On 21 December 1938, a caravan crossed the high Himalayan pass Nathu-La between Sikkim and Tibet. They were five young men who were the first Germans to receive official permission to visit the "forbidden city" of Lhasa. Swastika pennants and SS runes fluttered on their luggage. The men were SS officers, their expedition was under the special sponsorship of Heinrich Himmler and his SS organisation "Ahnenerbe". What drove the five to the roof of the world? Was it just zoological research, anthropological surveys and physical experiments? Or was it also to establish secret diplomatic contacts in the back of the British Empire? Or were they supposed to search for relics of the ancient Aryans in Tibet?
There are still many speculations about the 1938/39 expedition. Peter Meier-Hüsing unravels the history and aftermath of the expedition and provides a critical examination of the ideological set pieces that led to the expedition.
Group
Books (first-hand)
Author
Meier-Hüsing, Peter
Title
Nazis in Tibet. Das Rätsel um die SS-Expedition Ernst Schäfer
