When Hitler blew his brains out in the ruins of Berlin, this was commonly thought to be the end of Nazism as an ideology. The far right would remain, of course. There had been reactionaries, even fascists, before Hitler. The world did not have enough luck that they would follow Hitler into the abyss. But Nazism? That was, surely, a dead letter. Today, in 2020, this has been tragically proved wrong. Neo-Nazism has undeniably returned. It has returned to politics, in the form of open “national socialists” like Richard Spencer. It has returned to our streets, with large Nazi rallies taking place in areas like Charlottesville and Portland. And it has begun to kill again. Multiple mass-shootings have occurred in the last few years that were directly motivated by Nazi ideology, most infamously the series of Mosque and Synagogue attacks. So how is it that Nazism was able to survive the death of its founder, and the destruction of his state? The root of this lies in a transnational network of former Nazis and their allies, particularly a woman by the name of Savitri Devi.
Devi was born Maximiani Portas in Lyon, France. Initially attracted to Hitler’s politics through her love of animals (she is also one of the foremothers of Deep Green politics) by the time of his death and the end of World War Two she was a deeply committed Nazi. During the war she had acted as a spy for the Axis in the British Raj, most notably facilitating the connection between the Japanese and INA leader Subas Chandra Bose. The Nazism of Devi had something entirely absent from what Hitler had in mind. Devi was, as might be expected from her changed name, a deeply committed Hindu. A key part of this Hinduism was a belief that Hitler was a reincarnation of the god Vishnu, the “Man Against Time” who had been sent to restore the world to the Golden Age from the current jewish dominated world order. Hitler’s failure was, in her eyes, a result of his overly generous and merciful acts, and his promised successor would correct these flaws. While this might seem ridiculous on its face, she was a respected figure in the international neo-nazi community. She was a founding member of the World Union of National Socialists, which was led by the English Colin Jordan and the American George Lincoln Rockwell, the man who popularised Holocaust denial. She was an associate of exile German Nazis like Otto Skorzeny, Johann von Leers, and Hans-Ulrich Rudel. It was claimed that she had been lovers with Francoise Dior, niece of the famous designers and the financier for much of the neo-nazi underground. Of all these her friendship with Rockwell is most important. Seeking a religious element to draw in those who pure Nazi politics could not reach, Rockwell energetically pushed Devi’s “Esoteric Hitlerism” as the new party line. It was only his murder in 1967 by a disgruntled former comrade that prevented it from taking more roots than it did. Devi was on route to America to lecture on her beliefs at the time of her death, and her ashes finished the journey, being laid to rest on Rockwell’s grave.
So it is clear that Devi lived a transnational life, part of a deep network of former Nazi officials and sympathisers which survived and came to flourish after the war. But that is not the only way in which we can see her as a transnational figure. In a way, transnationalism is what allowed Devi to save Nazism. By removing Nazism from the purely Germanic context it had existed in while in power, Devi made it a syncretic belief. Any cultural context could be neatly slid in to Nazism now. This was the transnationalisation of Hitlerism. It has grown and grown in the intervening years, especially as the internet made cross cultural communication easier than ever before. When neo-nazis claim to be Knights Templar and cry “Deus Vult”, there is Devi. Where groups like Atomwaffen and The Base consciously evoke the aesthetics of Islamism, there is Devi. And when men like Brenton Tarrent leave behind manifestos full of impenetrable internet in-jokes, there is Devi. Nazism is no longer tied to a single culture or nation, is far ideologically potent than it has been since the end of the war, and it is in large part to a single woman.