Saturday, October 3, 2009

Jodhpur Government Gazette - August 10, 1940


Last two days were very frustrating for me. My internet service provider BSNL's local exchange had some outage and all the broadband services got disrupted. October 2nd happens to be National Holiday in India commemorated as Mahatma Gandhi's birthday so they could fix the problem by later afternoon today only. You can take it as excuse for me not posting any item on blog :D I felt as if life was all of sudden dull and boring ;-) It's good to be back.

Anyway, let's focus on today's item. This is another post on Princely States Gazettes. This Gazette was issued by Jodhpur state on August 10, 1940. The unqiueness about this Gazette is that it was first edition when Jodhpur state started reporting war news to general public. Since it was slightly late attempt thus this edition carries WW2 news in brief (as summary) from the start of war until the date of publication. It's an interesting two page brief reporting on advent of war till this date.

Princely state gazettes used to be printed both in English and Hindi but the one I have in my possession is in Hindi. I treat it as an opportunity and a TOEFL test. Let's see how do I score today :D

Here is the translated text in English (this time I will try to translate it in informal manner) :

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War News
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Britain is fighting for the freedom and if she could not defeat Germany then we should assume that World would loose all the goodness. For years, it was being tried to resolve all the conflicting issues of each country with other but all this has gone in vain now. England started disarming herself thinking all the other nations would follow it and there would no longer be war in this world. But, Germany was in control of Hitler that time and he had other plans. He formed an unrelenting army and powerful air force. His aim was to control whole of Europe under his power and world acknowledge the power of mighty Germany.

Finally, when he attacked Poland in September, 1939 then world war two started. Since this is first edition of war news, we are providing some of main events which has happend so far.

Hitler was elected as Vice Chancellor of German Parliament called Reichtang in 1932. He crushed and as needed got murdered all of his opponents to take control of power by 1933. Then he started building a powerful army and arms/ammunitions for its need. With the help of Gestapo (German Secret Police) and his staunch supporters like Goering, Goebbles and Ribbentrop, he literally brought whole Germany under him. Now, german newspapers publish only those kind of news or articles which suits Nazi Government. Jewish people are murdered and Government seize all of their property and belongings. People have lost freedom and opportunity to express their views openly. Gestapo arrests people and confine them to jails without any proved crime or court order.

By 1938 Austria become part of Germany and just after couple of months Czechosolvakia followed suite. Czech people resisted but since France and England were not ready for war thus Mr. Chamberlain submissivley agreed on the proposal in Munich Agreement. This cleared the way for Germany to capture Czechoslovakia.

Hitler attacked Poland in 1939. Despite all the brave effort of Poles, Germany won the war using her bigger and powerful mechnaised army (which consisted of war machines and motors) which spread all over Poland like ants and captured it. After couple of months German Army entred in Denmark and then attacked Norway. Even though Hitler lost half of its naval force still he was successful in capturing strategic part of Norway. Then he attacked Holand, Belgium and France in succession.

Again, French, Dutch and Belgians fought very hard but neither they were match for German Army nor they had matching arms, ammunition, tanks or fighter planes. Besides that they were also betrayed by some of their own people in each country. In the meantime, Britain took complete control of sea and maritime boundary. It also sent some regiments to France and started air raids over Germany. Despite British help, France lost the war sometime in May/June 1940 because of lack of able military leadership. Britain managed somehow to rescue its forces and retreated. All these victories have caused Germany more than 1 million people and now it is in bad shape lacking both people to fight and arms/ammunition for it. Italy has come in favor of Germany. But it could not cause any significant damage because of British powerful navy. Thus, almost complete Europe is being terrorized by Hitler at this moment.

The countries won over by Hitler even lack basic human rights. Poles are especially ill treated under Nazi occupation. Germans are served first in all of Polish shops and restaurants. Poles are forced to clear the road for Germans. They are also obliged to do Nazi salute. If anyone is found to have any kind of relation with German women then they are doomed to death sentence. There is such a strict control of Germans on food and beverages in Holland that Dutch people are dying due to hunger. All sort of milk products such as butter, cheese and other food items are being diverted to Germany which is lacking it big time. Hitler has even given orders not to take out potatoes from field in Belgium until they are ripen completely. Those who disobey the order are given severe punishment. These are some of fruits of Nazi occupation and this is the kind of world Hitler wants to establish.

British air force is getting strong day by day. While the army which also consists of people of Canada, India, Australia, and New Zealand are well equipped with arms/ammunition and at the same time British navy has complete control over sea and naval routes. Now most of the war will be fought over air and sea only. And, Britain is certainly gaining grounds on air also. Hitler wants to attack England but so far all of his efforts have gone in vain.

Britain is fully prepared to defend herself and it seems almost impossible that Germany can attack or land its army in Britain. Meanwhile, British air force is destroying German oil depots, railway tracks, canals and camps. While, Navy is preventing any ammunition or help reaching Germany by sea routes. In fact, British navy is so powerful that there is not even a single opportunity for Italy or Germany to exercise over sea routes. Even though, USA is not fighting still it is helping Britain in terms of arms and ammunition. We hope that British air force and navy will come out victorious with their bravery at the end.

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Oh boy! this was such a big translation. Even though we know that allies came out victorious out of war but I am not sure if I scored well or not. Since this was my first attempt to translate it in informal way rather than just do exact word by word translation, I hope I will get at least B grade :-)

Jokes apart, the news gazette offers is mix of truth and propaganda. As you read it, you can feel it. Those who can read Hindi will be delighted to read it. The article is full of adjectives and at the same time written in colloquial way. I think the idea was to have immediate and significant impact on reader. That's why the language is so different than formal newspapers.

Though, its years since I have read proper Hindi newspapers so I could be wrong here as well. I have lost touch and the command I used to posses on Hindi being born and brought in hardcore north Indian Hindi region. Sometimes, I regret losing touch of my mother language and just limited to very few words of it as we speak now days. It is really soothing experience reading such articles. And I enjoyed it and I hope you will also like whether in Hindi or English!

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