Interesting that Kallenbach arrived just before Peel was published. I wonder what the talk was like on the street, where he was.
I remember hearing that Gandhi used to have naked women sitting in his lap, as a way of proving his self control. No clue if that is true - but when I heard it I made space in my head for the probability of his being gay. Now that I know that thoughts of some guy “took possession of his whole body”, I’ve made even more space. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
So Sharett reached out to Kallenbach? How did he know of him? Was Kallenbach a famous architect?
Yes, Gandhi actually read the Peel report, apparently, and was dismayed by the partition proposal. He even sent a five-page memo to the Zionist leadership through Kallenbach around that time, laying out his positions more fully.
And also yes, Kallenbach was a leading architect in South Africa, and by this time was active in the South African Zionist Federation, hence how Shertok knew about him.
This piece is on the longer side, but as you can see there is a lot more to this story that I had to leave out!
If I’m remembering correctly, Gandhi would sleep in bed with his niece (then a young woman) as a test, and would be dismayed to find himself waking up aroused. This suggests “not gay” to me, though perhaps bisexual. I don’t think he ever wrote about resisting homosexual urges, and given his frankness about struggling to maintain his vow of celibacy and his attempts to test it, it seems like he probably would have mentioned them if he had them.
ICYMI see footnote #2 – namely his most explicit surviving letter to Kallenbach. I tend to agree with Shimon Lev - theirs seems to have been a romantic relationship but not necessarily a sexual one. In any case, it’s a fascinating one. (And I have the sense that even the famous and the dead probably deserve some measure of privacy in the bedroom…)
Thanks for this fascinating piece! I find Gandhi’s views to be hopelessly naive and even sinister in some ways, with his reaction to the Holocaust being the ultimate failed test of his moral authority. Still, it seems that he did at least have an admiration for his Jewish friends that is belied by his out of context but very disturbing comments about Jews in the Holocaust.
Interesting that Kallenbach arrived just before Peel was published. I wonder what the talk was like on the street, where he was.
I remember hearing that Gandhi used to have naked women sitting in his lap, as a way of proving his self control. No clue if that is true - but when I heard it I made space in my head for the probability of his being gay. Now that I know that thoughts of some guy “took possession of his whole body”, I’ve made even more space. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
So Sharett reached out to Kallenbach? How did he know of him? Was Kallenbach a famous architect?
Great piece.
Yes, Gandhi actually read the Peel report, apparently, and was dismayed by the partition proposal. He even sent a five-page memo to the Zionist leadership through Kallenbach around that time, laying out his positions more fully.
And also yes, Kallenbach was a leading architect in South Africa, and by this time was active in the South African Zionist Federation, hence how Shertok knew about him.
This piece is on the longer side, but as you can see there is a lot more to this story that I had to leave out!
Thanks for reading, Darren 🙏🏼
If I’m remembering correctly, Gandhi would sleep in bed with his niece (then a young woman) as a test, and would be dismayed to find himself waking up aroused. This suggests “not gay” to me, though perhaps bisexual. I don’t think he ever wrote about resisting homosexual urges, and given his frankness about struggling to maintain his vow of celibacy and his attempts to test it, it seems like he probably would have mentioned them if he had them.
ICYMI see footnote #2 – namely his most explicit surviving letter to Kallenbach. I tend to agree with Shimon Lev - theirs seems to have been a romantic relationship but not necessarily a sexual one. In any case, it’s a fascinating one. (And I have the sense that even the famous and the dead probably deserve some measure of privacy in the bedroom…)
Oh, I did miss that! That is..suggestive.
It’s me, Darren, from the Afghani restaurant.
Hey Ameya good to see ya over here
Thanks for this fascinating piece! I find Gandhi’s views to be hopelessly naive and even sinister in some ways, with his reaction to the Holocaust being the ultimate failed test of his moral authority. Still, it seems that he did at least have an admiration for his Jewish friends that is belied by his out of context but very disturbing comments about Jews in the Holocaust.
Thank you for reading, Ameya, and thank you also for the love over at the Fifth Column [Unofficial] Book Club!
Thank you so much for sharing this. Very powerful to learn that Gandhi understood.
Incredible history. Toda!