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Heinrich Harrer |
Heinrich Harrer (6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.1
He is best known for his books The White Spider and Seven Years in Tibet, although his pre-war Nazi links made headlines in 1997.
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Heinrich Harrer was born in Hüttenberg, Carinthia, to a postal worker. From 1933 to 1938 Harrer studied geography and sports at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz. Harrer became a member of the traditional student corporation ATV Graz.1
He was designated to participate in the combined Alpine skiing competition at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. However, the Austrian Alpine skiing team decided to boycott the event due to a conflict regarding the skiing instructor's status as professionals. As a result, Harrer did not participate.
He won the downhill event at the following year's World Student Games.
Harrer was one of the four climbers who made the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, Switzerland, with Anderl Heckmair, Fritz Kasparek, and Ludwig Vörg on 24 July 1938. This climb is recounted in the book The White Spider.
Despite claims that he was a member of the Sturmabteilung this was declared false by Harrer in his memoir Beyond Seven Years in Tibet, as he points out that, if already a member he wouldn't of had to apply to join the Nazi Party (NSDAP) when he joined the SS where he held the rank of Oberscharführer (Sergeant). Harrer joined the SS in order to pursue his career in skiing and mountaineering. After his ascent of the Eiger he was photographed with Adolf Hitler but this was common for most athletes and celebrities of the time. After returning to Europe Harrer was cleared of any pre-war crimes and this was later supported by "Simon Wiesenthal".2 Harrer never denied his involvement with the Nazi party but rather instead stated that it was a mistake made in his youth when he had not yet learnt to think for himself.
From mid-1939, he took part in a German mountaineering expedition to the Himalayas, intending to climb Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest mountain in the world. The peak was at that time within the borders of British India, and in late 1939, with the start of World War II, Harrer was detained by British colonial authorities as an enemy alien, and interned at Dehradun, along with 1,000 other enemy aliens.
He escaped and was re-captured a number of times before successfully escaping for good on 10 May 1944, with Peter Aufschnaiter and two Germans, Hans Kopp and Bruno Treipel. They considered heading for Goa, at that time a Portuguese colony and therefore neutral territory, but decided that it was too far away. They transited Mussoorie and Landour, forded the Aglar river at Thatyur, crossed the Nag Tibba range via Deolsari, descended to Uttarkashi and eventually passed Harsil, Bhaironghati and Nelang. On 17 May 1944, they crossed the Tsang Chok-la Pass (5,896 metres or 19,350 feet) and entered Tibet.
After traversing southwestern Tibet and stopping for extended periods in various towns, Harrer and Aufschnaiter entered Lhasa in February 1946. Kopp and Treipel had gone their separate ways, but Harrer and Aufschnaiter would remain in Tibet for a total of almost seven years. Harrer became a friend of the young Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, who had summoned him to the Potala Palace after having seen him repeatedly in the streets below the palace through his telescope. Harrer taught the Dalai Lama (who was eleven years old when they met) much about the outside world and effectively served as his tutor. The Dalai Lama has often credited Harrer's later writings about Tibet as having helped focus international attention on the plight of the Tibetan people after Communist Chinese control.
After the Communist army took over control in Tibet in 1950, Harrer returned to Austria where he documented his experiences in the books Seven Years in Tibet and Lost Lhasa. Seven Years in Tibet was translated into 53 languages, a best seller in the United States in 1954,3 sold three million copies and was the basis of the 1997 film of the same title.4
He also took part in a number of ethnographic as well as mountaineering expeditions: Alaska, the Andes, Ruwenzori (Mountains of the Moon) in Africa. He explored the Amazon with the former king Leopold III of Belgium.5 Harrer recorded first ascents of Mount Deborah and Mount Hunter, Alaska, in 1954. In 1962 he was the leader of the team of four climbers who made the first ascent of the Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya) in western New Guinea, the highest peak in Oceania. This and his pioneering expedition to reach the Neolithic stone axe quarries at Ya-Li-Me are recorded in his memoir I Come From The Stone Age.
Harrer, who became a champion golfer in his later years, wrote more than 20 books about his adventures, some including photographs considered to be among the best evidence of traditional Tibetan culture. He made about 40 documentary films and founded a museum about Tibet in Austria. Harrer died on 7 January 2006 in Friesach, Austria at the age of 93.3
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