A grief they can never forget
When Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana returned to the then West German city of Karlsruhe on August 18, 1975, they were still in the dark about the full scale of the tragedy that befell their family in Bangladesh.
They were given little details about the gruesome assassinations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and their family at Dhanmondi 32, but they could somehow sense something terrible had happened to their father.
The house in Karlsruhe suddenly wore a pall of sadness, said Shaheed Hossain, who happened to stay with the family in the German city for several days in August 1975.
On July 30, Hasina, along with her sister and children Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, went to visit her husband MA Wazed Miah, a nuclear scientist. They stayed there till August 9 before moving to Bonn, another German city.
Wazed had gone to West Germany in March that year for his postdoctoral research at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre.
Shaheed said he and Wazed had become close friends in Germany.
"Rehana would often cry…. Joy and Putul were too young to fully understand what was going on. Wazed Bhai was traumatised and in constant fear. He even asked me to stay with them. At night, he would check whether all doors were locked properly," Shaheed told The Daily Star last week.
According to him, Hasina was different and appeared fearless. She took care of everyone and everything, said Shaheed, currently an engineer at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
He also recalled the striking contrast in the manner and appearance of Hasina during her second visit there, only days after the first visit to Karlsruhe.
"When they returned on August 18, they were in shock and totally devastated…. Hasina Apa and Rehana were quite cheerful during the first part of their stay at Karlsruhe," he said.
Hasina and the others stayed at a guest house allocated for Wazed at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology until August 24.
Shaheed said that he and Wazed informed the local police about the tragic incident in Bangladesh and the police assured them that patrols would keep an eye on their house. Wazed was still apprehensive.
In his book, German-based Bangladeshi journalist Sharaf Ahmed gives a glimpse of Hasina and Rehana's visit to Europe in July-August 1975, and the ordeals they had been through after the August 15 bloodbath.
The book titled "15 August Hottakando: Probashe Bangabandhur Dui Konnar Dushhaha Din" is based on recently recovered documents and as yet unpublished letters, as well as press clippings.
Hasina and Rehana went to Brussels in Belgium on August 12. From there, they went to Amsterdam in the Netherlands on August 14, and returned to Brussels for an overnight stay on August 14. They were scheduled to visit Paris on August 15, according to the book.
Wazed Miah himself wrote a book on those fateful days titled "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Ke Ghire Kichhuu Ghotona O Bangladesh".
At around 6:30am on August 15 (German time), which is a few hours after the killing of Bangabandhu, the phone at the residence of Sanaul Haq started ringing. He was the Bangladesh Ambassador to Belgium.
Wazed was woken up by Sanaul's wife, who said Bangladesh Ambassador to West Germany Humayun Rashid Chowdhury was waiting on the line.
Wazed sent Hasina to receive the call instead. An anxious Hasina returned to tell her husband that the ambassador would like to talk to him directly.
As soon as Wazed picked up the receiver, he heard Humayun Rashid say: There was a coup d'état in Bangladesh. Don't go to Paris. Don't tell this to Hasina and Rehana. Come to Bonn, the capital of West Germany, immediately.
Pressed by Wazed for more details, Humayun said he had no other details.
Wazed then went back to their room where a tense Hasina asked him what the phone call was about. Wazed simply said Humayun wanted them to cancel their Paris trip and go back to Bonn.
Following Hasina and Rehana's insistence, Wazed finally told them that something very bad happened in Bangladesh. As a result, it would not be a good idea for them to go to Paris.
The two sisters burst into tears.
"Sanaul was appointed on political consideration…when he learned about the brutal killing of Bangabandhu, he considered Hasina and Rehana a liability. He told Humayun: "You have created this problem for me, so resolve this quickly," said Sharaf Ahmed.
Hasina and others left Brussels within a few hours and reached Humayun Rashid's residence in Bonn in the afternoon.
The then Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dr Kamal Hossain, on his way back to Bangladesh after his visit to Yugoslavia, stopped at Frankfurt and went to Humayun's house. Hasina and others reached there about half an hour earlier.
There, on the insistence of Wazed Miah, ambassador Humayun revealed everything, on condition that he kept it from Hasina and Rehana until they were in a safe place.
"According to a BBC report, nobody is alive except Russell and Begum Mujib, and the report circulated by the British Mission in Dhaka says that none of Bangabandhu's family is alive," Humayun said.
When Wazed asked where they could find a safe shelter, Humayun said, "No country is safe for you except India."
The next day Kamal left for London without attending a planned press conference in Bonn.
A rumour was already circulating in the media that Hasina and Rehana had been detained at the Bangladesh ambassador's house in Bonn. To prove that Hasina and Rehana had not been taken prisoners, the ambassador presented the two sisters before journalists at his residence. A German newspaper also ran a report that Hasina and Rehana were free, according to Sharaf's book.
Around 11:00pm on August 16, Humayun drove Wazed to a place to meet an Indian official and he left the place immediately. The Indian official took Wazed to the house of the Indian ambassador who was a Muslim journalist.
During the discussion, the Indian ambassador asked Wazed to put it in writing what exactly they wanted from the Indian government.
"I seek political asylum from the Government of India to protect my sister-in-law Rehana, wife Hasina, baby son Joy, baby girl Putul, and my own personal safety and life," Wazed Miah wrote.
Sharaf Ahmed recalled that at that time Mohmmad Ataur Rahman was the Indian ambassador to West Germany. Humayun contacted him regarding Hasina and others' possible shelter in India.
"Ataur contacted Indian leader Indira Gandhi and the latter gave the green signal on the condition that the matter be kept secret," he said.
Against this backdrop, Hasina and the rest of the family went to Karlsruhe on August 18.
Recalling those days, Shaheed said there were only a few Bangladeshis in Karlsruhe. Amirul Islam Bablu, a junior colleague of Wazed, was one of them. He used to keep close contact with Wazed's family. Two other colleagues of Wazed who were in the city were "indifferent".
"At that time Hasina Apa once told me that Marshal Titu [Josip Broz, widely known as Tito, and President of Yugoslavia] is a good friend of ours and had asked us to go there. But we will not go there," Shaheed said.
On August 22, Humayun contacted Wazed and enquired whether anyone from the Indian embassy had contacted them.
The next day an Indian embassy official met Wazed and said that they would be taken to Frankfurt airport on August 24 morning.
In the morning they reached the airport and boarded an Air India flight for India.
"I was not officially informed that they were going to India, but I could guess, having seen the Indian officials. Their destination was kept secret and that is why no one shared it with me," said Shaheed, who went to the airport to see Hasina and the others off.
They arrived in Delhi on August 25 morning, and were taken to a safe house. Later, they were shifted to a house in Defense Colony. They were advised not to go out of the house, not to disclose their identity to anyone, and not to keep in touch with anyone in Delhi, according to the aforesaid books.
Two weeks later, as Wazed wrote in his book, they went to meet Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at her official residence.
Indira Gandhi asked Wazed whether they were fully aware of everything that had happened. Wazed told her what he heard from Humayun.
Instructed by Indira Gandhi, an officer then told them that no one of Sheikh Mujib's family was alive.
Hasina broke down and Indira Gandhi took her into her arms and tried to console her.
"What you have lost cannot be replenished in any other way…. You should not break down under any circumstances," Indira told Hasina.
Several days later Hasina and others were shifted to another house in Delhi. Rehana moved to London the next year.
Hasina returned to Bangladesh in May 1981 after she was elected President of Awami League.
Later she took part in the movement that ousted military junta HM Ershad from power.
She became the leader of the opposition in parliament in 1991. Under her leadership, Awami League came back to power after 21 years, in 1996. In 2019, she became the prime minister for the fourth time.
The report has been prepared on the basis of the books "15 August Hottakando: Probashe Bangabandhur Dui Konnar Dushhaha Din" by Sharaf Ahmed, "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Ke Ghire Kisu Ghotona O Bangladesh" by Dr MA Wazed Miah and interview of Sharaf Ahmed and Shaheed Hossain.
It covered incidents of Hasina and Rehana's visits to Europe in August 1975 and the initial ordeal of the days following the assassination of Bangabandhu.