Many evaluate his life and books from the position of belonging to the Nazi Party, drawing a conclusion about the driving force behind his sporting and scientific achievements.
Heinrich Harrer always treated his stay in the ideological and military organizations of the Nazis as forced and not fully conscious, although he tried not to advertise it. If you do not attach much importance to the political views of Harrer, one can only admire the perseverance and courage of this famous climber and traveler.
Early years
He was born in 1912 in the small Austrian town of Obbergossen, the son of Josef Harrer, a postal worker, and his wife, Johanna. In 1927 they move to Graz, where Heinrich Harrer finishes high school and enters the Karl Franz University. From 1933 to 1938, he studied geography and physical culture, while actively engaged in mountaineering and skiing.
He was a candidate for the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany. But Austria boycotted it because of the classification of ski instructors as professionals, whichdenied them access to the Olympic slopes. In 1937, Heinrich Harrer won the downhill competition at the World University Games, but mountaineering became his true passion.
Eiger North Face
By the end of the university course, Harrer had several mountain climbs of the highest difficulty category. In 1938, together with his friend and compatriot Fritz Kasparek, Heinrich Harrer went to conquer the legendary "Wall of Death" - the northern face of a huge granite pyramid 3970 meters high, called Mount Eiger in the Swiss Alps.
This wall remained unclimbed for a long time, although numerous attempts were made that claimed dozens of lives. The routes laid along the northern slope of the Eiger were complicated by the geological structure of the peak and the climatic situation in the area. The surface, smoothed by numerous avalanches, is almost completely covered with ice and has an average steepness of 75 degrees, and in some areas even a negative slope.
The high frequency of rockfalls and avalanches, the rapid change of weather made climbing the north face of the Eiger deadly. As a result, the authorities officially closed this slope for climbers, and mountain rescuers refused to rescue those who would go on their own on this route.
July 24, 1938
Already on the wall, the Austrians Harrer and Kasparek teamed up with two German climbers - Anderl Heckmeier and Ludwig Wörg, who had more reliable equipment forpassage on the ice surface. The joint attempt to climb was a success, despite several breakdowns, when only insurance saved, and falling into avalanches, from which only the reliability of equipment, patience and perseverance saved. Heinrich Harrer, whose books usually describe his various expeditions, later recounted this event in the documentary novel White Spider (1959).
The success of the Austrian-German group of climbers, which happened just three months after the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, was made by Nazi propaganda a symbol of the correctness of the aggressive policy of fascism. Harrer, along with other conquerors of the Eiger, received numerous titles and awards, as well as an audience with Hitler and other Nazi leaders.
Expedition to the Himalayas
Mountaineering was one of the sports that were given special attention in Nazi Germany. In the conquest of new heights and the passage of unknown routes, Hitler's propaganda saw the symbolic meaning of the coming world domination of the Aryan nation. With this, Hitler's fascination with mystical teachings about Shambhala, a legendary country inhabited by superhumans with knowledge that makes them invincible and omnipotent, was connected.
According to legend, this monastery was located among the Himalayan peaks, possibly in Tibet - a mysterious country where only a few foreigners managed to get and about which the Europeans did not have accurate information. Therefore, it is known about several expeditions of German climbers organized to study this area. It is not known whether the search for the mythical Shambhala was aimed atthe Himalayan expedition of 1939, which included Harrer, but this is what researchers often talk about, excited that the famous traveler concealed his Nazi past for a long time.
Reconnaissance of the route to Nanga Parbat
The long journey, which resulted in the most famous book of those that Heinrich Harrer wrote - "Seven Years in Tibet", was aimed at preparing for the conquest of one of the Himalayan peaks - the Nanga Parbat massif, located in the northwest of the Himalayas, on the territory of the then English colony - India.
After a new path was found to the summit, which occupies the third place in terms of the number of victims among those who tried to conquer it, German climbers were in Karachi by the beginning of autumn 1939, waiting for a ship to return to Europe. The ship was delayed. And soon after September 1 - the date of the start of the World War and after the entry of Great Britain - September 3 - they were in enemy territory and were arrested.
Good Escape
Escape attempts - solo and as part of a group - the energetic Austrian made from the very beginning of his arrest. After their team ended up in an internment camp located in the foothills of the Himalayas, the escape route became clear for Harrer - through mountain passes, to Tibet. Moving in the highest mountainous region of the world, even for a trained athlete, is not an easy task, requiring serious preparation, so Harrer's first attempt was far from successful.
Mode inthe camp, where the civilized British commanded, was obviously very different from the order that the Germans arranged for prisoners of war on the Eastern Front. Therefore, Harrer and his friends had a good opportunity to carefully prepare their escape. But even then, not everyone reached the border of India and Tibet - many preferred to return to the camp. In Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, only Peter Aufschnaiter, who is often mentioned in an autobiographical book written by Heinrich Harrer, ended up with Harrer.
7 years in Tibet
The book that made the Austrian traveler famous contains a lot of information about the country, access to which foreigners were forbidden by law. There was a prediction of one of the sages, according to which Tibet will lose its independence after foreigners appear in it. Therefore, at first, Harrer and his friend felt hostility from all Tibetans - both simple shepherds and noble officials.
It has changed largely due to changes in the main characters themselves - it is unlikely that ordeals on high mountain paths, meetings with the unusual way of life of the Tibetans, acquaintance with their religion, which denies violence against any living being, did not leave a trace in the human soul, at first even sharing the arrogant Nazi ideas.
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Tengjin Gyamtsho, the living embodiment of Buddha, the spiritual leader of Tibet, an inquisitive boy who wants to learn more about the world, located thousands of kilometers from his homeland, is anotherhero of the book. Heinrich Harrer and the Dalai Lama, having met in 1940, maintained their acquaintance until Harrer's death in 2006, exerting a strong mutual influence on each other. It was from the Austrian, older by 26 years, that the Dalai Lama learned a lot about the traditions of Europeans, scientific and technological achievements of our time.
This was the reason for the accusations of Tibetan Buddhists by the Chinese authorities, painfully related to the issue of independence of Tibet, in connection with the Nazis. On the other hand, the great authority of the Dalai Lama in world politics, who, despite the adherence to the most ancient religious doctrine, is a person inseparable from modern civilization, also originates in this communication of two young people who (especially judging by the 1994 film) became true friends.
Based on these events, Heinrich Harrer created his bestseller. "Seven Years in Tibet" - a book and a film based on it starring Brad Pitt - made his name famous all over the world. Although, after returning to his homeland in 1950, he made many climbing and simply geographical expeditions, was engaged in versatile social activities, and published more than 20 books. Harrer often said that these were the brightest pages of his life, that since then Tibet has forever settled in his heart.
