We came across Dr Knall in the winter of 1975 when he was spending his sabbatical at the Center for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA), Tribhuvan University. We worked with him on local governance system, and in connection to that work visited many districts, some times in turbo-propelled and old DC aircraft, some times in a trolley of the Janakpur-Jainagar railway, some times in a tractor and public buses to cross the difficult terrain and some times on foot. Throughout the travel, he used to introduce himself as “Khanal baje, a cousin of Prof Yedunath Khanal”. During the whole trip that lasted for about a month, he behaved like any other Nepali researcher and showed no strains of tackling the then difficult terrains of Nepal. Him walking and crossing the Daraundi River nine times to go to the village of the first VC recipient from Nepal, Gaje Ghale in Barpak in the district of Gorkha was very memorable. Such experiences in Nepal made him a real Nepali even in his mind and brought him back to this country many a times. He brought along his wife to Nepal many times; and in one such visits Mrs Knall told us that in the 1950’s when they were staying in a house somewhere in Dilli Bazaar, Kathmandu used to be a cold city with almost no light.
Throughout the travel, he used to introduce himself as “Khanal baje, a cousin of Prof Yedunath Khanal”.
Based on the findings of his surveys of local government institutions, he had recommended for devolution of power and distribution of resources to the local bodies for effective local development. In his report, he also pointed out the need for inclusiveness of different disadvantaged communities in the development process, which has become a cardinal feature of the contemporary new Nepal. However, Dr Knall had already talked about it some 30 years ago. He was an ardent believer in democratic values and used to remark that the Panchayat System that was in vogue at that time would not work for long.
Dr Knall was fondly known among many Nepalis as Dr Khanal, a German cousin of Prof Yedunath Khanal. They were in very friendly and close terms with each other. They not only shared serious thoughts on matters of state, administration and development but also exchanged light-hearted remarks on mundane matters. Kulshekhar Sharma, one of the dominant figures in public administration in those days, and other scholars were also very close to Dr Knall and held useful discussions with him on improvising the quality of administration in Nepal.His relationship with Nepal started in the mid 1960’s when he came to here with Prof H B Wood of the USA to prepare a long-term education plan for the country under the auspices of UNESCO. Their report is a classical work on the subject and led to the introduction of many reforms in the sector. Since then, they always remained very good friends till their final days and became real admirers of Nepal. We wish that Yogendra Purush Dhakal and Dr Trailokya Nath Uprety, who had worked with them on the education plan, were with us today to express our feelings concerning Bruno.
Although Bruno started his work in Nepal for its education sector, he developed so much love for the country that he later on worked in many varied fields such as trade and local governance and decentralization, etc. Because of his great love for the country, he became instrumental to get the then West German government’s involvement in the local development training program and local governance system. One could understand his love for this country by the act of immersing the funeral ashes of his wife’s in the Bagmati River. He too had wished the same with regard to his own ashes. We are working to get his wish fulfilled.
His contribution to Nepal was highly appreciated by both the Nepali and German governments. He was awarded a Trishakti Patta Class III decoration by Late King Birendra. He used to be invited by the German Foreign Ministry to give briefings on Nepal whenever they started a new project and appointed a new ambassador. His department of South Asia Institute at the Heidelberg University was always open to the visiting Nepali dignitaries and academics. He helped many Nepalis to become Humboldt fellows in the university and other institutions in West Germany.
He was a tough German, who had left his home town in Romania and joined the German army to fight for the so-called German cause. He was captured and made a prisoner of war by the US army and detained for some time. When released, he was a weak and skinny person. He had no place to go back as his country had already moved behind the Iron Curtain. So, he decided to stay and try his luck in Paris as a student and did his Ph D in economics from one of the prestigious universities of that town. He joined a research center/department at the University of Kiel, in the northern part of Germany, from where he moved on to become the director of a prestigious institute, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University and Professor of Development Economics at the University. When he was a Fulbright student in the University of Chicago, he used to work as a bus driver to support his family. The hardships he faced made him very humane despite his appearance as a tough individual. We learned so much from his toughness in the research works which was useful for our later works. He was kind to support some Nepali children to go to school and college. One of the boys whom he supported is doing extremely fine as an engineer. There are many others who worked with him and left their marks by significantly contributing for the country’s development.
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