Savitri Devi (1905–1982) is one of the most original and influen­tial National Socialist thinkers of the post-World War II era. Born Maximine Julia Portaz in Lyons, France on 30 September 1905, she was of English, Greek, and Italian ancestry and described her nationality as “Indo-European.” She earned Master’s De­grees in philosophy and chemistry and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Lyons.

A self-described “nationalist of every nation” and an Indo-European pagan revivalist, Savitri Devi em­braced National Socialism in 1929 while in Palestine. In 1935, she traveled to India to experience in Hin­duism the last living Indo-Euro­pean pagan religion. Settling eventu­ally in Calcutta, she worked for the Hindu nationalist movement, married a Bengali Brahmin, the pro-Axis pub­lisher Asit Krishna Mukherji, and spied for the Japanese during World War II.

After World War II, Savitri Devi embarked upon an itinerant, as­cetic life. Her two chief activities were tirelessly witnessing on behalf of National Socialism and caring for homeless and abused animals.

Savitri Devi influenced such leading fig­ures of post-war National Socialism as George Lincoln Rockwell, Colin Jordan, William Pierce, and Miguel Serrano. In 1962, she took part in the Cotswolds camp, where the World Union of National Socialists (WUNS) was formed.

Her books include A Warning to the Hindus (1939), L’Etang aux lotus (The Lotus Pond) (1940), A Son of God: The Life and Philoso­phy of Akhnaton, King of Egypt (1946), later republished as Son of the Sun (1956), Akhnaton: A Play (1948), Defi­ance: The Prison Memoirs of Savitri Devi (1951), Gold in the Furnace: Experiences in Post-War Germany (1952), The Lightning and the Sun (1958), Pilgrimage (1958), Impeachment of Man (1959), Long-Whisk­ers and the Two-Legged Goddess (1965), Sou­venirs et réflexions d’une Aryenne (Memories and Reflec­tions of an Aryan Woman) (1976), and And Time Rolls On: The Savitri Devi Interviews (2005).

Savitri Devi died in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England on 22 October 1982, at the age of 77.