Heinrich Harrer
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| Heinrich Harrer | |
| Born | July 6, 1912 Hüttenberg, Carinthia |
|---|---|
| Died | January 7, 2006 (aged 93) Friesach, Austria |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Alma mater | Karl-Franzens University |
| Occupation | Mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author |
| Known for | The White Spider and Seven Years in Tibet |
| Website http://www.harrerportfolio.com/index.html |
|
Heinrich Harrer ( July 6, 1912 – January 7, 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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[edit] Athletics
Heinrich Harrer was born in the Austrian city of 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.
[edit] Nazi involvement
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 have 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 learned to think for himself.
[edit] Internment in India
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.
Mid 1939 was also the timeframe that the article on the Ahnenerbe says it sent an expedition to Tibet, headed by Ernst Schäfer, having entered Tibet in mid 1938, entering Lhasa in January 1939, traveling through the country, and returning to Germany in August 1939.
He escaped and was re-captured a number of times before successfully escaping for good on May 10 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 May 17 1944, they crossed the Tsang Chok-la Pass (5,896 metres or 19,350 feet) and entered Tibet.
[edit] Post-war years
[edit] Seven years in Tibet
| “ | "Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet... " - Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer |
” |
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 14th 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, in subjects ranging from geography to English. [3] 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 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, was a bestseller in the United States in 1954,[4] sold three million copies and was the basis of a 1997 film by the same title. He was portrayed by Brad Pitt in the film.[5]
[edit] Later years
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.[6] Harrer made the first ascents of Mount Deborah and Mount Hunter (both in 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 records of traditional Tibetan culture. In the early 1980s, he visited Tibet again, and wrote a sequel to Seven Years in Tibet titled, Return to Tibet [3]. He made approximately 40 documentary films and founded a museum about Tibet in Austria. In October 2002, the Dalai Lama presented Harrer with the International Campaign for Tibet's Light of Truth Award for his efforts to bring the situation in Tibet to international attention [7]. Harrer died on 7 January 2006 in Friesach, Austria at the age of 93.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b William J. Kole. "Mountaineer became tutor of young Dalai Lama", Brantford Expositor (ON). News, Tuesday, 10 January 2006, p. B9. accessed on 6 October 2006
- ^ Beyond Seven Years in Tibet
- ^ a b Dharamsala mourns the passing away of Heinrich Harrer The Government of Tibet In Exile, January 9, 2006.
- ^ a b Heinrich Harrer, 93, Explorer of Tibet, Dies by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, 2006-01-10
- ^ Seven Years in Tibet at Internet Movie Database
- ^ Beyond Seven Years in Tibet
- ^ Harrer Biography
[edit] Bibliography
- Seven Years in Tibet (1953)
- Lost Lhasa
- The White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger
- Ladakh Gods and Mortals Behind the Himalayas
- Return to Tibet
- Tibet is My Country, autobiography of the Dalai Lama's older brother, Thubten Jigme Norbu, as told to Harrer
- I Come from the Stone Age (1965), the story of his ascent to Carstensz Pyramid in Netherlands New Guinea in 1962
- Denk ich an Bhutan (2005)
- Beyond Seven Years in Tibet: My Life Before, During, and After (2007), his full autobiography published in English
[edit] External links
- Heinrich Harrer Website
- Obituary in The Times, 9 January 2006
- Obituary in The Guardian, 9 January 2006
- Heinrich Harrer at the Internet Movie Database
- Seven Years in Tibet, Book Review at The Open Critic (1956)
- Harrer Museum Huettenberg
