When Hitler blew his brains out in the ruins of Berlin, this\nwas commonly thought to be the end of Nazism as an ideology. The far right\nwould remain, of course. There had been reactionaries, even fascists, before\nHitler. The world did not have enough luck that they would follow Hitler into\nthe abyss. But Nazism? That was, surely, a dead letter. Today, in 2020, this has\nbeen tragically proved wrong. Neo-Nazism has undeniably returned. It has\nreturned to politics, in the form of open \u201cnational socialists\u201d like Richard\nSpencer. It has returned to our streets, with large Nazi rallies taking place\nin areas like Charlottesville and Portland. And it has begun to kill again.\nMultiple mass-shootings have occurred in the last few years that were directly\nmotivated by Nazi ideology, most infamously the series of Mosque and Synagogue\nattacks. So how is it that Nazism was able to survive the death of its founder,\nand the destruction of his state? The root of this lies in a transnational\nnetwork of former Nazis and their allies, particularly a woman by the name of\nSavitri Devi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Devi was born Maximiani Portas in Lyon, France. Initially\nattracted to Hitler\u2019s politics through her love of animals (she is also one of\nthe foremothers of Deep Green politics) by the time of his death and the end of\nWorld War Two she was a deeply committed Nazi. During the war she had acted as\na spy for the Axis in the British Raj, most notably facilitating the connection\nbetween the Japanese and INA leader Subas Chandra Bose. The Nazism of Devi had\nsomething entirely absent from what Hitler had in mind. Devi was, as might be\nexpected from her changed name, a deeply committed Hindu. A key part of this\nHinduism was a belief that Hitler was a reincarnation of the god Vishnu, the \u201cMan\nAgainst Time\u201d who had been sent to restore the world to the Golden Age from the\ncurrent jewish dominated world order. Hitler\u2019s failure was, in her eyes, a\nresult of his overly generous and merciful acts, and his promised successor would\ncorrect these flaws. While this might seem ridiculous on its face, she was a\nrespected figure in the international neo-nazi community. She was a founding\nmember of the World Union of National Socialists, which was led by the English\nColin Jordan and the American George Lincoln Rockwell, the man who popularised\nHolocaust denial. She was an associate of exile German Nazis like Otto\nSkorzeny, Johann von Leers, and Hans-Ulrich Rudel. It was claimed that she had\nbeen lovers with Francoise Dior, niece of the famous designers and the\nfinancier for much of the neo-nazi underground. Of all these her friendship\nwith Rockwell is most important. Seeking a religious element to draw in those\nwho pure Nazi politics could not reach, Rockwell energetically pushed Devi\u2019s \u201cEsoteric\nHitlerism\u201d as the new party line. It was only his murder in 1967 by a disgruntled\nformer comrade that prevented it from taking more roots than it did. Devi was on\nroute to America to lecture on her beliefs at the time of her death, and her\nashes finished the journey, being laid to rest on Rockwell\u2019s grave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it is clear that Devi lived a transnational life, part of\na deep network of former Nazi officials and sympathisers which survived and\ncame to flourish after the war. But that is not the only way in which we can\nsee her as a transnational figure. In a way, transnationalism is what allowed\nDevi to save Nazism. By removing Nazism from the purely Germanic context it had\nexisted in while in power, Devi made it a syncretic belief. Any cultural context\ncould be neatly slid in to Nazism now. This was the transnationalisation of Hitlerism.\nIt has grown and grown in the intervening years, especially as the internet\nmade cross cultural communication easier than ever before. When neo-nazis claim\nto be Knights Templar and cry \u201cDeus Vult\u201d, there is Devi. Where groups like\nAtomwaffen and The Base consciously evoke the aesthetics of Islamism, there is\nDevi. And when men like Brenton Tarrent leave behind manifestos full of impenetrable\ninternet in-jokes, there is Devi. Nazism is no longer tied to a single culture\nor nation, is far ideologically potent than it has been since the end of the war,\nand it is in large part to a single woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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