“Controversial” mountaineer Heinrich Harrer
Posted: Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 6:58 pm
The controversial mountaineering legend, Heinrich Harrer, died peacefully over the weekend; he was in his nineties. Harrer is likely most known by younger climbers through the film, Seven Years in Tibet, which was based on his life.
In 1938, Harrer joined the German-Austrian climbing expedition that conquered Eiger’s North Face. The following year he was part of a disasterous expedition by a German Nazi team trying to climb Nanga Parbat, according to Deutsche Welle. The team did not summit and was arrested by British forces. These were the early days of WWII.
Rumors swirled around Harrer’s involvement with the Nazis. Sixty years later, Harrer confirmed that he had been part of the Nazi expedition and was an officer in the paramilitary group, the Schutzstaffel, a post he was given after meeting Hitler and, he said, that was due to the Eiger feat. Harrer claimed that his involvement with the Nazis was solely based on the Nanga Parbat expedition and that he had a “clear conscience” as to his role with the organization. … Read full obituary
