Anita Bose Pfaff - Economists, Birthday and Family

Anita Bose Pfaff was born in Vienna, Austria on November 29, 1942. Her mother is Emilie Schenkl, who was the wife/companion of her father Subhash Chandra Bose. Subhash Chandra Bose was an active Indian Nationalist Leader wo set up the Indian National Army to fight the British rule.

She is the only child of her parents as her father, Subhash Chandra Bose, left her and her mother when Anita was just 4 months old. He had to leave them as he had to plan an armed attack on the British Raj with the help of Japan.

Subhash Chandra Bose left them and moved to SouthEast Asia whereas Emilie and Anita remained in Europe.

Anita was raised single-handedly by her mother. They both stayed with her maternal grandparents. Emilie had to work in shifts at the trunk office during the postwar years to support the family.

Anita was raised as Anita Schenkl as she was not given her father’s name.

Anita started her academic career as a professor in Economics at the University of Augsburg.

She came into the spotlight after she spoke about the purported rumor that her father, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, might have survived the fatal plane crash, in which he was believed to have died, in 1945.

Speaking about her father, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Anita believes that her father would not have survived the plane crash. Keeping all the interviews of the survivors and all the evidence in mind, she said that it is quite absurd that he would live his life as a nameless saint rather than serving his country. She thinks that such fruitless discussion is in fact stupid and that everybody should accept the fact that he died in the unfortunate plane crash. However, she says that she is open to other theories if they are based on evidences.

After the Modi Government in India decided to declassify some files regarding Bose’s life, she was happy about it. She revealed that it was none of her business as Netaji was a prominent National Leader and not just her father. She says that he and his life is not a family property and rather deserves to be shared with the public.

After the controversy about Subhash Chandra Bose being alive as a nameless saint in the mountains of Himalayas, she immediately asked to run a DNA test on the ashes of Netaji Bose that are preserved in the Renkoji Temple in Japan. She thought that it would be good if the two governments worked on this and proved the rumors wrong.

Anita also says that her father’s ashes, if they are proved to be her father’s after the test, should be sent to India as his true loyalty and pride lies with India.

She has written a biography on her father, titled ‘Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Germany’.

Anita married Martin Pfaff, a professor and an ex-member of the German Parliament, Bundestag, representing the SPD.

They have three children, namely, Peter Arun, Thomas Krishna, and Maya Carina.

Anita recalls her mother always praising Netaji Bose even though he had left his family for a national cause. She mentions that her mother never criticized Netaji Bose and that she personally has no recollection of her father at all.

According to her, Netaji Bose deserved an equal popularity and treatment like Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. She also claims that the veterans of the INA were not given justice.

When asked about what would have happened if her father would have lived, she explains how Netaji would have been a prominent political figure along with Jawaharlal Nehru. She also thinks that Netaji would certainly have insisted against the partition of India and Pakistan and would have taken definite measures to prevent it

Talking about Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose, she feels that there was a lot of similar thinking between the both of them. But, some key points in their thoughts made them very different.

Anita plans to write down a biography on her mother, Emily Schenkl, with some help from her relatives. She believes that her mother made a greater sacrifice and her life deserves to be penned down for the public to know it.