Writer and traveler Henry Harrer: biography, activities, best books and interesting facts

His life and books are widely appreciated from the point of view of belonging to the Nazi Party, drawing a conclusion about the driving force of his sporting and scientific achievements. Henry Harrer always treated his stay in the ideological and military organizations of the fascists as a forced and not fully realized, although he tried not to advertise it. If you do not attach special importance to the political views of Harrer, you can only admire the tenacity and courage of this famous mountaineer and traveler.

early years

He was born in 1912, in the small Austrian town of Obergossen, in the family of the postal worker Josef Harrer and his wife Johanna. In 1927, they moved to Graz, where Heinrich Harrer graduated from high school and entered the University of Karl-Franz. From 1933 to 1938, he studied geography and physical culture, while actively engaged in mountaineering and mountain skiing.

He was a candidate to participate in the Winter Olympics in 1936, held in Germany. But Austria boycotted it because of the recruitment of mountain ski instructors to professionals, which blocked them access to the Olympic routes. In 1937 Heinrich Harrer won the downhill competitions that were part of the program of the World Student Games, but his true passion was mountaineering.

North Face of the Eiger

At the end of the university course, Harrer's account had several mountain ascents of the highest category of complexity. In 1938, together with his friend and fellow countryman Fritz Kasparek, Henry Harrer goes on conquering the legendary "wall of Death" - the northern face of a huge granite pyramid with a height of 3,970 meters, known as the Eiger Mountain in the Swiss Alps.

This wall remained long unreached, although numerous attempts were made, which claimed dozens of lives. Routes laid along the northern slope of the Eiger were complicated by the geological structure of the summit and the climatic conditions in the area. The surface, smoothed by numerous avalanches, is almost entirely covered with ice and has an average steepness of 75 degrees, and in some areas a negative slope.

The high frequency of rock falls and avalanches, rapid change of weather made the climb along the northern wall of the Eiger deadly. As a result, the authorities officially closed this slope for mountaineers, and mountain rescuers refused to save those who leave on their own.

July 24, 1938

Already on the wall the Austrians Harrer and Kasparek united in conjunction with two German climbers - Anderl Hecmayer and Ludwig Wörg, who had more reliable equipment for the passage through the ice surface. The joint attempt to climb was a success, despite several failures, when only the insurance was saved, and getting into avalanches, from which only the reliability of equipment, patience and perseverance were saved. Henry Harrer, whose books usually describe his various expeditions, later told of this event in the documentary novel "The White Spider" (1959).

The success of the Austrian-German group of climbers, which happened just three months after Austria's annexation to Hitler's Germany, Nazi propaganda made 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 audiences of Hitler and other Nazi leaders.

Expedition to the Himalayas

Mountaineering related to sports, which in Nazi Germany paid special attention. In the conquest of new peaks and the passage of unexplored routes, Hitler's propaganda saw the symbolic significance of the future world domination of the Aryan nation. This entailed Hitler's fascination with the mystical teachings of Shambhala, the legendary country where supermen possessed, who possessed knowledge that made them invincible and omnipotent.

According to the legend, this monastery was located among the Himalayan peaks, perhaps in Tibet - a mysterious country, which managed to get to a few foreigners and about which the Europeans did not have exact information. Therefore, it is known about several expeditions of the German mountaineers, organized to study this region. It is not known whether the Himalayan expedition of 1939, in which Harrer was included, had the purpose of searching for mythical Shambhala, but this is often what researchers say, excited by the fact that the famous traveler for a long time hid his Nazi past.

Exploration of the way to Nanga Parbat

A long journey, the result of which was the most famous book of those written by Heinrich Harrer - "Seven Years in Tibet", was designed to conquer 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 finding a new path to the summit, which ranks third in the number of victims among those who tried to conquer it, German mountaineers were in Karachi by early autumn of 1939, waiting for the ship to return to Europe. The ship was delayed. And soon after September 1 - the date of the outbreak of World War II and after Britain's accession to it - September 3 - they were in enemy territory and were arrested.

Successful escape

Attempts to escape - single and in the group - an energetic Austrian undertook from the very beginning of his detention. After their team was in an internment camp, located in the foothills of the Himalayas, Harrer's route became clear - through mountain passes, to Tibet. Traveling in the highest mountainous region of the world, even for a trained athlete - the task is not simple, requiring serious preparation, so it was not the first attempt for Harrer that was successful.

The regime in the camp, where the civilized Englishmen commanded, was obviously very different from the order the Germans had 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 all reached the borders of India and Tibet - many preferred to return to the camp. In Lhasa - the capital of Tibet - along with Harrer was only Peter Aufschneiter, which is often mentioned in the autobiographical book written by Heinrich Harrer.

"7 years in Tibet"

The book, which made the Austrian traveler famous, contains a lot of information about the country, access to which foreigners was banned by law. There was a prediction of one of the wise men, according to which Tibet would lose its independence after foreigners appeared in it. Therefore, at first, Harrer and his friend felt a hostile attitude on the part of all Tibetans - both simple shepherds and noble officials.

It has changed in large part due to changes in the protagonists themselves - it is unlikely that the ordeals on the high-mountain paths, the encounter with the unusual way of life of Tibetans, the acquaintance with their religion, which denies violence against any living being, left no trace in the soul of the man, at first even sharing arrogant Nazi ideas.

The Dalai Lama the Fourteenth

Tengjin Gyamtskho is a living embodiment of Buddha, the spiritual leader of Tibet, an inquisitive boy who wants to learn more about the world thousands of kilometers from his homeland is another hero of the book. Henry Harrer and the Dalai Lama, having met in 1940, maintained an acquaintance until the death of Harrer in 2006, exerting a strong mutual influence on each other. It was from an Austrian, a senior at 26, that the Dalai Lama learned a lot about the traditions of Europeans, the scientific and technical achievements of the present.

This caused the accusations of Tibetan Buddhists on the part of the Chinese authorities, which are painfully concerned with the issue of the independence of Tibet, in relations with the Nazis. On the other hand, the great authority of the Dalai Lama in world politics, which, despite adherence to the oldest religious doctrine, is a man inseparable from modern civilization, also originates in this communication of two young people who (especially judging from the 1994 film) have become Real friends.

On the basis of these events, Henry Harrer created his bestseller. "Seven Years in Tibet" - a book and a film on it with Brad Pitt in the title role - made his name famous throughout the world. Although after returning to his homeland in 1950, he accomplished many mountaineering and geographic expeditions, engaged in versatile social activities, 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.