Emilie Schenkl

Some Lesser Known Facts About Emilie Schenkl

• Did Emilie Schenkl smoke?: Not Known

• Did Emilie Schenkl drink alcohol?: Not Known

• Her father was unhappy with her progress in secondary school and enrolled her in a nunnery for four years. Schenkl did not want to become a nun and decided to return to school.

• She was introduced to Bose through a mutual friend, Dr. Mathur, an Indian physician living in Vienna. Schenkl was very adroit in shorthand and her English and typing skills were good, for this, she was hired by Bose, who was writing his book, The Indian Struggle. They soon fell in love and were married in a secret Hindu ceremony in 1937, but without a Hindu priest, witnesses, or civil record.

• Schenkl and her daughter survived the war. During their nine years of marriage, Schenkl and Bose spent less than three years together. In the post-war years, Schenkl worked in shifts at the trunk exchange and was the main breadwinner for her family, which included her daughter and her mother.

• The family members from Bose’s extended family, including his brother Sarat Chandra Bose, met Emilie in Austria, Schenkl never visited India. According to her daughter, Schenkl was a very private woman and remained tight-lipped about her relationship with Bose throughout her life.

• Emilie also wrote a letter to Netaji’s elder brother- Sarat Chandra Bose and his family inviting them to Vienna.

• She had never given Anita Pfaff (her daughter) Subhas Chandra Bose surname.