Herman Kallenbach
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Hermann Kallenbach (1 March 1871 – 25 March 1945) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. Kallenbach was introduced to the young Mohandas Gandhi while they were both working in South Africa and, after a series of discussions, they developed a long-lasting association.


Early life

Kallenbach was born in 1871 in
Žemaičių Naumiestis Žemaičių Naumiestis ( pl, Nowe Miasto, yi, ניישטאָט טאווריג, ניישטאָט סוגינט) is a town in Klaipėda county, Šilutė district municipality in western Lithuania, between Klaipėda and Kaliningrad Oblast. The rivers ...
,
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
(then part of the Russian Empire) as the third eldest out of seven children. His father, Kalman Leib Kallenbach, was a Hebrew teacher and, later, a timber merchant. Hermann's childhood centered on education, sports and friendships with the village youth. He would later study architecture in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
and Munich. In 1896, he went to South Africa to join his uncles in Johannesburg, where he practiced as an architect and became a South African citizen. A skilled ice-skater, swimmer, cyclist, and gymnast, and successful architect, Kallenbach acquired considerable property in South Africa. Yet a major transformation in his life took place after he met Mahatma Gandhi.


With Gandhi in South Africa

In 1904 he met Gandhi, who was then working in South Africa. They had long discussions on religious and other issues. He was highly influenced by Gandhi's ideas of ''
Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
'' and equality among human beings and became his friend and a dedicated devotee. In Gandhi's words, they became "soulmates" and, for a time, shared what is now called Satyagraha House. This was a house designed by Kallenbach for them both to live together. In 1910 Kallenbach, then a rich man, donated to Gandhi a thousand-
acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...
(4 km²) farm belonging to him near Johannesburg. The farm was used to run Gandhi's famous Tolstoy Farm that housed the families of ''satyagrahis''. Kallenbach himself named this farm after Leo Tolstoy as he was deeply influenced by Tolstoy's writings and philosophy. On this farm, Kallenbach abandoned the life of a wealthy, sport-loving bachelor, adopting the simple lifestyle, vegetarian diet and equality politics of Gandhi. Henry Polak was another close friend and follower of Gandhi. Kallenbach was associated with Gandhi throughout the
Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
(non-violent resistance) struggle, which lasted in South Africa until 1914. Kallenbach also accompanied Gandhi in his first penitential fast at Phoenix in 1913 over the 'moral lapse' of two inmates. Also, Kallenbach acted as a manager during Gandhi's 'The Epic March — Satyagraha' movement in South Africa. He also accompanied Gandhi and his wife on their final voyage from South Africa to London in 1914. Gandhi and Kallenbach used to call each other "Upper House" and "Lower House" respectively, the Lower House being a metaphor for preparing the budget, and the Upper House for vetoing it.


As a Zionist

Kallenbach planned to accompany Gandhi to India in 1914, but with the outbreak of World War I, he was interned as an ' enemy alien' at detention camps and shifted to the Isle of Man as a Prisoner of War from 1915 until 1917. After the war he returned to South Africa, where he resumed his work as an architect and continued to correspond with Gandhi. The rise of Nazism and Hitler's anti-Semitic propaganda shocked Kallenbach into a rediscovery of his Jewish roots. He became a Zionist and served on the Executive Board of the South African Zionist Federation and planned to settle in Palestine (" Ereẓ Israel" in Hebrew). He wanted society there to involve no state, military, or industry, in order to avoid colonialism through Zionist settlements. At the request of Moshe Shertok (Sharett), Kallenbach visited Gandhi in May 1937 to enlist his sympathy and support for Zionism. The architect once again became a simple man, participating in all the activities of Gandhi's ashram life. Kallenbach wrote, "I join the whole programme. ... It is 'almost' as the old joint life, as if the 23 years, with all the events that affected millions of people, had disappeared." Kallenbach disagreed with Gandhi over Zionism and the need to violently resist Hitler. Nevertheless, Kallenbach continued his deep friendship with Gandhi, visiting him again in 1939.


Death and legacy

Kallenbach died in 1945. He left a portion of his considerable estate for
South African Indians Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the l ...
, but the bulk was left for the benefit of Zionism. His large collection of books went to the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, and his cremated remains were buried at Kibbutz Degania in Israel. Kallenbach was one of the foremost associates and friends of Gandhi, devoting a major part of his life to following his principles and ideals. Gandhi has frequently mentioned him in his
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
, where he explains how Kallenbach was his 'soulmate' in the early days of the development of his personality and ideology. A biography of Hermann Kallenbach, written by Isa Sarid, the daughter of his niece Hanna Lazar and Christian Bartolf, depicts Kallenbach's personality and his friendship with Gandhi very deeply. In his book, '' Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India'',
Joseph Lelyveld Joseph Salem Lelyveld (born April 5, 1937 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American journalist. He was executive editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1994 to 2001, and interim executive editor in 2003 after the resignation of Howell Raines. He is a ...
quotes
Tridip Suhrud Tridip Suhrud (born 19 December 1965) is an Indian writer, political scientist, cultural historian and translator from Gujarat, India. Life Suhrud was born in 1965 in Anand, Gujarat. He completed a Master of Arts in Economics and Political Scien ...
, a cultural historian, as claiming: "They were a couple." This statement has proven controversial. Nevertheless, Gandhi's correspondence with Kallenbach shows the deep mutual respect they had for each other, and how they had affected each other's ideas. The Indian Government purchased the Gandhi-Kallenbach Archives to prevent their auction by Sotheby's in July 2012. The Indian government' has stated that the purchase of the private correspondence of their cultural and socio-philosophical leader was to prevent it from being auctioned for profit, though there is speculation that this purchase was made due to a concern that these letters would reveal that Gandhi may have been homosexual. A recent book by the writer and photographer
Shimon Lev image:Shimon Low.JPG, 200px, upShimon Lev (Low) Shimon Lev (Low) ( he, שמעון לב; born August 1, 1962) is an Israeli Multidisciplinary approach, multidisciplinary artist, writer, photographer, curator and researcher in the fields of Indian S ...
, "Soulmates: The Story of Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach," (Orient BlakSwan, 2012) depicts the relationships between the two idealists, and Gandhi's attitude towards Zionism. In
Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...
's film, '' Gandhi'', Kallenbach was played by . On 2 October 2015, Gandhi's 146th birth anniversary, Lithuanian Prime Minister
Algirdas Butkevičius Algirdas Butkevičius (born 19 November 1958) is a Lithuanian politician and was Prime Minister of Lithuania, serving between 2012 and 2016. He also served as the Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2005 and the Minister of Transport and Communicati ...
and Indian Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundariya unveiled a statue of Kallenbach and Gandhi in Rusnė.


See also

* Charles Freer (Charlie) Andrews * ''Gandhi'' (film) *
Totaram Sanadhya Totaram Sanadhya (1876–1947) was deceitfully recruited as an indentured labourer from India and brought to Fiji in 1893. He spent five years working as a bonded labourer but was never afraid to fight for his rights. After completing his inde ...
* Hirangaon


References


Further reading

* Surendra Bhana,
Tolstoy Farm, A Satyagrahi's Battle Ground
''Journal of Indian History,'' 1979, Vol. 57 Issue 2/3, pp. 431–440. *


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kallenbach, Hermann 1871 births 1945 deaths Lithuanian Jews Art Deco architects Jewish architects 19th-century German architects South African architects German emigrants to South Africa Lithuanian emigrants to South Africa Gandhians 20th-century German architects Burials in Israel South African Zionists