Heinrich Harrer

Heinrich Harrer was thrice married. His first marriage was to Lotte Wegener in 1938 which resulted in the birth of a son. The marriage was later dissolved. His second marriage to Margaretha Truxa in 1953 ended in 1958. He tied the knot for the third and final time with Katharina Haarhaus in 1962.

He died on 7 January 2006, at the age of 93.

Heinrich Harrer was born on 6 July 1912 in Hüttenberg, Austria, as the son of a postal worker. He developed an interest in skiing and mountaineering at a young age.

He studied geography and sports at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz from 1933 to 1938. He was chosen to participate in the Alpine skiing competition at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but the Austrian Alpine skiing team boycotted the event due to certain reasons. In 1937, he won the downhill event at the World Student Championships at Zell am See.

In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria and Harrer joined the Schutzstaffel (SS). He held the rank of Oberscharführer (Sergeant) and became a member of the Nazi Party.

Heinrich Harrer, along with his friend Fritz Kasparek, resolved to climb the hitherto unconquered North Face of the Eiger (3,970 m, 13,025 ft) in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. It was a very dangerous mission; many other mountaineers had perished while attempting to scale the peak.

In July 1938, the two men set out on their climb. Halfway up the mountain Harrer and Kasparek met German mountaineers Ludwig Vörg and Anderl Heckmair who were also making the attempt. The four decided to form a team and chose Heckmair as their leader.

The climb was a treacherous one and the four men were constantly threatened by snow avalanches and rock falls. Determined to accomplish the feat, they strived on and finally reached the summit on 24 July 1938. Their remarkable feat earned them international acclaim.

Boosted by the successful summit of the North Face of the Eiger, Harrer joined a four-man expedition to the Diamir Face of the Nanga Parbat in 1939. The team, led by Peter Aufschnaiter, aimed to find an easier route to the peak. The mountaineers first travelled to Karachi from where they planned to embark on their attempt.

Heinrich Harrer’s book ‘Seven Years in Tibet: My Life Before, During and After,’ based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War became a bestseller in the United States and was translated into 53 languages. The book was made into a biographical war drama film starring Brad Pitt as Harrer in 1997.