HEINRICH HARRER

Heinrich Harrer (Hüttenberg, Kärnten, 6 Juli 1912–Friesach, 7 Januari 2006) adalah seorang pendaki gunung, olahragawan, dan penulis dari Austria.

Dari 1933 hingga 1938 Harrer mempelajari geografi dan olahraga di Universitas Karl-Franzens di Graz. Ia seharusnya menjadi peserta dalam olahraga alpine skiing pada Olimpiade musim dingin pada 1936, namun timnya memboikot even tersebut karena adanya konflik mengenai status instruktur ski. Tahun berikutnya ia memenangi nomor downhill pada Pesta Olahraga Pelajar Dunia.

Ia dan kelompoknya menjadi pendaki pertama Sisi Utara Gunung Eiger di Swiss pada 24 Juli 1938. Bersamaan dengan bangkitnya partai Nazi di Austria, Harrer menjadi anggota SS dan naik hingga pangkat sersan. Setelah Perang Dunia II pecah pada tahun 1939, Harrer ditangkap pasukan Britania, namun ia berhasil melarikan diri pada tahun 1944 dan setelah 21 bulan, tiba di Tibet. Ia menghabiskan tujuh tahun di sana dan menjadi sahabat Dalai Lama.

Setelah Tiongkok menduduki Tibet pada 1950, Harrer kembali ke Austria dan menuangkan cerita mengenai kehidupannya di Tibet dalam buku-buku berjudul Seven Years in Tibet dan Lost Lhasa. Seven Years in Tibet diterjemahkan ke dalam 48 bahasa, terjual tiga juta kopi, dan merupakan inspirasi bagi film tahun 1997 dengan judul yang sama. Di film tersebut, ia diperankan oleh Brad Pitt.

Sekembalinya di Eropa, ia lalu mengikuti ekspedisi-ekspedisi etonografis serta pendakian gunung di Alaska, Andes, Ruwenzori. Harrer merupakan pendaki pertama Gunung Deborah dan Gunung Hunter di Alaska pada tahun 1954. Pada 1962 ia adalah pemimpin sebuah kelompok berjumlah empat orang yang merupakan pendaki pertama Puncak Jaya di Papua.

Ia mulai bermain golf pada 1958 dan menjadi juara amatir di Austria. Ia juga tetap bermain ski dengan aktif hingga berusia 80-an

Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet.
I often think I can still hear the cries of wild geese and cranes
and the beating of their wings as they fly over Lhasa in the
clear cold moonlight. My heartfelt wish is that my story may
create some understanding for a people whose will to live
in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy from an
indifferent world.

—Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer

Heinrich Harrer, noted Austrian explorer and mountaineer, escaped over the Himalaya from a prisoner-of-war camp in British India with Peter Aufschnaiter, and then lived and worked as a fifth-ranked nobleman in the forbidden city of Lhasa. As confidant and informal tutor to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Harrer was afforded access to ceremonies and customs that had been rarely witnessed by Westerners.

In the company of the Tibetan nobility, Harrer photographed a virtual family album of their lives and, in so doing, captured the richness and heart of a people: the moments with friends and family who had long accepted the photographer's eye. The Tibetans' joy at play, the leisure of the nobility, the splendor of the Buddhist rituals, the windswept plains of the high plateau—Harrer's photographs document this with a mountaineer's sense of scale and an explorer's sensitivity to culture.

Harrer left Lhasa in advance of the Chinese army in December 1950. Harrer's memoir, Seven Years in Tibet, has been translated into 53 languages, with more than four million copies sold. In October 1997, a motion picture based on his book, starring Brad Pitt as young Heinrich Harrer, was released by Tristar to major box-office success. Seven Years in Tibet, the book, again soared on best-seller lists around the world.

Harrer’s body of work spanned more than six decades of exploration on six continents. Harrer received numerous honors, including the Eiger Gold Medal, Gold Humboldt Medal and the Explorers Club Medal, for his many expeditions and explorations, which number more than 600. He wrote 23 books and received credit on more than 40 film productions.

In October 2002, His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented Harrer with the International Campaign for Tibet's Light of Truth Award to honor Harrer’s humanitarian effort to bring the situation in Tibet to international attention.

Heinrich Harrer and the exiled Dalai Lama remained steadfast friends until Harrer’s death on January 7, 2006.

Film of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Heinrich Harrer, Liechtenstein, 1993

Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer and former Nazi SS Officer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War and the interim period before the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1950.

SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET BOOK'S

The book covers the escape of Harrer, and his companion Peter Aufschnaiter, from a British internment camp in India. Harrer and Aufschnaiter then travelled across Tibet to Lhasa, the capital. Here they spent several years, and Harrer describes the contemporary Tibetan culture in detail. Harrer subsequently became a tutor and friend of the 14th Dalai Lama.

At the beginning of the Flamingo edition of the book, a message from the Dalai Lama is present, which praises the book: "Harrer has always been such a friend to Tibet. His most important contribution to our cause, his book, Seven Years in Tibet introduced hundreds of thousands of people to my country."

Films
Two films have been based on the book. The first was a 1956, 76-minute documentary directed by Hans Nieter. The documentary includes film taken by Harrer during his stay in Tibet, and Harrer himself reconstructed various scenes from his adventures. The second, Seven Years in Tibet, released in 1997, was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starred Brad Pitt and David Thewlis.

Song
There is also a David Bowie song entitled "Seven Years in Tibet", from his album Earthling.

Heinrich Harrer, Sang Legenda…

“Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet. I often think I can still hear the cries of wild geese and cranes and the beating of their wings as they fly over Lhasa in the clear cold moonlight. My heartfelt wish is that my story may create some understanding for a people whose will to live in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy form an
indifferent world.”

(Heinrich Harrer, from the book “Seven Years in Tibet”)

Heinrich Harrer dilahirkan di Hüttenberg, Carinthia, Austria pada tanggal 6 juli 1912. Dia bekerja seorang karyawan kantor pos di Austria. Dari tahun 1933 sampai 1938, Heinrich Harrer kuliah di universitas Karl-Franzens di Graz dengan fokus study pada geografi dan olahraga.

Harrer pernah menjadi menjadi anggota SS (Nazi Jerman) dengan pangkat Sersan. Di ditugaskan sebagai Instruktur dalam pelatihan olahraga dan atletik bagi pasukan Nazi. Namun dia tidak pernah terlibat dengan segala kegiatan Nazi yang Illegal, dikarenakan dalam kurun waktu pemerintahan Nazi, Ia hidup dalam pengasingan dan Penjara di India.

Pendakian pertama Heinrich Harrer dilakukan di North Face, Pegunungan Eiger, Switzerland dengan rekannya, Anderl Heckmair, Fritz Kasparek and Ludwig Vörg pada tanggal 24 juli 1938. ketika itu dia berusia 26 tahun. Kecintaannya pada dunia mountaineering dan climbing membuatnya lebih memilih untuk mendaki gunung mengikuti ekspedisi yang diadakan oleh negaranya, ketimbang menunggu istrinya yang tengah hamil.

Pada tahun 1952, Harrer kembali ke Eropa dan mengadakan berbagai macam ekspedisi, diantaranya adalah Alaska, Andes, Ruwenzori (mountain of the moon, Afrika). Pada tahun 1954, Harrer melakukan pendakian gunung Deborah dan Gunung Hunter, Alaska. Pada tahun 1962, dia memimpin ekspedisi pendakian puncak Carstensz, Papua, bersama empat orang dalam tim nya, yang merupakan orang pertama yang mencapai puncak Carstensz.

Harrer dikenal sebagai seorang Petualang dan juga seorang Mountaineer. Hidupnya lebih banyak dijalaninya dengan berpetualang dan mendaki dari satu gunung ke gunung lainnya. Dia menjadi orang kulit putih pertama yang mencapai puncak Carstensz Pyramid pada tanggal 13 februari 1962, sehari sebelum hari Valentine. Rekannya yang juga berhasil mencapai puncak dalam timnya adalah Russell Kippax dan Albert Huizenga.

Peter Aufschnaiter
Kisah hidupnya diabadikan dalam banyak buku yang menceritakan tentang pengalamannya selama menjelajahi gunung dan berpetualang dari satu Negara ke Negara lain. Bukunya yang terkenal adalah “the White Spider”, yang menceritakan tentang perjalanannya selama mendakai gunung Eiger, North Face, Switzerland. Bukunya yang lain adalah “Seven Years in Tibet, yang kemudian dijadikan kisah film yang diperankan oleh Bradd Pitt. “Seven Years in Tibet” menceritakan perjalanannya selama mendaki puncak Everest, bersama rekannya Peter Aufschnaiter, yang gagal dan malah kemudian ditangkap oleh tentara Inggris di India.

Harrer dan Dalai Lama
Di Tibet itulah, ia berkenalan dengan Dalai Lama, pemimpin spiritual kota terlarang, Lhasa, Tibet. Dari sinilah, ahirnya Harrer dijadikan sebagai guru oleh Dalai Lama untuk mengajarkan pengetahuan tentang dunia luar dan juga pengetahuan umum lainnya. Harrer dan Dalai Lama berteman baik sampai ahir hayatnya. Bukunya yang lain adalah “I come from the Stone Age”, yang menceritakan tentang pendakian pertamanya ke puncak Carstensz, Papua, Indonesia. Sebagian besar dalam buku ini menceritakan kisah hidupnya selama di Papua.

Harrer meninggal pada usia 93 tahun, tepatnya pada tanggal 7 januari 2006. kisah hidupnya banyak mengilhami para petualang muda untuk mengikuti jejaknya dalam bertualang, mencari kedamaian diri dan ketenangan jiwa melalui Tafakkur Alam. Salah satunya adalah dengan mendaki gunung.

Selamat jalan, Heinrich Harrer !. semoga kisah hidupmu dapat menjadi teladan yang baik bagi kami semua.

NAZI AUTHORS SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET

by Ren Yanshi

The film Seven Years in Tibet, produced recently by Hollywood and based on the novel of the same title by Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian, has been shown in the United States and some other countries. The film, with Harrer as the leading character, not only seriously distorts history, but also takes great pains to beautify the 14th Dalai Lama and build up Harrer. Certain Western news media took advantage of the opportunity to raise a hubbub, praising Harrer as a "hero", "the guardian of human rights" and "the best ambassador to Tibet". So, what kind of a fellow is Harrer?

A Faithful Nazi

Valid documents prove without a doubt that Harrer is a former Nazi who has successfully hidden his identity for more than half a century.

In May 1997, Gerald Lehner, an Austrian correspondent, found in the Washington-based National Archives an 80-page document detailing Harrer's Nazi ties. In addition, a reporter from the German weekly Stern also discovered in the Federal Archives in Berlin a file related to Harrer's Nazi background. The file recorded that as early as October 1933 Harrer worked for the German Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA, storm troopers) which was illegal in Austria at the time. Hitler annexed Austria on March 15, 1938. Shortly thereafter, Harrer joined the German Nazi Schutstaffel (SS, defense echelon). He was assigned to Squadron 38 with a designation 73896, and was promoted to Oberscharfuehrer (squadron leader). On May 1 the same year, Harrer joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) with membership number 6307081.

Harrer was a "favorite of the high-level Nazi group" who was personally received by Hitler. Harrer and several Germans climbed the northern slope of Mount Eiger in Switzerland in July 1938. A short time later, he was personally received by Hitler, and a group photo was taken to mark the occasion. The photo has been kept up until today. According to an article carried in the New York Daily News on June 19, 1997, Hitler thought especially highly of Harrer who had "conquered the northern slope of Mount Eiger", appointing him to train crack Nazi troops who later became ruthless murderers who firmly implemented Hitler's "final solution", the extermination of Jews.

Heinrich Harrer with Adolf Hitler at Breslau - harhitlr.jpg 4972 bytes
Heinrich Harrer (2nd from left) with Adolf Hitler, Breslau (Wroclaw), July 1938
Source: Der Spiegel, No. 45, 3 Nov 1997, p. 146

In December 1938, Harrer married a so-called "pure-blooded Aryan". Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo and commander of the Nazi Schutzstaffel, approved the marriage.

Harrer was captured by the British army in India in September 1939, with his behavior while in prison proving once again that he was a faithful Nazi. On November 1,1943, foreign ministers of allied nations - the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain - announced the Moscow Declaration, which called for the reconstruction of Austria and cited the fact that Austria was a victim of the Nazi Germany's policy of aggression. The declaration called on Austrian people to liberate themselves and fight against Nazi Germany.

Shortly after release of the declaration, Austrians in regions controlled by Britain and other allied nations organized anti-Nazi resistance groups and broke with Hitler and the Nazis.

In 1939. Britain accelerated efforts to screen war prisoners, with only Nazis refusing to accept the declaration continuing to be seen as war prisoners and remaining in custody. Harrer was among the remaining prisoners following the screening program.

On April 29, 1944, six months after release of the declaration, Harrer succeeded in his fifth attempt to escape from prison. Harrer and Peter Aufschneiter, a Nazi and fellow prisoner, fled to Tibet rather than Austria.

Various documents clearly show that while in prison Harrer wanted to go and seek refuge in Japan, Nazi Germany's ally in World War II.

Harrer arrived in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and in 1946 became the tutor for the 14th Dalai Lama who was then only 11 years old. Harrer fled Tibet in 1951. He concealed his Nazi history and returned to Austria before resettling in Leichtenstein where he wrote the book entitled Seven Years in Tibet.

Downright Political Swindler

Harrer is a political swindler living on lies. Many people suspected Harrer's Nazi connections long before his past life was fully exposed. Harrer flatly denied all accusations and concealed his Nazi history for a half century.

After the files which provided indisputable proof of his Nazi ties were discovered, Harrer, resorting to habitual trickery, attempted to gloss over his crimes and continue to deceive the world.

According to Stern, Harrer flatly denied the records in the files even after learning that his files had been discovered. He declared that he had never applied for membership in the SS or any other Nazi organization. When shown his Racial and Residential Administration Investigation Form and handwritten resume, both of which demonstrated the fact that Harrer had served in the SA in Austria and the SS in Germany, Harrer was forced to admit his disgraceful Nazi past. According to the Austrian weekly Profil (43rd edition, 1997), Harrer offered the following response to a staff reporter's question concerning the files, "That was 60 years ago...It was nothing. You discovered it, so you answer the question." Harrer went so far as to proudly proclaim, "I have something to show off, too."

On July 30, 1997, following the exposure of his background, Harrer contacted Simon Wiesenthal, a well-known researcher on Nazis, claiming that he had no close contact with the Nazis. but instead the latter had indeed approached him.

However, Harrer's former colleague and Austrian mountaineer Reinhold Messner refuted his assertions and said, "Harrer can in no way claim to be simply a follower, since no one was coerced into joining the Nazis in 1933." The fact remains, however, that Harrer did join the Nazis.

Yet another case in point is that Nazism was illegal in Austria in 1933. Ample documents indicate that Harrer associated himself with the Nazis at that time in an attempt to achieve a meteoric rise.

Harrer claimed that climbing the Eiger was a matter of personal interest, and that he in no way intended to please the Nazis, nor obtain Hitler's favor. However, according to Stern's report, Harrer exhibited great excitement as he was being received by Hitler after scaling the Eiger.

The report quoted Harrer as saying, "It was an estimable reward for us to meet and talk with the Fuehrer. We scaled the northern slope of Eiger, crossed the summit and reached the place wherein the Fuehrer lived."

Messner noted that Nazism was popular with mountaineers in Germany and Austria at that time having mountaineering backgrounds. The German-Austrian Mountaineering Association which Harrer joined was an organization clearly bearing the stamp of the Nazis.

According to an article in the Austrian weekly Wochenpresse, the major task of an expedition Nazi Germany sent to Tibet in 1939 was to investigate the possibility of establishing the region as a base for attacking the British troops stationed in India. The expedition's second major assignment was to verify Heinrich Himmler's Nazi racial theory that a group of pure-blooded Aryans had settled in Tibet.

The article pointed to the fact that Harrer had direct contacts with the expeditionaries. It noted that Harrer eventually managed to escape imprisonment and made his way to Tibet. His primary objective in going to Tibet was to get in touch with the expedition and continue his "special mission".

Harrer repeatedly disclaimed familiarity with members of the German expedition led by Schaefer. He attempted to demonstrate that he had nothing to do with the Nazis. However, Bruno Beger, an expedition member, said he and Harrer were good friends, and Harrer was an acquaintance of Schaefer.

Profil, the Austrian weekly, carried a later report revealing that Harrer obtained photos from members of the expedition to Tibet for a private exhibition, and that he had in turn published an album of Tibetan scenery in his own name.

The Heinrich Harrer Museum in Harrer's home town is known to house numerous exhibits of suspicious origin. Beger confirmed that the exhibits were collected by the German expedition prior to 1939.

Typical Opportunist

Harrer was an opportunist well versed in trimming his sails in addition to being good at gaining fame by deceiving the public.

Harrer joined the SA when the Nazi movement was just gaining momentum in Austria in the early 1930s. He betrayed his country and sought refuge with the German SS half a month after the Nazi invasion of Austria.

His pursuit of power and fame was rewarded with an eventual personal meeting with Hitler who promoted him to the rank of captain in the SS and ordered him to train an elite Nazi unit.

Harrer escaped from prison and fled to Tibet in 1944 rather than his home town. He arrived in Lhasa in 1946. Harrer got in touch with the 14th Dalai Lama and became his tutor. This particular period of experience in his life earned him the admiration of a select group of people in the West.

Harrer hurriedly fled Tibet in 1951, just after the arrival of the People's Liberation Army in 1950, and returned to Austria in 1952. That same year, Harrer, who was fully aware of the fact that his history as a Nazi would be exposed if he remained in Austria for a prolonged period, resettled in Lietchtenstein, a principality bordering on Switzerland. He lived there for several years.

Thereafter, he set about fabricating the book Seven Years in Tibet and dressed himself up as an "authoritative Tibetologist" and brave "hero" who dared engage in exploration.

Seven Years in Tibet, which was published in 1952 and has since been translated into 40-odd languages, has been widely distributed with sales exceeding 5 million copies.

Despite the fact that Harrer tutored the then 11-year-old Tibetan religious leader, the 14th Dalai Lama at first flatly denied the existence of an "intimate friendship" with Harrer. The Dalai's assertions that he had little, if any, impression of Harrer was a source of great disappointment to the latter.

Harrer and the 14th Dalai formed a shaky alliance in which each pursued his own interests. Harrer strengthened his position by claiming an intimate friendship with "the leader of Tibetan Buddhism". and the Dalai in turn looked to Austria as an ideal retreat.

Harrer's background was laid bare last May at a crucial stage in promoting sales of the movie. Brad Pitt, who plays the part of Harrer, announced that he would most likely have refused the part had he known of the protagonist's Nazi background.

Harrer's lawyer, a representative for the producer and the director reached a secret agreement in London to cope with the emergency situation. A minor revision in the movie added various plots which portrayed Harrer as, though having a relationship with the Nazis, resenting and disavowing the organization. The revisions drew a distinct line between Harrer and the Nazis.

The Dalai Lama faced a dilemma following the public disclosure of the scandal. On the one hand, he addressed the situation by consulting with the movie producer and director, and on the other attempted to cover up for Harrer and divert public attention.

Seven Years in Tibet was screened last October following repeated schemes and intrigues undertaken by Harrer and the Dalai Lama. Harrer did not attend the Los Angeles premiere due to the disclosure of his Nazi past, and the Dalai exhibited his lack of courage by failing to attend the Austrian premiere.

There is nothing strange that Harrer, a faithful Nazi, eulogized feudal serfdom and lavished praise on the Dalai Lama, the single largest owner of serfs in old Tibet. The perplexing aspect lies in the fact that Harrer managed to escape punishment despite his verified Nazi affiliation. Instead, he found favor in Hollywood, which meticulously established and vigorously promoted his "image".

Related efforts on the part of Hollywood enabled Harrer to gain great fame, a level of acclaim which he far from deserved. Despite the disclosure of Harrer's Nazi background and much to the surprise of many people, Hollywood continues to feature Harrer at center stage and even resorts to the clumsy trick of fabricating lies to camouflage his heinous past.

Seven Years in Tibet extols a notorious Nazi as a "hero" and induces people to admire an officer of the SS, which was dedicated to the destruction of mankind.

Extreme approaches of this nature, which blaspheme art and diametrically opposes the human spirit, lead people to believe that the movie producer and director totally lacked rationalism and conscientiousness, and cast doubts on the quality of Hollywood productions.


Heinrich Harrer, a swashbuckling explorer who told of his magical life of conquering the world's highest peaks and tutoring the young Dalai Lama when Tibet seemed as exotic as Mars, only to have news of his Nazi past mar his final years, died Jan. 7 in Friesach, Austria. He was 93.

The Associated Press said his family announced his death in a hospital there, saying only that "in great peace, he carried out his final expedition."

Mr. Harrer's wanderings rivaled the fictional exploits of the film hero Indiana Jones. He was a member of the four-man team that made the first ascent of the formidable north wall of the Eiger, a 13,400-foot peak of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. He escaped from a British prisoner-of-war camp, then hiked across the high Tibetan plateau, dodging bears, leopards and bandits before arriving in the forbidden city of Lhasa, gloveless and with his shoes in tatters.

As a youth, he was one of the fastest downhill skiers in the world, and after his Tibetan adventure, he led path-breaking expeditions to Alaska, the Andes and the Mountains of the Moon in Uganda, as well as the far reaches of the Amazon. Later, in New Guinea, he survived a 130-foot plunge over a waterfall and the attentions of headhunters. (He carried no gun, a result of the nonviolent Buddhism he learned from the Dalai Lama.)

Mr. Harrer, who became a champion golfer in his later years, wrote more than 20 books about his adventures, some including photographs considered to be among the best evidence of traditional Tibetan culture. He made about 40 documentary films and founded a museum about Tibet in Austria. In 1997, a film titled "Seven Years in Tibet," starring Brad Pitt, dramatized his book of the same name, a best seller in the United States in 1954.

Just months before the movie's release, the German magazine Stern added a startling and disagreeable new dimension to Mr. Harrer's life story; it reported that he enlisted in Hitler's storm troopers in 1933, when they were still illegal in Austria.

Five years later, he enlisted in the SS, the Nazi organization responsible for countless atrocities, and rose to sergeant. He asked the SS leader, Heinrich Himmler, for permission to marry in 1938, giving proof that he and his fiancée were Aryans. He later said he wore his SS uniform only once, the day of that marriage to Charlotte Wegener. In a ceremony celebrating the Eiger triumph in 1938, Mr. Harrer shook hands with Hitler and had his picture taken with him.

Mr. Harrer reacted to the disclosure of a Nazi past by saying that he had committed no crimes or atrocities. He said he understood and regretted his mistakes. He explained that he joined the SS only in order to coach skiing, and never coached an SS member.

Orville Schell, in his 2000 book "Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood," commented: "There are not that many moments in life when to claim to be a craven careerist of the most calculating sort is a step up from ignominy."

Heinrich Harrer was born on July 6, 1912, at Hüttenberg, Austria, near the Alps, and grew up mountain-climbing and skiing. The son of a postman, he majored in geography and physical education at Graz University. He won a place on the Austrian Olympic ski team in 1936, and the next year won the downhill race in the world students' championship.

After he and three companions climbed the Eiger, he joined an expedition to climb Nanga Parbat, a 26,600-foot peak in what is now Pakistan. When World War II began, the British captured them and confined them, as Germans and Austrians, to a prison camp.

While he was in captivity, he and his wife divorced. Mr. Harrer is survived by their son, Peter, as well as his third wife, the former Katharina Haarhaus.

Mr. Harrer escaped from the camp after several attempts. He, a companion and a yak took 20 months to reach Tibet. It was the only avenue of escape, one that would have been impossible to all but trained mountaineers.

They arrived in Lhasa on Jan. 15, 1946, and squatted in the courtyard of a wealthy citizen who welcomed them. They evaded another order to leave by making themselves useful; Mr. Harrer worked as a gardener, his friend as an engineer.

The Dalai Lama, then a 10-year-old god king, looked down from his palace and observed Mr. Harrer teaching ice-skating to Tibetans, who called the new sport "walking on knives." Mr. Harrer soon became a government employee with responsibilities that included translating foreign news and directing a flood control project. He received a salary, a home and stable and several servants.

Mr. Harrer became the Dalai Lama's tutor when he was 37 and his pupil was 14, teaching him about topics ranging from Soviet politics to how a jet engine works. The young man was an eager student: Mr. Harrer wrote in his book that when he assigned him 10 sentences to translate, he routinely did 20. The two discussed Buddhism and Western science incessantly.

When Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1951, Mr. Harrer crossed into India by way of Sikkim, shortly before the Dalai Lama himself had to flee. The two met periodically over the years, but the Dalai Lama did not learn of Mr. Harrer's Nazi past until it appeared in the news.

The Dalai Lama told his friend that if his conscience was clear, he had nothing to fear, The Independent, the London newspaper, reported. Mr. Harrer said that it was.


SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (DAVID BOWIE)
Seven Years In Tibet lyrics


"Are you OK?
You've been shot in the head
And I'm holding your brains"
The old woman said
So I drink in the shadows
Of an evening sky
See nothing at all

The stars look so special
And the snow looks so old
The frail form is drifting
Beyond the orc's zone
Time to question the mountain
Why pigs can fly
It's nothing at all

I praise to you
Nothing ever goes away
I praise to you
Nothing ever goes
I praise to you
I praise to you
Nothing ever goes away
I praise to you
Nothing ever goes
I praise to you
Nothing ever goes away
I praise to you
Nothing ever goes, nothing ever goes
Nothing