German firm launches online Gandhi archive
A Germany based organization has launched a comprehensive online archive on peace icon Mahatma Gandhi after 30 years of research with material gathered from over 600 worldwide sources.
Peter Ruhe, CEO of about 14-years old Berlin headquartered GandhiServe, which made this GandhiMedia possible, lists its aim as virtually “bringing Mahatma Gandhi to life”.
It is aimed at viewing/downloading rare photographs, films, film footage, letters, cartoons, newspaper clippings, documents and art work on Gandhi and India’s independence movement; gathered with research and contributions from scholars and Gandhi’s associates and family members.
Ruhe says that Gandhi’s youngest son Devadas wanted to visually document his father’s life day-by-day and he put together a major collection of film footage and photographs for Gandhi Films Committee, which made for the later production of Richard Attenborough’s film “Gandhi”. GandhiServe’s mission is to carry on and complete the task of Devadas Gandhi, Ruhe adds and claims that GandhiMedia shows for the first times entire collection of Gandhi’s grand-nephew Kanu Gandhi who was the only one allowed to take Gandhi’s photograph at any time during last 12 years of his life.
Ruhe hopes that GandhiMedia will help alleviate conflicts and the conviction that the ethics of nonviolence, as practiced and cultivated by Mahatma Gandhi, live on, regardless of national or political boundaries. GandhiMedia contains over 22,000 audio, video, images and writings in 396 categories and these can be used to create custom products.
