed at the gate of the beautiful villa housing him and his small stuff was enough to guarantee his security.

But, even without the policeman at the gate, it would probably be no easy matter to capture him; for, sitting in the comfortable armchair before me, Subhas Chandra Bose was the personification of physical strength and mental vitality. His broad figure, stocky rather than tall, radiates health. He was wearing a well cut uniform of the Indian Army of Liberation, distinguished from that of a private only by two small discs on the right breast. His movements are vigorous but controlled, and one can tell that they are only indications of what they can be if necessity arises. His clean shaven, almost light-skinned face and spectacled eyes radiate an energy and intensity of life which make it seem advisable to start a quarrel with him. In contrast to his enemies and opponents in India, the impression he gives is one of untouched reserves of latent power. When his chief aide-de-camp Hassan comes in to ask him something and addresses him as \\'Netaji\\', which means leader, I must admit that Bose merits this title if only for his tremendous vitality. He is the exact opposite of all we imagine an Indian to be in the way of passivity, tolerance, and uncomplaining acceptance of the sufferings dealt out by a hostile face.

In the last few months he has proved that he may lay justified claim to the title of Netaji by having created a disciplined, powerful organization out of the chaos in which he found the Indian movement in East Asia on his arrival. He has demonstrated his talent for leadership in dozens of negotiations with the statesmen out here, from Prime Minister Tojo to Dr.Ba Maw, the Burmese chief of state. It stands to reason that these men would not have chosen him as an ally and co-fighter on a decisive front if they were not convinced of is ability and carried away by his enthusiasm. And finally he proved himself a leader at the Congress of Nations as well as in the many interviews which e granted to the press and which made great demands upon his presence of mind.

He was still somewhat inclined to be the leader when, after the first few exchanges of courtesies and compliments, we turned to the sober facts and his struggle. It was he who put the questions at first, for he whished to quench his thirst for knowledge of the situation in Europe, of political developments in Germany, his first place of exile; and this thirst for knowledge reveals his desire not to over look events in the outer world in his preoccupation over his own affairs. Then only could we approach his own theme: India His inquisitive eyes grew soft when finally he began to speak about India and her troubles, about his own plans and intensions, about the difficulties facing him and their undeniably approaching solution, and about the coming victory of free, independent India.

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