RIP

[Peter_Puget]

link Edited January 7, 2006 by Peter_Puget

[wayne]

Wow ,Too bad, but what a life that guy had!

[knotzen]

Amazing...all these years later, he is still remembered for his climbing.

[Blake]

Didn't Beckey climb with him in Alaska? I enjoyed reading about his Eiger exploits in Starlight and Storm.

[layton]

So sad to lose another in the generation of real men and explorers. Those guys had the moxy.

[joepuryear]

First ascent of Mt. Hunter, Mt. Deborah, and Mt. Drum all in one season! (Hunter and Deborah with Beckey) Amazing guy. RIP Hienrich Harrer.

[kix]

nazi

[Gary_Yngve]

I say give the guy some slack.

[griz]

nazi

 

HUTTENBERG, July 2, Austria--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 2, 1997--In

response to inquiries from the media concerning his membership in Nazi

organizations during the 1930s, the famous Austrian mountaineer and

explorer Heinrich Harrer issued the following statement from his home in

Huttenberg:

 

A number of stories have appeared recently in the media reporting on my

involvement with Nazi organizations some 60 years ago. Many of the facts

cited in these stories are true. It is the implications in many of the

reports that are in error.

 

I was a member of the SS for a limited period in 1938 after I had gained

national attention in Germany for my feat as one of four climbers of the

Eiger North Face (the first to accomplish this famous climbing challenge in

the Alps), I was asked to join the SS as an athletic instructor and agreed.

I was issued an SS uniform at that time. As it turned out, I did not give a

single lesson in my teaching capacity due to my participation in an

expedition to India. I wore the uniform only once -- at the time of my

wedding in December 1938, which was heavily publicized by the government.

 

Other than this involvement, I had a purely ceremonial group picture taken

with Hitler and other officials during a 1938 sports festival in Breslau

which was cut to show just the two of us when published recently. I was

never a member of the SA.

 

Thus, though the facts concerning these events of 60 years ago are

generally accurate, any implications that these facts indicate I was a

dedicated Nazi supporter or was involved in any way in the heinous crimes

of the Hitler period are totally false. First, the events in question took

place in my youth and I was then interested in athletics - mountain

climbing and skiing - and not in politics. Second, my association with the

SS was very brief. I departed on the expedition to India in early 1939 and

did not return to Austria until 1952.

 

My life in that 1939-1952 period is the subject of my book "Seven Years in

Tibet" which has been made into a movie scheduled for opening in October of

this year. My personal political philosophy grew out of my life in Tibet.

It is outlined in my book. It is a belief that reflects many tenets of

Buddhism and places great emphasis on human life and human dignity. It is

this philosophy that has guided my life during my return visits to Tibet

and my explorations in many parts of the world over the past four and a

half decades. And it is a philosophy which leads me to condemn as strongly

as possible the horrible crimes of the Nazi period.

 

My conscience is clear on my record during the Hitler regime. Nevertheless,

I regard the events that involved the SS as one of the aberrations in my

life, maybe the biggest, and I regret deeply that these events may give

rise to false impressions.

 

I conveyed these facts and sentiments on Monday, June 30, in Vienna to Mr.

Simon Weisenthal in a meeting to which he graciously agreed and it is my

belief that he has accepted them as a sincere and forthright statement on

my part.

[Gary_Yngve]

Griz, thanks for digging up that article.

 

To folks who unabashedly tag the moniker Nazi to Harrer, I think it's poor style, especially in the context of his death (e.g. the title "Mountaineer, Ex-Nazi HH Dies" on RC.com). And yes, I'm saying this as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor.

[Dru]

he was a nazi, so what? he was the dalai lama's friend too. it is not necessary to whitewash his past or pretend he wasn't, temporarily, a nazi.

[lI1|1!]

i remember reading "the white spider" and being struck by his recounting how much nationalism played a part in the competetive aspects of mountaineering in europe in the 30's. it made me wonder a bit about the nazi thing, but i think in retrospect he was just a very frank and honest writer. i think it's wrong to label him a nazi when peripheral involvement was a product of the time for many germans and austrians.

 

whatever he was or whatever he came from, what he became is the most important. if you must judge someone, judge them for how they created themselves rather than their national or ethnic origens. his journey through life was an extraordinary one.

[ivan]

as george patton famously got canned for saying, many germans joined the nazi party like many americans joined the republicans

 

sounded like a pretty cool guy

[catbirdseat]

I agree. He didn't make any attempt to conceal his past. He just told it as it was. I think that he led an exemplary life overall and one that others would do well to emulate.

[kix]

I was just trolling.

 

I make no actual judgement.

 

RIP.

[ZONK]

RIP

Few Have inspired Me more then Heinrich. In "White Spider" His Love of the sport shows. Tonight I will toast Him with a fine German brew and remember in my heart his stories with a smile.

NAZI ? We all must live with are past, seems to me He did and had peace in heart for the things He did ! How many of us can say that ?