Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer (
July 6,
1912 â€"
January 7,
2006) was an
Austrian mountaineer, sportsman,
geographer and
author.
Heinrich Harrer was born in
HĂĽttenberg,
Carinthia. 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.
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 conflicts on the skiing instructor's status as professionals. So Harrer did not, as is sometimes stated, win any Olympic medals, in fact he didn't even actively participate.
He won the downhill event at the following year's World Student Games.
Harrer made the
first ascent of the North Face of the
Eiger,
Switzerland with
Anderl Heckmair,
Fritz Kasparek and
Ludwig Vörg on
July 24,
1938. This climb is recounted in the book
The White Spider.
With the rise of the
Nazi party in Austria, Harrer became a member of the
SS. He held the rank of SS OberscharfĂĽhrer (sergeant), which was probably the only way that he could continue climbing. Nevertheless he made no secret of his allegiance to National Socialism and was photographed with
Adolf Hitler. Austria was
absorbed into Germany in March 1938 and so he was part of a German expedition to
Nanga Parbat in the
Himalayas, now in present day
Pakistan. After the start of
World War II in
1939, Harrer was captured by
British colonial authorities as an enemy alien and
interned in
Dehradun, along with 1,000 other 'enemy aliens', mostly civilians.
He escaped on May 10,
1944 with
Peter Aufschnaiter and two Germans, Hans Kopp and Bruno Treipel. They promptly made their way into the Himalayan foothills, which began within sight of the camp. As they were in constant fear of re-arrest, they made a beeline for
Tibet, their route being north-northeast throughout, in as straight a line as possible. 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 meters or 19,350 ft.) and entered Tibet proper. (They had considered heading for
Goa, then a Portuguese colony and thereby a
neutral port, but it was too far away).
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, 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 a precocious 11 when they met) much about the outside world and effectively was 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 under Chinese occupation.
After the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950, Harrer returned to Austria and there he documented his experiences there in the books
Seven Years in Tibet and
Lost Lhasa.
Seven Years in Tibet was translated into 53 languages, sold three million copies and was the basis of the
1997 film [
1]. In
1952 he returned to
Europe and later on took part in a number of ethnographic as well as mountaineering expeditions: Alaska,
Andes,
Ruwenzori (Mountains of the Moon) in Africa. 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 Jayadikesuma) in western
New Guinea, the highest peak in
Oceania.
Harrer took up golf in 1958 and became Austrian amateur champion. He also remained an active skier well into his eighties.
After the 1997 release of film adaptation of
Seven Years in Tibet, questions were raised about Harrer's Nazi past and Harrer acknowledged that his membership of the party had been a "stupid mistake". Since he was out of the country almost continuously during the Nazi period, he was not involved in illegal actions.
According to harrerportfolio.com[
2]
"Harrer has received numerous honors, including the Gold Humboldt Medal and the Explorers Club Medal for his many expeditions and explorations. He has written over 20 books and received credit on over 40 film productions. His body of work spans five decades of exploration over six continents. In addition, Heinrich Harrer has become widely known as an outspoken advocate of human rights". Heinrich Harrer and the exiled Dalai Lama remained steadfast friends, until Harrer's death in 2006, in
Friesach, Carinthia, Austria.
He was survived by his third wife Katharina (née Harrhaus).
Seven Years in Tibet, 1953.
Lost LhasaThe White SpiderLadakh Gods and Mortals Behind the HimalayasReturn to TibetTibet is My Country (life story of the Dali Lama's brother, Thubten Jigme Norbu)
Denk ich an Bhutan, June 2005 (When I think of Bhutan)
I Came From The Stone Age, 1965 (the story of his ascent to
Carstensz Pyramid in
Netherlands New Guinea in 1962)
Beyond Seven Years in Tibet; My life before, during and after, his full autobiography is to be published in English in the UK in October 2006.
*
Obituary in
The Economist (January 21 2006 edition)
*
Harrer Museum Huettenberg*
Sixty Years a hero - and Now a Scandal?
