Harrer, Heinrich 1912–2006

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 6, 1912, in Knappenberg, Carinthia, Austria; died January 7, 2006, in Friesach, Austria. Adventurer, filmmaker, and author. Harrer was a mountaineer and explorer best known for his memoir Seven Years in Tibet, which was later adapted to film. Graduating from the University of Graz in 1938 with a degree in geography, Harrer quickly began making a name for himself when he climbed the 13,025-foot Eiger peak in the Alps. Already a 1936 Olympic athlete for the German ski team, Harrer was made a hero by Hitler and the Nazis for his feat, and Harrer, who had joined the Nazi storm troopers in 1933 and the SS in 1938, was congratulated by the Fuhrer himself. Much later, in 1997, the fact that Harrer had been a Nazi was publicized by the German magazine Stern. Harrer, however, explained that he had joined the Nazis only so he could gain membership to a teacher's organization that made it possible for him to pursue his expeditions. In 1939, Harrer set out to climb Nanga Parbat in northern India. Before he had a chance to attempt the ascent, however, World War II broke out and the British, who controlled India, captured and imprisoned Harrer and his party. After making two unsuccessful escape attempts, Harrer managed to flee his prison in 1944. He headed for Tibet, eventually reaching the capital of Lhasa. Working as a gardener, he used his language skills and good will to befriend the Tibetans. He gained their trust to such an extent that he was introduced to the young Dalai Lama, whom he would befriend and to whom he served as a teacher. Harrer fell in love with Tibet and wanted to remain there, but when the Chinese invaded in 1950 he had to leave the country the next year. For many decades thereafter, he traveled the world, climbing peaks and exploring remote landscapes. He led expeditions in the Andes, Alaska, Africa, West New Guinea, Nepal, Surinam, Sudan, North Borneo, Alaknanda, the Andaman Islands, Brazil, and Zangkar-Ladakh. Throughout his travels, though, Harrer would say he always longed to return to his time in Tibet, which he described as having been the happiest time of his life. His book about that experience, originally published in German as Sieben Jahre in Tibet in 1952 and translated into English two years later, would sell over three million copies and was his best-known work. He would go on to publish many more books, however, including the translated titles I Come from the Stone Age (1964), Ladakh: Gods and Mortals behind the Himalayas (1981), Return to Tibet (1984), and Lost Lhasa: Heinrich Harrer's Tibet (1992). In addition to his publications, Harrer made numerous documentary films about his travels. The controversy that made the news in 1997 when the Brad Pitt film Seven Years in Tibet was released was resolved when Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal himself declared that Harrer was guiltless of any war crimes. Harrer, who embraced the peaceful philosophy of his adopted Tibet, would denounce those years in Germany as a big mistake.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, January 10, 2006, section 2, p. 9.

Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2006, p. B10.

New York Times, January 10, 2006, p. A25.

Times (London, England), January 9, 2006, p. 46.

Washington Post, January 9, 2006, p. B6.