Knowra Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer (1912–2006) was an Austrian mountaineer and writer who took part in the first ascent of the Eiger’s north face and wrote the memoir Seven Years in Tibet . He was also a member of the Nazi Party and the SS.
Eiger North Face : The steep north face of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps, first climbed in 1938. Harrer joined the four-man team that completed its first ascent.
Nazi Party : The far-right German political party led by Adolf Hitler from 1921 until its dissolution in 1945. Harrer joined the party in 1938, a fact omitted from early accounts of his life.
Peter Aufschnaiter : An Austrian mountaineer and geographer who escaped internment with Harrer and lived with him in Tibet. Aufschnaiter was Harrer’s companion during their escape and early years in Lhasa.
Tibetology : The academic study of Tibetan language, history, religion, and culture. Harrer’s memoir became a widely read, though debated, source of impressions about pre-1950 Tibet.
Seven Years in Tibet : Heinrich Harrer’s 1952 memoir of his escape to Tibet and life there before the Chinese takeover. The book made Harrer internationally known beyond mountaineering.
Schutzstaffel : The Nazi organization known as the SS, which served as a party militia and later controlled police and concentration-camp systems. Harrer joined the SS in 1938 and held the rank of Untersturmführer.
Fritz Kasparek : An Austrian mountaineer who joined the first successful ascent of the Eiger’s north face in 1938. Kasparek climbed the face with Harrer, Anderl Heckmair, and Ludwig Vörg.
Chinese invasion of Tibet : The establishment of Chinese military and political control over Tibet beginning in 1950. Harrer left Tibet amid the political upheaval that followed Chinese forces’ arrival.
Nanga Parbat : A 8,126-meter Himalayan peak in Pakistan, the site of German mountaineering expeditions before World War II. Harrer joined a 1939 German expedition there before being interned in British India.
Anschluss : Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in March 1938. Harrer’s Nazi affiliations began in the context of Austria’s incorporation into Germany.
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