Netaji's wife in letter says, "I hope he will return one day"

New Delhi, Sept 19: Emilie Schenkl, the wife of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was in constant touch with the family of the revolutionary leader. Her correspondence with Netaji's brother, Sarath Chandra Bose increased after she was told about the death of her husband in 1945.

What her letters to the family suggest is that she was more interested in conveying to the family how her daughter, Anita Pfaff was growing up. The correspondence with the family members of Netaji are part of the 64 files de-classified by the West Bengal government yesterday.

Each and every letter written by Emilie was under scrutiny as the government believed that this was the only way to confirm whether Netaji was alive or not. The government felt that the news whether Bose was alive or not would be known to his wife and hence there was extensive surveillance on the correspondence between Emilie and the family of Netaji.

What the correspondence states:

One of the files that were de-classified suggests that on May 4, 1946, an intercept that was recorded by the Calcutta (Kolkata) police speaks about the wife of Netaji. The intercept states that Emilie is the widow of Netaji. She had joined Bose in the year 1941 at Berlin and in 1942 they got married.

[Read: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose mystery: Collective decision to ditch him]

A file that was with the West Bengal intelligence bureau states that Emilie got to know of Netaji's death in 1945, following which wrote a letter to the family members. She speaks about the daughter in the letter and also adds that she wants no financial help from the family. She also writes that she married Netaji as per Hindu traditions, but due to objections in Germany the marriage could not be registered.

[Read: Netaji Bose mystery: 64 files, 12,744 pages de-classified in Kolkata]

There are several such letters which form part of the de-classified files. Most of the letters only speak about how the daughter is growing up. In another correspondence, she speaks about the doubts that are cast over the death of Netaji. She tells Sarat Bose, I hope one day your brother will return and it would become a reality.

OneIndia News