11. Gandhi Wrote Letters To The Likes Of Albert Einstein... And Adolf Hitler
Mahatma Gandhi loved writing - penning several-hundred words every day - and particularly conversing via letter. Two of his "pen pals" were theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy - both of who he shared a keen friendship with. Bizarrely, however, Gandhi also wrote at least one letter to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in July 1939. In this letter he pleaded with the German Fuhrer to stop his expansionist policies because Hitler was "the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state". In fact, the letter is extremely apologetic - with Gandhi asking for Hitler's "forgiveness" for his correspondence being an "impertinence". Needless to say, Gandhi's pleas fell on deaf ears anyway...