Nazis in Tibet

Peter Meier-Hüsing (1958) is a church historian, freelance journalist and writer. He works for the radio station Radio Bremen, where he runs a chronicling column. His great passion, besides writing, is mountaineering, which is why he has written books on the history of mountaineering in addition to publications on church history. His great interest in Tibet and its history led him to become intensely interested in the subject of the Ernst Schäfer expedition and its background.

On 21 December 1938, a caravan of horsemen crossed the high mountain pass of Nathu-La between Sikkim and Tibet in the Himalayas. These were the five young men who were the first Germans to receive official permission to visit the "forbidden city" of Lhasa.

On their luggage flew flags with swastikas and SS runes. These men were SS officers, and their expedition enjoyed the special support of Heinrich Himmler and his SS organisation "Ahnenerbe". What drove those five men to the roof of the world? Was it all about zoological research, anthropological measurements and geomagnetic experiments? Was this about building secret diplomatic contacts behind the back of the British Empire? Or were they supposed to find possible relics of "Praaryans" in Tibet?

To this day, there is much speculation surrounding the 1938/1939 expedition. Peter Meier-Hüsing lays out the history and aftermath of this venture and adds critical remarks about the ideological background that led to the creation of this expedition.