A.C.N. Nambiar [1896-1986] – India | Germany | Czech Republic | France
Life stories
Ole Birk Laursen, 2024
Born in Kerala, the Indian activist Arathil Candeth Narayanan Nambiar dedicated much of his life fighting for the Indian Independence. In the 1920s, Berlin became an important centre of his activism. Initially working together with communists, he fled Germany after being arrested by the National Socialists. However, he returned to the city in 1942, this time working with another activist, who sought to collaborate with fascist Germany and Italy in the fight against British colonialism in India.
The biography of the journalist and later diplomat A.C.N. Nambiar points to the large international networks of anti-colonial activists and also the different political alliances in this field.
This text was written as part of the cooperative exhibition "Stand in Solidarity! Black resistance and global anti-colonialism in Berlin, 1919-1933" by the Decolonial Culture of Remembrance in the City and the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Museum in 2023.
References
Arathil Candeth Narayan Nambiar: Indian, KV 2/3904, The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom.
Balachandran, Vappala: A Life in Shadow. The Secret Story of CAN Nambiar. A Forgotten Anti-Colonial Warrior, 2016.
Barooah, Nirode K.: Germany and the Indians Between the Wars, 2018.
Stationen
Birth in Thalassery
The Indian News Service and Information Bureau
Fight against Racism
The First International Anticolonial Congress
The Indian Information Bureau
Correspondent for the Soviet Union
Arrest and Escape from Germany
Activities in Czech Republic and France
Return to Berlin
Working as an Ambassador