Perhaps the least known aspect of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s many-sided personality was his love for Emilie Schenkl, his Austrian wife.

 Bose met Emilie Schenkl in June 1934 in Vienna, developed a close relationship during his forced European exile, secretly married her in December 1937, and had a daughter, Anita, in November 1942.

This volume of Netaji’s Collected Works illuminates the human and emotional aspects of his many-splendoured life. One hundred and sixty-two of his letters, written between 1934 and 1942, are published in this volume, along with eighteen of Emilie Schenkl's letters that have survived. Two additional letters appear in this edition—Subhas’s ‘love letter’ for Emilie (March 1936), written from Badgastein to Vienna, as he prepared to leave for India after three years of European exile; and the letter of 9 February 1943, written at dawn just before Netaji set off on his epic submarine voyage from Europe to Asia.

Sisir Kumar Bose (1920–2000) founded the Netaji Research Bureau in 1957 and was its guiding spirit until his death in 2000. A participant in the Indian freedom struggle, he was imprisoned by the British in the Lahore Fort, Red Fort and Lyallpur Jail. In the post-independence period he played a key role in preserving the best traditions of the anti-colonial movement and making possible the writing of its history. He authored and edited biographies, memoirs, monographs and research papers on Netaji’s life and times. One of India’s best pediatricians, he was Director and later President of the Institute of Child Health, Calcutta.

Sugata Bose is the Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the author of several books on the economic, social and political history of modern South Asia including His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 10th anniversary edition 2022).

Preface to the 2023 Edition
Preface
Editors’ Introduction

Letters

1. To Emilie Schenkl  30.11.34
2. To Emilie Schenkl        11.34
3. To Emilie Schenkl  30.11.34
4. To Emilie Schenkl    1.12.34
5. To Emilie Schenkl    1.12.34

….

54. From Emilie Schenk   13.8.36
55. To Emilie Schenkl      12.8.36
56. From Emilie Schenkl  17.8.36
57. From Emilie Schenkl  18.8.36
58. To Emilie Schenkl      29.8.36
59. From Emilie Schenkl    8.9.36

….

176. To Emilie Schenkl  30.11.42
177. To Emilie Schenkl  10.12.42
178. To Emilie Schenkl       12.42
179. To Emilie Schenkl       12.42
180. To Emilie Schenkl  19.12.42

Appendices
Illustrations