This episode marred his final years, and there were allegations that he was understating the strength of his past Nazi connection. Harrer said he regarded his involvement with the SS as the biggest aberration of his life: it belonged to the past and his personal philosophy grew entirely 'out of my life in Tibet'. The story of his Nazi past came out in 1997, ironically just before the release of the Hollywood film of Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt. Harrer omitted to mention that as a young man in Austria he had joined the Nazi party, and, with his fellow climbers, had been congratulated in person by Hitler after making the first successful ascent of the north face of the Eiger. Their epic tale, when Harrer told it in Seven Years in Tibet (1953), became a classic. A motion picture, under the direction of Jean-Jacques Annaud, will feature Brad Pitt in the lead role of Heinrich Harrer.Harrer and his colleague Peter Aufschnaiter had escaped from a British camp in India where they were interned (because of their Austrian nationality), after an abortive assault on Nanga Parbat.

It is a must-read for lovers of travel, adventure, history, and culture. This timeless story illuminates Eastern culture, as well as the childhood of His Holiness and the current plight of Tibetans. When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1950, Harrer and the Dalai Lama fled the country together. His intelligence and European ways also intrigued the young Dalai Lama, and Harrer soon became His Holiness?s tutor and trusted confidant. But Tibetan hospitality and his own curious appearance worked in Harrer?s favor, allowing him unprecedented acceptance among the upper classes. After several attempts, he escaped and crossed the rugged, frozen Himalayas, surviving by duping government officials and depending on the generosity of villagers for food and shelter.Harrer finally reached his ultimate destination-the Forbidden City of Lhasa-without money, or permission to be in Tibet. He was subsequently seized and imprisoned by British authorities.

Harrer was traveling in India when the Second World War erupted. Synopsis: In this vivid memoir that has sold millions of copies worldwide, Heinrich Harrer recounts his adventures as one of the first Europeans ever to enter Tibet.

7 years in tibet heinrich harrer