Visit of Subhas Chandra Bose to Poland in July 1933. New documents. New Conclusions

Marek Moron

Subhas Chandra Bose visited Poland in July 1933. There were so far practically no sources to find what the purpose of the visit was.

Why did he decide to go to Poland? The only information existing in this respect was that Bose had meetings with the orientalists of the academic centres.

Basing on the documents of the Embassy of Poland in Vienna, Consulate of Poland in Bombay as well as original letters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland and other central state institutions in Poland, all from the years 1933-1936, I have come to the conclusion that the purpose of Bose’s visit to Poland was well defined but the ideas he had in mind about Indo-Polish relations could materialise only after almost four decades.

The paper should be read together with the original documents which are included in original Polish version and in English translation.

Marek Moron Dr. Marek Moron is a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, at the Chair of Comparative Studies of Civilisations. His main lines of academic interest are nationalism in South Asia, relations between Europe and South Asia and contemporary Asian Studies. He is also a former Polish diplomat, his recent post being the Consul General in Mumbai (2001-2007). He also worked in the Polish missions in Kolkata (1988-1992) and Tehran (1982-1986).

Dr. Moron is the author of a number of papers, articles and a book about Bengali and Bangladeshi nationalism. Prof. Moron has been a Visiting Fellow at the Department of History, University of Calcutta in 2014 when he researched for this Occasional Paper.

Key words: Subhas Chandra Bose, Poland, India, cooperation.

Contents

Introduction

1. Subhas Chandra Bose’s Trip to Europe in 1933
2. Subhas Chandra Bose in the Embassy of Poland in Vienna
3. Subhas Chandra Bose in Warsaw
4. Follow-up from Embassy of Poland in Vienna and Consulate of Poland in Bombay on Bose’s Proposals
5. Central Institutions in Warsaw and Bose’s Proposals
6. Establishing the Consulate of Poland in Bombay—1933
7. India as a Part of the British Discourse of the Polish Foreign Policy in the 1930s
8. A Polish Diplomat Writes about India in 1944
9. Conclusion
Notes
Literature