1939 German expedition to Tibet
Encyclopedia
The 1938-1939 German Expedition to Tibet was a May 1938 - August 1939 German scientific expedition led by German zoologist and SS
officer Ernst Schäfer
.
for Nazi propaganda
and asked about his future plans. Ernst Schäfer responded he wanted to lead another expedition to Tibet. Ernst Schäfer wished his expedition to be under the patronage of the cultural department of the foreign affairs or of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
("German Research Foundation") as indicated by his requests. Himmler was fascinated by Asian mysticism and therefore wished to send such an expedition under the auspices of the SS Ahnenerbe
(SS Ancestral Heritage Society), and desired that Schäfer perform research based on Hans Hörbiger
’s pseudo-scientific theory of “Glacial Cosmogony” promoted by the Ahnenerbe. Schäfer had scientific objectives, and he therefore refused to include Edmund Kiss
, an adept of this theory, in his team, and requested 12 conditions to obtain scientific freedom. Wolfram Sievers
from the Ahnenerbe therefore expressed criticism concerning the objectives of the expedition, so that Ahnenerbe would not sponsor it. Himmler accepted the expedition to be organised on the condition that all its members become SS. In order to succeed in his expedition, Schäfer had to compromise.
However, the official name had to be changed on order of the "Ahnenerbe" to "German Tibet-Expedition Ernst Schaefer" (in big letters), under the patronage of the Reichsführer-SS Himmler and in connection with the Ahnenerbe” (in small letters).
In its time, the expedition was also commonly referred to in German newspapers and academic journals as the SS Tibet Expedition as it had Heinrich Himmler as its patron and all five members were officers in the SS. The latter designation is still being used by modern scholars.
In the "Register of the Heinrich Himmler Papers", 1914–1944, archived at Stanford University's Hoover institution, the folder containing the material pertaining to the expedition has for its title The SS-Tibet-Expedition, 1939.
(German Research Foundation) and Brooke Dolan II. Himmler's friends circle sponsored only the flight back to Germany.
According to the United States Forces, the expedition's funding was provided by various public and private contributors, with the return flight to Germany paid for by the SS. The cost of equipping the expedition was RM 65,000, and the expedition itself cost another RM 65,000, excluding the flight back, which was financed by the SS.
Ernst Schäfer
was a member of the SS when he showed up at the German consulate in Chung-King
in 1935. Schäfer had just returned from a trip through parts of Asia, mainly India and China, in which the other two heads of the expedition had abandoned him in fear of native tribes. Schäfer turned the expedition from a complete failure into a great success, and the SS took note, sending him a letter informing him of a promotion to SS-Untersturmführer
and summoning him back to Germany from Philadelphia
where he was organizing the collection from his voyage. In June 1936, Schäfer met with Himmler, who consequently informed Sievers and Galke to start organizing an expedition to Tibet.
Schäfer recruited young, fit men who would be well suited for an arduous journey At age 24, Karl Wienert (an assistant of Wilhelm Filchner
, a famous explorer) was the team’s geologist. Also age 24, Edmund Geer was selected as the technical leader to organize the expedition. A relatively old teammate at the age of 38 was Ernst Krause
(not to be confused with the German biologist of the same name) was to double as a filmmaker and entomologist. Bruno Beger
was a 26-year-old Rassekunde expert and student of Hans F.K. Günther
's who was to be the team’s anthropologist.
The official plan of the expedition included research on the landforms, climate, geography, and culture of the region, and contacting the local authorities for the establishment of representation in the country.
There have been allegations that one of the expedition's purposes was to determine whether Tibet was the cradle of the Aryan race. The taking of cranial measurements and making of facial casts of local people by anthropologist Bruno Beger did little to dissipate the allegations.
The group of five researchers intended to contact the Regent of Tibet and visit the sacred cities of Lhasa
and Shigatse
. Even with wartime difficulties the group was able to contact the Tibetan authorities and people. They returned to Germany
with a complete edition of the Tibetan sacred text the Kangyur
(108 volumes), examples of Mandala
, other ancient texts, and one alleged document regarding the Aryan Race. These documents were kept in Ahnenerbe
archives.
There exist some photos of Schäfer and colleagues with Tibet
an dignitaries in a room decorated with black and white SS banners, Swastika
and Tibetan flags. Others show Schäfer with the Potala Palace in the background, and other group members undertaking research in the Tibetan mountains.
invaded Manchuria in China
, ruining Schäfer’s plans to use the Yangtze River
to reach Tibet. Schäfer flew to London to seek permission to travel through India, but was turned down by the British government who feared an imminent war with Germany.
Another problem to come up in the preparations for the Tibetan expedition occurred during a duck hunting accident on November 9, 1937 when Schäfer, his wife of four months, and two servants were in a rowboat. A sudden wave caused Schäfer to drop his gun which broke in two and discharged, mortally wounding his wife. Despite subsequent emotional problems, Schäfer was back to work on the expedition in eight weeks.
In a move that lost the Ahnenerbe’s support, Schäfer asked Himmler for permission to simply arrive in India and try to force his way into Tibet. Himmler agreed with this plan, and set about furthering it by contacting influential people, including Germany’s foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
. On April 21, 1938 the team departed from Genoa
, Italy
on their way to Ceylon
where they would then travel to Calcutta
, British India
.
The day before the team left Europe the Völkischer Beobachter
ran an article on the expedition, alerting British officials of their intentions. Schäfer and Himmler were both enraged: Schäfer complained to the SS headquarters and Himmler in turn wrote to Admiral Barry Domvile
. Domvile was a Nazi supporter and former head of British naval intelligence who gave the letter to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
who allowed the SS team to enter Sikkim
, a region bordering Tibet.
In Sikkim’s capital of Gangtok
, the team assembled a 50-mule caravan and searched for porters
and Tibetan interpreters. Here, the British official, Sir Basil Gould
observed them, describing Schäfer as “interesting, forceful, volatile, scholarly, vain to the point of childishness, disregardful of social convention,” and noted that he was determined to enter Tibet regardless of permission.
The team began their journey June 21, 1938, traveling through the Teesta River
valley and then heading north. Krause worked light traps to capture insects, Wienert toured the hills making measurements, Geer collected bird species and Beger offered locals medical help in exchange for allowing him to take measurements of them.
In August 1938, a high official of the Rajah Tering, a member of the Sikkimese royal family living in Tibet, entered the team’s camp. Although Beger wished to ask the guest’s permission to measure him, he was dissuaded by the Tibetan porters who encouraged him to wait for Schäfer to return from a hunting trip. Schäfer met with the official, and presented him with mule-loads of gifts.
In December 1938 the Tibetan council of ministers invited Schäfer and his team to Tibet, but forbade them from killing any animals during their stay, citing religious concerns. After a supply trip back to Gangtok, Schäfer learned he had been promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer
, and the rest of the team had been promoted to SS-Obersturmführer
.
During the trip to Tibet’s highlands, Beger began making facial casts of local people, including his personal servant, a Nepal
ese Sherpa
named Passang. During the first casting, paste got into one of Passang’s nostrils and he panicked, tearing at the mask. Schäfer threatened the employment of the porters who had seen the incident, if they told anyone. However, most of the Tibetans had a much more friendly and light-hearted attitude, and a solid amount of photographic and film footage remains of smiling and laughing Tibetans undergoing facial and skull feature measurements.
On January 19, 1939, the team reached Lhasa
, the capital of Tibet. Schäfer proceeded to pay his respects to the Tibetan ministers and a nobleman. He also gave out Nazi pennants, explaining the shared symbol’s reverence in Germany. His permission to remain in Lhasa was extended, and he was permitted to photograph and film the region. The team spent two months in Lhasa, collecting information on agriculture, culture, and religion, even receiving a copy of the 108-volume encyclopedia of Tibetan Buddhism
(only three copies of which had been given to Europeans and had never been translated).
After leaving Lhasa, the team traveled to the Yarlung Valley
– a region British officials had been denied entry into. The team observed the valley and the ancient stronghold of Yumbulagang, but the approaching war threatened their research, and they began preparing plans to return via a flight from Calcutta to Baghdad, and eventually back to Germany.
, a gold coin and the robe of a lamayou (believed by Schäfer to have madbeen worn by the Dalai Lama
) to be gifted to Adolf Hitler
.
Schäfer arrived in Munich on August 4, 1939, and was greeted personally by Himmler, who presented him with the SS skull ring and dagger of honour. Because of the war, Schäfer’s writings about the trip were not published until 1950, under the title Festival of the White Gauze Scarves: A research expedition through Tibet to Lhasa, the holy city of the god realm.
Heinrich Harrer
, an expert alpinist, was a member of the SS Alpine unit. The unit practised on the Eiger mountain in Switzerland in 1938. When the group returned to Germany, Hitler met with them.
In May 1939, Harrer was selected by the German Himalayan Foundation to take part in a new expedition to the Nanga Parbat
, one of the highest Indian mountains, under the leadership of Peter Aufschnaiter
. Their goal was to discover new ways to make the ascent of the North-western face. In August 1939, their mission accomplished, the team left for Karachi
, where a vessel was supposed to have recovered them.
The group were captured by British forces under the command of Major General Alan Van Dyke in October 1939 and escaped from jail. Harrer was later recaptured and escaped from his captors again. Harrer arrived with Aufschnaiter in Tibet on May 17, 1944, and was introduced to the Dalai Lama
in 1949, staying in the country until China reasserted its control over it in 1951. Some evidence of this expedition is kept in the National Archives of Washington D.C..
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officer Ernst Schäfer
Ernst Schäfer
Ernst Schäfer was a famous German hunter and zoologist in the 1930s, specializing in ornithology.-Biography:Schäfer is most famous for his three expeditions to Tibet in 1931, in 1934–1935, and in 1938–1939. The first two expeditions were led by the American Brooke Dolan II...
.
The origins of the expedition
The Reichsführer-SS Himmler was attempting to avail himself of the reputation of Ernst SchäferErnst Schäfer
Ernst Schäfer was a famous German hunter and zoologist in the 1930s, specializing in ornithology.-Biography:Schäfer is most famous for his three expeditions to Tibet in 1931, in 1934–1935, and in 1938–1939. The first two expeditions were led by the American Brooke Dolan II...
for Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
and asked about his future plans. Ernst Schäfer responded he wanted to lead another expedition to Tibet. Ernst Schäfer wished his expedition to be under the patronage of the cultural department of the foreign affairs or of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
("German Research Foundation") as indicated by his requests. Himmler was fascinated by Asian mysticism and therefore wished to send such an expedition under the auspices of the SS Ahnenerbe
Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
(SS Ancestral Heritage Society), and desired that Schäfer perform research based on Hans Hörbiger
Hans Hörbiger
Hanns Hörbiger was an Austrian engineer from Vienna with roots in Tyrol. He took part in the construction of the Budapest subway and in 1894 invented a new type of valve essential for compressors still in widespread use today.He is also remembered today for his pseudoscientific Welteislehre ...
’s pseudo-scientific theory of “Glacial Cosmogony” promoted by the Ahnenerbe. Schäfer had scientific objectives, and he therefore refused to include Edmund Kiss
Edmund Kiss
Edmund Kiss was a German archaeologist and writer best known for his writings on Tiwanaku in Bolivia.-Early life and writings:...
, an adept of this theory, in his team, and requested 12 conditions to obtain scientific freedom. Wolfram Sievers
Wolfram Sievers
Wolfram Sievers was Reichsgeschäftsführer, or managing director, of the Ahnenerbe from 1935 to 1945.-Early life:...
from the Ahnenerbe therefore expressed criticism concerning the objectives of the expedition, so that Ahnenerbe would not sponsor it. Himmler accepted the expedition to be organised on the condition that all its members become SS. In order to succeed in his expedition, Schäfer had to compromise.
Designations
While preparing the expedition, Ernst Schäfer used "Schaefer Expedition 1938/1939" on his letterhead and to apply for sponsoring from businessmen.However, the official name had to be changed on order of the "Ahnenerbe" to "German Tibet-Expedition Ernst Schaefer" (in big letters), under the patronage of the Reichsführer-SS Himmler and in connection with the Ahnenerbe” (in small letters).
In its time, the expedition was also commonly referred to in German newspapers and academic journals as the SS Tibet Expedition as it had Heinrich Himmler as its patron and all five members were officers in the SS. The latter designation is still being used by modern scholars.
In the "Register of the Heinrich Himmler Papers", 1914–1944, archived at Stanford University's Hoover institution, the folder containing the material pertaining to the expedition has for its title The SS-Tibet-Expedition, 1939.
Funding
According to researcher Isrun Engelhardt, the expedition was not funded by the Ahnenerbe. Ernst Schäfer raised the funds by himself, 80% of which came from Public Relations and Advertising Council of German Business (Werberat der deutschen Wirtschaft) as well as large German business enterprises, Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
(German Research Foundation) and Brooke Dolan II. Himmler's friends circle sponsored only the flight back to Germany.
According to the United States Forces, the expedition's funding was provided by various public and private contributors, with the return flight to Germany paid for by the SS. The cost of equipping the expedition was RM 65,000, and the expedition itself cost another RM 65,000, excluding the flight back, which was financed by the SS.
- Werberat der Deutschen Wirtschaft (Propaganda Council for German Economy) - RM 40.000,
- I.G. Farbenindustrie (through Filchner, Tibet explorer) - RM 35,000
- Illustrierter and Voelkischer Beobachter - RM 40,000 (Eher Publishing House, later claimed sponsorship of the expedition.)
- Reichsforschungsdienst (Reich Research Service) - RM 6,000
- Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (German Research Society) - RM 10,000
- Hecker, head of Ilseder Huette - RM 2,000
- Phoenix Rubber Works, Harburg (plant owned by Schaefer's father) - RM 3,000
- Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia - $1,000
- Varying amounts from several smaller firms and associations.
Members
Ernst Schäfer
Ernst Schäfer was a famous German hunter and zoologist in the 1930s, specializing in ornithology.-Biography:Schäfer is most famous for his three expeditions to Tibet in 1931, in 1934–1935, and in 1938–1939. The first two expeditions were led by the American Brooke Dolan II...
was a member of the SS when he showed up at the German consulate in Chung-King
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
in 1935. Schäfer had just returned from a trip through parts of Asia, mainly India and China, in which the other two heads of the expedition had abandoned him in fear of native tribes. Schäfer turned the expedition from a complete failure into a great success, and the SS took note, sending him a letter informing him of a promotion to SS-Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the German Schutzstaffel first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of Sturmführer which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921...
and summoning him back to Germany from Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
where he was organizing the collection from his voyage. In June 1936, Schäfer met with Himmler, who consequently informed Sievers and Galke to start organizing an expedition to Tibet.
Schäfer recruited young, fit men who would be well suited for an arduous journey At age 24, Karl Wienert (an assistant of Wilhelm Filchner
Wilhelm Filchner
Wilhelm Filchner was a German explorer.At the age of 21, he participated in his first expedition, which led him to Russia. Two years later, he travelled alone and on horseback through the Pamir Mountains, from Osh to Murgabh to the upper Wakhan to Tashkurgan and back...
, a famous explorer) was the team’s geologist. Also age 24, Edmund Geer was selected as the technical leader to organize the expedition. A relatively old teammate at the age of 38 was Ernst Krause
Ernst Krause
Dr Ernst Krause also known under the pen-name Carus Sterne was a German biologist.-External links:* at www.eiszeitstrasse.de...
(not to be confused with the German biologist of the same name) was to double as a filmmaker and entomologist. Bruno Beger
Bruno Beger
Bruno Beger was a German Racial anthropologist who worked for the Ahnenerbe...
was a 26-year-old Rassekunde expert and student of Hans F.K. Günther
Hans F.K. Günther
Hans Friedrich Karl Günther was a German race researcher and eugenicist in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. He was also known as Race Günther or Race Pope . He is considered to be a major influence on National Socialist racialist thought...
's who was to be the team’s anthropologist.
Background
There have been allegations that one of the expedition's purposes was to determine whether Tibet was the cradle of the Aryan race. The taking of cranial measurements and making of facial casts of local people by anthropologist Bruno Beger did little to dissipate the allegations.
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
and Shigatse
Shigatse
Shigatse is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region , People's Republic of China, with a population of 92000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
. Even with wartime difficulties the group was able to contact the Tibetan authorities and people. They returned to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with a complete edition of the Tibetan sacred text the Kangyur
Kangyur
The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, made up of the Kangyur or Kanjur and the Tengyur or Tanjur .-The Tibetan Buddhist Canon:In addition to earlier foundational Buddhist texts from early Buddhist schools, mostly...
(108 volumes), examples of Mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
, other ancient texts, and one alleged document regarding the Aryan Race. These documents were kept in Ahnenerbe
Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
archives.
There exist some photos of Schäfer and colleagues with Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an dignitaries in a room decorated with black and white SS banners, Swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
and Tibetan flags. Others show Schäfer with the Potala Palace in the background, and other group members undertaking research in the Tibetan mountains.
Expedition details
In July 1937 the team suffered a setback when JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
invaded Manchuria in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, ruining Schäfer’s plans to use the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
to reach Tibet. Schäfer flew to London to seek permission to travel through India, but was turned down by the British government who feared an imminent war with Germany.
Another problem to come up in the preparations for the Tibetan expedition occurred during a duck hunting accident on November 9, 1937 when Schäfer, his wife of four months, and two servants were in a rowboat. A sudden wave caused Schäfer to drop his gun which broke in two and discharged, mortally wounding his wife. Despite subsequent emotional problems, Schäfer was back to work on the expedition in eight weeks.
In a move that lost the Ahnenerbe’s support, Schäfer asked Himmler for permission to simply arrive in India and try to force his way into Tibet. Himmler agreed with this plan, and set about furthering it by contacting influential people, including Germany’s foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
. On April 21, 1938 the team departed from Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
on their way to Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
where they would then travel to Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, British India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
.
The day before the team left Europe the Völkischer Beobachter
Völkischer Beobachter
The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...
ran an article on the expedition, alerting British officials of their intentions. Schäfer and Himmler were both enraged: Schäfer complained to the SS headquarters and Himmler in turn wrote to Admiral Barry Domvile
Barry Domvile
Admiral Sir Barry Edward Domvile KBE CB CMG was a distinguished Royal Navy officer who turned into a leading British Pro-German anti-Semite in the years before the Second World War....
. Domvile was a Nazi supporter and former head of British naval intelligence who gave the letter to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
who allowed the SS team to enter Sikkim
Sikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
, a region bordering Tibet.
Gangtok
Gangtok is the capital and largest town of the Indian state of Sikkim. Gangtok is located in the Shivalik Hills of the eastern Himalayan range, at an altitude of . The town, with a population of thirty thousand belonging to different ethnicities such as Nepalis, Lepchas and Bhutia, is administered...
, the team assembled a 50-mule caravan and searched for porters
Porter (carrier)
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...
and Tibetan interpreters. Here, the British official, Sir Basil Gould
Basil Gould
Sir Basil John Gould, CMG, CIE was a British Political Officer in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet from 1935 to 1945.Gould was known by the nickname "B.J.", and went to school at Winchester College and Oxford University. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1907.Gould was a British Trade Agent in...
observed them, describing Schäfer as “interesting, forceful, volatile, scholarly, vain to the point of childishness, disregardful of social convention,” and noted that he was determined to enter Tibet regardless of permission.
The team began their journey June 21, 1938, traveling through the Teesta River
Teesta River
River Teesta or Tista is said to be the lifeline of the Indian state of Sikkim, flowing for almost the entire length of the state and carving out verdant Himalayan temperate and tropical river valleys. The emerald-coloured river then forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal before joining...
valley and then heading north. Krause worked light traps to capture insects, Wienert toured the hills making measurements, Geer collected bird species and Beger offered locals medical help in exchange for allowing him to take measurements of them.
In August 1938, a high official of the Rajah Tering, a member of the Sikkimese royal family living in Tibet, entered the team’s camp. Although Beger wished to ask the guest’s permission to measure him, he was dissuaded by the Tibetan porters who encouraged him to wait for Schäfer to return from a hunting trip. Schäfer met with the official, and presented him with mule-loads of gifts.
In December 1938 the Tibetan council of ministers invited Schäfer and his team to Tibet, but forbade them from killing any animals during their stay, citing religious concerns. After a supply trip back to Gangtok, Schäfer learned he had been promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
, and the rest of the team had been promoted to SS-Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...
.
During the trip to Tibet’s highlands, Beger began making facial casts of local people, including his personal servant, a Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
ese Sherpa
Sherpa people
The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for beyul...
named Passang. During the first casting, paste got into one of Passang’s nostrils and he panicked, tearing at the mask. Schäfer threatened the employment of the porters who had seen the incident, if they told anyone. However, most of the Tibetans had a much more friendly and light-hearted attitude, and a solid amount of photographic and film footage remains of smiling and laughing Tibetans undergoing facial and skull feature measurements.
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
, the capital of Tibet. Schäfer proceeded to pay his respects to the Tibetan ministers and a nobleman. He also gave out Nazi pennants, explaining the shared symbol’s reverence in Germany. His permission to remain in Lhasa was extended, and he was permitted to photograph and film the region. The team spent two months in Lhasa, collecting information on agriculture, culture, and religion, even receiving a copy of the 108-volume encyclopedia of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
(only three copies of which had been given to Europeans and had never been translated).
After leaving Lhasa, the team traveled to the Yarlung Valley
Yarlung Zangbo River
Yarlung River is a watercourse that originates upstream from the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, in Tibet. It then passes through the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, where it is known as the Dihang....
– a region British officials had been denied entry into. The team observed the valley and the ancient stronghold of Yumbulagang, but the approaching war threatened their research, and they began preparing plans to return via a flight from Calcutta to Baghdad, and eventually back to Germany.
Return to Germany
Their final inventory included 20,000 black-and-white photographs, 2,000 colour photographs, 17 head casts and the measurements of 376 people, as well as having sent back specimens of three breeds of Tibetan dogs, rare feline species, wolves, badgers, foxes, animal and bird skins, and the seeds for 1,600 types of barley, 700 varieties- of- wheat, 700 varieties of oats and hundreds of other types of seeds. In addition, the team had been given a Tibetan mastiffTibetan Mastiff
The Tibetan Mastiff is an ancient breed and type of domestic dog originating with nomadic cultures of Central Asia.-Names and etymology:...
, a gold coin and the robe of a lamayou (believed by Schäfer to have madbeen worn by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
) to be gifted to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
.
Schäfer arrived in Munich on August 4, 1939, and was greeted personally by Himmler, who presented him with the SS skull ring and dagger of honour. Because of the war, Schäfer’s writings about the trip were not published until 1950, under the title Festival of the White Gauze Scarves: A research expedition through Tibet to Lhasa, the holy city of the god realm.
The Nanga Parbat expedition (May 1939 - August 1939)
The Schäfer expedition to Tibet (May 1938 - August 1939) is often confused with the Nanga Parbat expedition (May 1939 - August 1939). While the former is a mainly anthropological affair, the latter is essentially a mountaineering expedition. Although slightly overlapping, the dates are different, too.Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.He is best known for his books Seven Years in Tibet and The White Spider .-Athletics:...
, an expert alpinist, was a member of the SS Alpine unit. The unit practised on the Eiger mountain in Switzerland in 1938. When the group returned to Germany, Hitler met with them.
In May 1939, Harrer was selected by the German Himalayan Foundation to take part in a new expedition to the Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest mountain on Earth, the second highest mountain in Pakistan and among the eight-thousanders with a summit elevation of 8,126 meters...
, one of the highest Indian mountains, under the leadership of Peter Aufschnaiter
Peter Aufschnaiter
Peter Aufschnaiter was an Austrian mountaineer, agricultural scientist, geographer and cartographer.-Life:...
. Their goal was to discover new ways to make the ascent of the North-western face. In August 1939, their mission accomplished, the team left for Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, where a vessel was supposed to have recovered them.
The group were captured by British forces under the command of Major General Alan Van Dyke in October 1939 and escaped from jail. Harrer was later recaptured and escaped from his captors again. Harrer arrived with Aufschnaiter in Tibet on May 17, 1944, and was introduced to the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
in 1949, staying in the country until China reasserted its control over it in 1951. Some evidence of this expedition is kept in the National Archives of Washington D.C..
See also
- 1939 Japanese expedition to Tibet1939 Japanese expedition to TibetThe Japanese expedition to Tibet was an intelligence mission undertaken by in Tibet in 1939.-Background:The Japanese during the 1918-1922 period began realizing secret moves in Xinjiang area; the Genyosha agents made undercover operations in Hami and other cities to recover info about the Soviets...
- Seven Years in TibetSeven Years in TibetSeven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer 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...