Book Claims Gandhi Was in Love With a Jewish Bodybuilder
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
There are many things The Shmooze has yet to learn about Gandhi, but it’s hard to imagine anything more surprising than this: “the love of his life” was a German-Jewish bodybuilder named Hermann.
So says a new biography, “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India,” which reports that the anti-colonial leader left his wife for the man, one Hermann Kallenbach, in 1914, keeping a portrait of him opposite his bed. A review in the Wall Street Journal quotes from a letter in which Gandhi wrote that he considered Vaseline to be, umm, “a constant reminder” of his beloved.
Largely focused on Gandhi’s political travails, the book also includes other details from his private life, including his habit, in his 70s, of sleeping nude with young naked women, including his great-niece.
It also notes Gandhi’s belief that “a single Jew standing up and refusing to bow to Hitler’s decrees” might “melt Hitler’s heart,” and his suggestion that Jews in pre-state Israel “rely on the goodwill of the Arabs” “till Arab opinion” was ready for a Jewish state.
The review doesn’t mention the ultimate fate of Kallenbach, with whom Gandhi stayed in touch at least until the year Hitler came to power.
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
