1938–1939 German expedition to Tibet

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.

The entire expedition, with Sir Basil Gould

The origins of the expedition

The Reichsführer-SS Himmler was attempting to avail himself of the reputation of 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

Designations

While preparing the expedition, Ernst Schäfer used "Schaefer Expedition 1938/1939" on his letterhead and to apply for sponsoring from businessmen.^[2]

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).^[3][4][5]

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.^[6][7] The latter designation is still being used by modern scholars.^[8][9]

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.^[10]

Funding

According to researcher Isrun Engelhardt, the expedition was not funded by the Ahnenerbe.^[11] Ernst Schäfer raised the funds by himself, 80% of which came from Public Relations and Advertising Council of German Industry (Werberat der deutschen Wirtschaft) as well as large German business enterprises, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) and Brooke Dolan II. Himmler's friends circle sponsored only the flight back to Germany.^[12]

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.^[13]

• 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

Edmund Geer in Tibet, 1938.

Ernst Schäfer in Tibet, 1938.

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.^[14] 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^[14] 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.

Background

Ernst Krause filming blue vetch.

Karl Wienert taking photogrammetric measurements.

The official plan of the expedition included research on the landforms, climate, geography, and culture of the region,^[15] and contacting the local authorities for the establishment of representation in the country.^[16]

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.^[17]

Photograph of the expedition

The group of five researchers intended to contact the Regent of Tibet^[18] 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 Tibetan 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.

Under SS banners and a swastika, the expedition members are entertaining a number of Tibetan dignitaries in Lhasa; left: Beger, Geer; in the centre: Tsarong Dzasa, Schäfer; right: Wienert, Möndro (Möndo)

Expedition details

Ernst Schäfer with Tashi Namgyal (Maharaja of Sikkim) and Tashi Dadul General Secretary to the Chogyal

Mission school in Lachen, a Finnish missionary with her assistant and a native pastor

In July 1937 the team suffered a setback when Japan 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.^[14]

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.^[14]

Beger busy taking cranial measurements

A Tibetan labeled Passang.

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.^[14]

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.^[14]

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.^[19] 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.^[14]

During the trip to Tibet’s highlands, Beger began making facial casts of local people, including his personal servant, a Nepalese 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.

Beger with the Regent of Tibet, in Lhasa.

The Yumbulagang fortress as photographed by Ernst Krause in 1938

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.^[14] 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).^[14]

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.

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 mastiff, a gold coin and the robe of a lama (believed by Schäfer to have been worn by the Dalai Lama) to be gifted to Adolf Hitler.^[14]

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.^[20] 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, 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.^[21]

In May 1939, Harrer was selected by the German Himalayan Foundation to take part in a new expedition to the Nanga Parbat,^[22] 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.^[23] Some evidence of this expedition is kept in the National Archives of Washington D.C..

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Deutsche Tibet-Expedition Ernst Schäfer

• 1939 Japanese expedition to Tibet
• Seven Years in Tibet

Footnotes

References

• Pringle, Heather (2006). The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust. Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6886-5. 
• Hale, Christopher (2003). Himmler’s Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race. Hoboken, N. J.: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 200. ISBN 0-471-26292-7. 
• Schellenberg, Walter (1956). The Schellenberg Memoirs. London: Andre Deutsch. 
• Levenda, Peter (2003). Unholy Alliance: A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. pp. 191–202. ISBN 0-8264-1409-5. 
• The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, United States Forces - European Theater, Military Intelligence Service Center, APO 757 Final Interrogation Report (OI-FIR) No. 32, Feb. 12, 1946.
• Michael H. Kater, Das "Ahnenerbe" der SS 1935-1945; ein Beitrag zur Kulturpolitik des Dritten Reiches, Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1974 (paperback edition 2001, Oldenbourg Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-486-56529-X)

• (French) Detlev Rose, L'expédition allemande au Tibet de 1938-39. Voyage scientifique ou quête de traces à motivation idéologique ?, in Synergies européennes - Bruxelles-Munich-Tübingen, novembre 2006 (article originating from Deutschland in Geschichte und Gegenwart, No 3-2006)."
• Peter Mierau, Nationalsozialistische Expeditionspolitik. Deutsche Asien-Expeditionen 1933–1945, Múnich, 2006 (contains an account of Schäfer's expeditions).
• Isrun Engelhardt, «Tibetan Triangle. German, Tibetan and British relations in the context of E. Schäfer's expedition, 1938-1939», in Asiatische Studien, LVIII.1, 2004.
• Isrun Engelhardt, Tibet in 1938-1939 : Photographs from the Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet, Serindia, Chicago, 2007.
• Isrun Engelhardt, «Mishandled Mail : The Strange Case of the Reting Regent's Letters to Hitler», in Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies 2003, Oxford.
• Isrun Engelhardt, «The Nazis of Tibet : A twentieth century myth», in Monica Esposito, Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Ecole française d'Extrême Orient, coll. «Etudes thématiques», 2008.
• Wolfgang Kaufmann, "Das Dritte Reich und Tibet. Die Heimat des 'östlichen Hakenkreuzes' im Blickfeld der Nationalsozialisten", Ludwigsfelder Verlagshaus 2009 (962 p.).