In a Muslim graveyard in Delhi, a tombstone stands out.
It has an inscription written in the Urdu language, but beneath it lies the name of a German-born Jewish woman – Gerda Philipsborn – followed by the epithet ‘Aapajaan’ or ‘elder sister’.
This is an unusual sight as the graves of the founders of Jamia Millia Islamia – a top Muslim university rooted in India’s independence movement – rest here. Its students have upheld this legacy of political activism, including protests against a controversial citizenship law introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2019.
So, how did a German Jew come to be invested in a place so distant and disconnected from her homeland?
The answer lies somewhere between friendship and a woman’s search for meaning, says Margrit Pernau, author of Jamia’s Aapa Jaan: The Many Lifeworlds of Gerda Philipsborn.
Pernau, who has spent a decade researching Jamia, says that though she had come across Philipsborn’s name several times during her research, her life was shrouded in mystery.
Even today, not many students know about Philipsborn and her contribution to the university. Syeda Hameed, a prominent activist and historian, says there’s a need for writings on her to be translated and made available to students “for their benefit and the benefit of future generations”.
Philipsborn’s journey from being a German memsahib – a term of respect for white European women in colonial India – to becoming Jamia’s Aapa Jaan began in 1933 when she traveled to India after forging an unlikely friendship with three Indian men, Zakir Husain, Muhammad Mujeeb, and Abid Husain, who had gone to Berlin to study.
The men would go on to become the main founders of Jamia and also play important roles in India’s political history, with Zakir Husain becoming the country’s third president in 1967.
