Savitri Devi
Savitri Devi Mukherji lived (September 30, 1905 – October 22, 1982) was the taken name of Maximiani Julia Portas, a proponent of Nazism who served the Axis powers by committing espionage on the forces of the Allies of The World's War Against Communism in India. She was later a leading member of the NatSoc scene during the 1960s. She also supported deep ecology.
Savitri was a proponent of a synthesis of Hinduism and NatSoc, teaching that Adolf Hitler was sent by Providence, much like an avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. She believed Hitler was a sacrifice for humanity which would lead to the end of the Kali Yuga induced by those who were the powers of evil: the jews.
Rejecting Abrahamic religion, she believed in a form of pantheistic monism; a single cosmos of nature composed of divine energy-matter. Within NatSoc, she promoted religion, ecology, and influenced the New Age movement.
In 1982, Franco Freda published a German translation of her work Gold in the Furnace, and the fourth volume of his annual review, Risguardo (1980–), was devoted to Savitri Devi as the "missionary of Aryan Paganism".
Savitri was an associate in the post-war years of Françoise Dior, Otto Skorzeny, Johann von Leers, and Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
She was also one of the founding members of the World Union of National Socialists.
Savitri Devi was the daughter of Maxim Portas, a French citizen of Greek and Italian ancestry and an English woman, Julia Portas. Maximine Portas was born two and a half months premature, weighing only 930 grams (2.05 pounds), and was not at first expected to live. She formed her political views early. From childhood and throughout her life, she was a passionate advocate for animal rights. Her earliest political affiliations were with Greek nationalism.
Portas studied philosophy and chemistry, earning two master's degrees and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Lyon. She next traveled to Greece and surveyed the legendary ruins. Here, she became familiar with Heinrich Schliemann's discovery of swastikas in Anatolia. She gained an interest in the ancient Aryans, including the Greeks.
In 1932, she travelled to India in search of a living pagan Aryan culture. Formally adhering to Hinduism, she took the name Savitri Devi ("Sun-rays Goddess" in Sanskrit).
She volunteered at the Hindu Mission and wrote A Warning to the Hindus to offer her support for Hindu nationalism and independence, and to rally resistance to the spread of Christianity and Islam in India.
During the 1930s, she distributed Axis propaganda and engaged in intelligence gathering on the British in India.
The 1941 allied invasion of Greece sealed her resolve. Devi continued to gather intelligence for the Axis cause. This included entertaining Allied personnel, which gave Devi an opportunity to question them regarding military matters. The information gathered was passed on to Japanese intelligence officials and contributed to attacks on Allied airbases and army units.