Gandhi Information Center

The Gandhi Information Center (German: Gandhi-Informations-Zentrum; French: Centre d'Information Gandhi) is a German non-profit association established in 1990 for research and education on nonviolence. Registered as a gemeinnütziger Verein, it is based in Berlin and describes itself as a center for research and education on nonviolence, with more than a hundred members at home and abroad. Among its members have been well-known scientists, artists and authors, including Dr. Arun Gandhi (1934–2023, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), Count Serge Tolstoy (1911–1995, a grandson of Count Leo Tolstoy), Dr. Sushila Nayar (1914–2000, personal physician and secretary of Mahatma Gandhi), Professor Joseph Needham (1900–1995), and Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel. The Center became known worldwide through the distribution of the Manifesto against Conscription and the Military System. This manifesto revives attention to two manifestoes signed by Gandhi, Einstein, Buber and Freud against the military training of youth. It has been translated into 25 languages and signed by more than 200 outstanding personalities from over thirty different countries, among them Ela Gandhi (a granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi), Count Serge Tolstoy, and the artists Pete Seeger, Luciano Pavarotti and Ravi Shankar. Since 1990 the Gandhi Information Center for Research and Education on Nonviolence has organized educational activities with publications about Mahatma Gandhi. It has made contacts all over the world and contributes to an international network. The nonviolent, active resistance as developed and lived by Gandhi serves as its focus and support. Connected with this, the active members wish to document the roots of nonviolence in manifold traditions — for example Leo Tolstoy's nonviolent teaching in Russia, Henry David Thoreau's civil disobedience, Martin Luther King's civil rights movement in the USA, John Ruskin's social ethics from England, Lanza del Vasto's Arche communities in France, and the conscientious convictions of religious conscientious objectors from Austria and Germany. Under the title Satyagraha, the Gandhi Information Center published trilingual information worldwide from 1994 to 2008. The first two issues informed about the commemoration of Gandhi's 125th birthday and the Center's relations with Leo Tolstoy's successors in Russia. From 2008 to 2020 the Center realized museum exhibitions and documentations for the Anti-War Museum and the Gandhi Information Center in Berlin, covering figures such as Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, Carl von Ossietzky, John Ruskin, Rabindranath Tagore, Étienne de La Boétie, Kurt Tucholsky, Karl Kraus, Wolfgang Borchert, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Albert Schweitzer. The Center also conducts oral history interviews and radio interviews, and maintains an international network of contacts.

The Gandhi Information Center (Gandhi-Informations-Zentrum) was established in 1990 as a non-profit association for education, registered in Germany as a gemeinnütziger Verein. It describes itself as a center for research and education on nonviolence and has more than a hundred members at home and abroad. Among its members have been well-known scientists, artists and authors, including Dr. Arun Gandhi (1934–2023, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), Count Serge Tolstoy (1911–1995, a grandson of Count Leo Tolstoy), Dr. Sushila Nayar (1914–2000, personal physician and secretary of Mahatma Gandhi), Professor Joseph Needham (1900–1995), and Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel. The Center became known worldwide through the distribution of the Manifesto against Conscription and the Military System. This manifesto revives attention to two manifestoes signed by Gandhi, Einstein, Buber and Freud against the military training of youth. It has been translated into 25 languages and signed by more than 200 outstanding personalities from over thirty different countries, among them Ela Gandhi (a granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi), Count Serge Tolstoy, and the artists Pete Seeger, Luciano Pavarotti and Ravi Shankar. Since 1990 the Gandhi Information Center for Research and Education on Nonviolence has organized educational activities with publications about Mahatma Gandhi. It has made contacts all over the world and contributes to an international network. The nonviolent, active resistance as developed and lived by Gandhi serves as its focus and support. Connected with this, the active members wish to document the roots of nonviolence in manifold traditions — for example Leo Tolstoy's nonviolent teaching in Russia, Henry David Thoreau's civil disobedience, Martin Luther King's civil rights movement in the USA, John Ruskin's social ethics from England, Lanza del Vasto's Arche communities in France, and the conscientious convictions of religious conscientious objectors from Austria and Germany. Under the title Satyagraha, the Gandhi Information Center published trilingual information worldwide from 1994 to 2008. The first two issues informed about the commemoration of Gandhi's 125th birthday and the Center's relations with Leo Tolstoy's successors in Russia. From 2008 to 2020 the Center realized museum exhibitions and documentations for the Anti-War Museum and the Gandhi Information Center in Berlin (adult education, peace education). Exhibitions covered Gandhi's path to nonviolence, Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, Carl von Ossietzky, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy and the Dukhobors, Rabindranath Tagore, Étienne de La Boétie, Kurt Tucholsky, Karl Kraus, Wolfgang Borchert, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Albert Schweitzer, and themes such as 'Study War No More', 'Bread and Roses', and 'The Revolution'. The Center also conducts oral history interviews, for example with Simon Colbeck, Albert Beale and Aled Eirug in 2019, and radio interviews such as with Christian Bartolf on 'Hermann Kallenbach – Mahatma Gandhi's friend in South Africa' (2011) and 'Gandhi, Carl von Ossietzky and Hyderabad' (2009, All India Radio). It maintains an international network and continues educational activities, including lectures at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, in 2026.

• 2026

  Dr. Christian Bartolf gave two lectures at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, and received visitors from India.

• 2019

  Oral history interviews conducted with Simon Colbeck, Albert Beale and Aled Eirug.

• 2011

  Radio interview 'Hermann Kallenbach – Mahatma Gandhi's friend in South Africa' with Christian Bartolf.

• 2009

  Radio interview 'Gandhi, Carl von Ossietzky and Hyderabad' with Christian Bartolf on All India Radio.

• 2008

  Started realizing museum exhibitions and documentations for the Anti-War Museum and the Gandhi Information Center in Berlin, continuing until 2020.

• 1994

  Began publishing the trilingual bulletin Satyagraha, which ran until 2008.

• 1990

  Gandhi Information Center established as a non-profit association for education.

Non-profit research and education center promoting Gandhian nonviolent active resistance, with an international network of members and signatories.

• Manifesto against Conscription and the Military System

  A manifesto reviving two manifestoes signed by Gandhi, Einstein, Buber and Freud against the military training of youth; translated into 25 languages and signed by more than 200 personalities from over 30 countries.

• Satyagraha bulletin

  Trilingual information published worldwide from 1994 to 2008.

• Museum exhibitions and documentations

  Exhibitions for the Anti-War Museum and the Gandhi Information Center in Berlin from 2008 to 2020, covering figures such as Gandhi, Tolstoy, Martin Luther King, Thoreau, Carl von Ossietzky, John Ruskin, Tagore, La Boétie, Tucholsky, Karl Kraus, Borchert, Erasmus and Albert Schweitzer.

• Oral history interviews

  Interviews with figures such as Simon Colbeck, Albert Beale and Aled Eirug (2019).

1. 1Gandhi Informations Zentrum | Gandhi Information Centre | Centre d'Information Gandhinonviolent-resistance.info
2. 2Gandhi Information Center – About usnonviolent-resistance.info
3. 3Gandhi Information Center – Oral Historynonviolent-resistance.info
4. 4Gandhi-Informations-Zentrum – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
5. 5Gandhi Information Center – Wikidatawikidata.org