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Gold In The Furnace: Experiences In Post War Germany

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Gold in the Furnace is an ardent National Socialist’s vivid and moving account of life in occupied Germany in the aftermath of World War II, based on extensive travels and interviews conducted in 1948 and 1949.

The authoress, Savitri Devi, is scathing in her description of Allied brutality and hypocrisy: millions of German civilians died from Allied firebombing; millions more perished after the war, driven from their homes by Russians, Czechs, and Poles; more than a million prisoners of war perished from planned starvation or outright murder in Allied concentration camps; untold thousands more disappeared into slave labour camps from the Congo to Siberia.

Savitri Devi describes in vivid detail how individual National Socialists were subjected to “de-Nazification” by Germany’s democratic “liberators”: murder, torture, starvation, show-trials, imprisonment, and execution for the higher echelons; petty indignities and recantations extorted under the threat of imprisonment, hunger, and the denial of livelihood for ordinary party members. She also chronicles the systematic plunder of Germany by the Allies: the clear-cutting of ancient forests, the dismantling of factories, the theft of natural resources.

In spite of the disaster, Savitri Devi did not view it as the end of National Socialism, but as a purification—a trial by fire separating the base metal from the gold—a prelude to a new beginning. Thus Savitri also devotes chapters to presenting the basic philosophy and the constructive political programme of National Socialism.

Gold in the Furnace is a valuable historical document: of the National Socialists who never lost faith, despite suffering, persecution, and martyrdom—of the ordinary Germans who revered Hitler even after the war—of the widespread rumours of Hitler’s survival—of the hopes of imminent National Socialist revival, perhaps in the aftermath of a Third World War—of the expectations of Soviet victory in such a war—and of the philosophy, experiences, and unique personality of a remarkable woman.

Gold in the Furnace is one of the first “revisionist” books on World War II and its aftermath. But although Savitri Devi exposes many falsehoods about the concentration camps, she accepted the existence of homicidal gas chambers and regarded attempts to deny the mass-extermination of Jews as intellectually dishonest pandering to humanitarian sentimentality. It was only in 1977, after reading Arthur Butz’s The Hoax of the Twentieth-Century, that Savitri Devi came to reject the central claims of the Holocaust story.

Until now, Gold in the Furnace has been almost impossible to find. Published in a tiny edition by Savitri Devi’s husband A.K. Mukherji in Calcutta in 1952, it was distributed privately by the authoress to her friends and comrades. A German translation appeared in 1982, a Spanish translation in 1995; in 2005, a second English edition was published in England, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Savitri Devi’s birth, on 30 September 1905.

293 pages

First published January 1, 1951

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About the author

Savitri Devi

25 books128 followers
Savitri Devi Mukherji (September 30, 1905 – October 22, 1982) was the pseudonym of the French writer Maximiani Portas.

She was a pioneering animal-rights activist and proponent of Hinduism and Nazism, synthesizing the two, proclaiming Adolf Hitler to have been sent by Providence, much like an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Her writings have influenced neo-Nazism and Nazi mysticism. Although mystical in her conception of Nazism, Savitri Devi saw Nazism as a practical faith that did not need metaphysics. Among Savitri Devi's ideas was the classifications of "men above time", "men in time" and "men against time". She is credited with pioneering neo-Nazi interest in occultism, Deep Ecology, and the New Age movement. She influenced the Chilean diplomat Miguel Serrano. 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".

Her works, in conjunction with those of Julius Evola, have been major influences on activist Bill White. Far-rightist Italian and self-described "Nazi Maoist" Claudio Mutti was influenced by reading her work Pilgrimage as an idealistic teenager. As a young bodyguard for Colin Jordan, David Myatt enthusiastically embraced the values expressed in her work The Lightning and the Sun. In the U.S., National Socialist James Mason (whose Universal Order bears a strong resemblance to the sentiments of Savitri Devi) paid tribute to her in his work, Siege. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme of the Charles Manson group has endorsed The Lightning and the Sun. Revilo P. Oliver wrote that he saw the potentiality of a future religion venerating Adolf Hitler "in the works of a highly intelligent and learned lady of Greek ancestry, Dr. Savitri Devi."

She was also one of the founding members of the World Union of National Socialists.

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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for Greta G.
337 reviews320 followers
not-to-read
April 10, 2016
Gold in the Furnace is one of the first “revisionist” books on World War II and its aftermath, and dedicated to the national socialists cause.
Profile Image for Matthew W.
199 reviews
January 4, 2010
Part biography, part revisionist history, part dedication to the National Socialist cause, and ALL passionate writing, "Gold in the Furnace" is a must read for those that have any interest in NS. Savitri Devi wrote this book will imprisoned in Germany for passing out pro-National Socialist pamphlets to war weary Germans, Germans that had been defeated, starved, raped, beaten, tortured, robbed, and pillaged by the victorious internationalist allies. This book will anger those that actually realize that there was two sides to the second World War for the victorious allies spoke of "peace," "brotherhood," "equality," and other meaningless words that have yet to be practiced (and never will be). Savitri Devi tells of many personal encounters in the book, but one that really stuck out to me was the story of a certain Yiddish character who would drop cigarettes off a train in front of crowds of hungry Germans just for the satisfaction of seeing desperate Germans fighting for one measly cigarette (sounds like some type of deranged vaudeville act). This is the same type of character that would cry about the "poor Jews" and their experiences during the second World War. Savitri Devi also talks of her many experiences with dedicated National Socialists in post-WW2 Germany and what happened to them during the war. "Gold in the Furnance" is certainly a book like no other, written from the perspective of a woman like no other.
Profile Image for Shortsman.
243 reviews35 followers
January 2, 2024
A lot of pagans seem to have this idea that Christianity has always been what it turned into after the French revolution. That it has never been a force for Tradition, just because it stopped being one then. Other than the harping on about how Christianity is the worst thing ever, it's a great account of post war Germany, but some of her memories of interactions may have been coloured by rose tinted glasses.
Profile Image for E.R.Brian.
56 reviews
February 12, 2024
Lo disfruté mucho en su día, y lo considero una de las bases de mi hábito literario.
No diré nada respecto al contenido, pero albergo buenos recuerdos leyendo esto al aire libre.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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