Emilie Schenkl Biography

Emilie Schenkl was the wife of Subhash Chandra Bose, a major leader of Indian freedom movement. She was hired by Bose to help him write his book ‘The Indian Struggle’. This professional relationship turned personal and Bose proposed to her and they got secretly married in 1937. However, their marriage couldn’t get registered due to the German government’s objection as they had married as per Hindu traditions. Schenkl gave birth to Bose’s daughter Anita Bose Pfaff and both—the mother and daughter—were left without support in wartime Europe by Netaji, following his departure for the Southeast Asia in February 1943 and his sudden death two years later. Schenkl was a doting single parent to her daughter and worked in the Trunk Office in the post-war years, being the main breadwinner of her family. She was a loving daughter as well who refused to leave behind her aged mother and move to India. Though her husband’s family was initially reluctant, they later on accepted Schenkl although she never visited India. She even had an emotional first-time meeting with Bose's brother, Sarat Chandra Bose, his wife and children in Vienna.