Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

24 October 1940

Sri Aurobindo (Addressing Purani): Laval is involved in a great labour!

Laval is trying to bring about peace in France by some agreement with Hitler. Proposals seem to be to give Nice to Italy, put Tunis under France and Italy, cede Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, Morocco to Spain, Indo-China to Japan, surrender air and navy to the Axis and have France declare war against England.

Satyendra: Will the French fight?

Purani: If they had wanted to fight they could as well have gone on fighting against Germany in the first place.

Sri Aurobindo: Quite so!

Nirodbaran: But Hitler may hold out the threat that if they don’t agree, the whole of France will be occupied.

Sri Aurobindo: If they do agree, they will lose their colonies. This seems to be Hitler’s game. It is quite clear now what happened at the Brenner Pass. They must have decided to spread out to the Balkans and then to the east to Egypt, and on this line bring France and Spain into the war. Sumer’s visit and Hitler’s visit to Franco must be to induce Spain. There must be an Italian brain behind this scheme. Hitler moves to the front with one objective at a time. This sort of combination is not usual for him. It must be Mussolini’s calculating brain. It is a large scheme this time, not like Hitler’s previous moves.

Nirodbaran: Britain and America are proceeding with their evacuation. Do they think an attack is imminent?

Sri Aurobindo: They must have got some private information. Even if there is a chance, Japan won’t say anything. They will simply make arrests. But the old Japan during the Magi regime would have said something.