Gandhi-Kallenbach friendship symbolised in a statue

DAVID SAKS

PHOTOGRAPH: MARTYNAS AMBRAZAS

The monument, a bronze life-size statue of the two figures, was formally unveiled by Gandhi’s grandson, Gopal Krishna Gandhi and a Gandhi great-grandson. Others who attended included Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius and India’s Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Mohanbhai Kundariya.

Kallenbach immigrated to South Africa in 1896 and ran a successful architecture practice in Johannesburg until his death in 1945. His friendship with Gandhi started 1904, and over the next decade he played a crucial supporting role in the Indian civil rights campaign that Gandhi headed.

The two men shared homes in various parts of Johannesburg, including at what is now Satyagraha House adjoining the Pine Street Shul and the famed commune Tolstoy Farm in Lenasia. Kallenbach’s financial support enabled Gandhi to give up his law practice and devote himself fulltime to political activism.

Laimonas Talat-Kelp ša, Lithuania’s ambassador to India, described the monument as “a testimony to Indo-Lithuanian friendship”, adding that it would “tower as a symbol epitomising a single individual’s impact on the larger history of mankind”.

• For more on the Gandhi-Kallenbach monument, see Kathy Munroe’s article: https://www.heritageportal.co.za/article/monument-south-african-friendship-gandhi-and-kallenbach