The Influence of the
Occult on the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet
By Jigme
Duntak 8 Comments
Categories: Tibet
Tags: 1939
German Expedition, Adolf Hitler,
Ernst
Schafer, Heinrich Himmler, Nazis in
Tibet, Occultism,
Tibet, Tibetan
History
Ernst Schäfer and his expeditionary team in
Lhasa in 1938
In the late spring of 1938 a German expedition team
arrived in Calcutta with the aim of entering into Tibet. The expedition
team consisted of: Zoologist, ornithologist, and expedition leader Ernst
Schäfer; Entomologist, photographer, and camera operator, Ernst Krause;
Ethnologist, Bruno Beger; Geophysicist, Karl Wienert; and technical
caravan manager Edmund Greer. As well as being scientists, all of the
five members were also officers in the SS. Weeks before the German
invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939, the team had
returned from their expedition and had successfully entered Tibet and
had collected a large amount of scientific material.1
Occultism, the belief in the existence of secret, mysterious, or
supernatural agencies, has been claimed to have links to Nazism and its
beliefs on the roots of the Aryan Race. For many, the 1939 German
expedition to Tibet was proof of this link. Some theories claim that
Hitler held occultist beliefs of a hidden population of Aryan supermen
in the Himalayas and that the expedition was thus driven by Hitler’s
desire to find these people. Other’s point to Himmler and claim that it
was his occult beliefs in Tibet that led him to sponsor the expedition
and then use it to serve his occultic interests. However, contrary to
the claims of many sensational genres of literature, the 1939 German
Expedition to Tibet was not driven by occult beliefs on the roots of the
Aryan race, but rather by the scientific interests of Ernst Schäfer.
Schafer Meets With Himmler
Ernst
Schäfer
By the time Schäfer had met Himmler in their
meeting in 1936, Himmler had become one of the Third Reich’s strongest
figures. Himmler possessed substantial power with his new position as
Chief of German Police which gave him control over every police
department in the Reich. In the previous summer of 1935, Himmler and his
associates had founded the “Ahnenerbe” (transliterated as “something
inherited from the forefathers” but also translated sometimes as the
‘Ancestral Heritage Society’). Its official purpose was: “The
investigation of space, spirit, accomplishments, and the heritage of the
Indo-Germanic peoples of the Nordic Race, the verification of the
results of their research, and their transmission to the people.”3
The Nazis had used the term ‘Aryan’ to denote a racial group, as
opposed to its proper use as a group of Proto-Indo-European speakers.
The use of this term as such preceded the Nazis, in 1819 a classical
scholar Freidrich Von Schlegal (1722-1829) first coined the use of the
term. The Ahnenerbe was geared towards distorting the truth in order to
provide evidence to support these racial ideas, particularly proof of
the superiority of the “Aryan race.” The “Ahnenerbe” was an integrated
part of the SS, it was an office within Himmler’s personal staff and its
members wore SS uniforms and had SS ranks.
Himmler’s Occult Beliefs on Tibet
Himmler was fascinated by the orient and
occultism, it was rumored that he had even carried a copy of the
Bhagavad-Gita, a revered and sacred scripture of Hinduism. He had a
strong interest in the mysteries and legends surrounding Tibet, and to
Himmler, Schäfer was an emissary of this mysterious world. Thus, Himmler
took great interest in Schäfer’s studies.4
Hans
Hörbiger
During their meeting Himmler explained to Schäfer his strong belief
in the cosmological theory of Hans Horbiger’s Welteislehre (‘World Ice
Theory’). The World Ice Theory was created by Austrian Hans Horbiger
(1860-1931), and was described in detail, in over eight hundred pages,
in The Glacial Cosmogeny of Horbiger by Philip Fauth. The
theory claimed that the planets and moons of our solar system were
created thousands of millions of years ago from an accumulation of
cosmic ice somewhere in space that was hit by a super-star, which caused
the ice to disperse and thus forming the milky way. Over time, each
planet and moon was said to eventually crash into its nearest neighbor
and once again form an accumulated mass of cosmic ice which would then
explode once more and spark a new cycle all over again. According to the
theory, the Earth had already attracted and collided with three moons,
and that its current moon, made of ice, would eventually repeat this
cycle. The World Ice Theory was very popular in many occultic circles.
Many of its believers claimed that the cosmology behind the theory
originated 9,000 years ago in ancient Tibet, and that before the
collision of the third moon into Earth, some 150,000 years ago, the
Earth had been in a ‘mythical Golden Age’ and was inhabited by the
civilizations of Lemuria, Atlantis, and Thule, which were all destroyed
during the third moon’s falling on the Earth.5
According to Horbiger, the collision of the ice moon into earth
explained the extinction of the dinosaurs, the biblical flood, and the
destruction of Atlantis.6
Himmler had also believed these claims and also believed that the
inhabitants of Atlantis were Aryans who had descended from the heavens
and settled on the continent. It has been speculated that Himmler
believed in the myth of exiled Aryan ancestors of Atlantis who had
established a mythical city in a subterranean world below Tibet
somewhere in the Himalayas. The theory was described by Trevor
Ravenscroft in The Spear of Destiny. According to Ravenscroft
the Aryans of Atlantis were led out of Atlantis, before it’s
destruction, by “the great Manu, the last of the sons of the gods or
supermen,” and were taken straight from Europe into Asia, the Gobi
Desert, and then finally into Tibet where they formed the underground
realm of Agarthi.7
Karl Maria Wiligut (1866-1946), a man know as ‘Himmler’s Rasputin, was
someone who was said to have provoked Himmler’s deep interest in Tibet.
Wiligut claimed to have journeyed to India and visited a Lamaist
monastery there where his friends claimed he had transcendent experience
into another astral plane. Wiligut was convinced that Lhasa, Urga (Ulan
Bator), the Egyptian Pyramids and Vienna formed a kind of geomantic
quadrilateral, from which powerful energy beams ran from Ulan Bator to
Vienna and another from the Pyramids to Lhasa. Himmler was said to have
believed in this theory, as well as the aforementioned theories. Thus,
Himmler’s decision, during his meeting with Schäfer in the summer of
1936, to offer to help with Schäfer’s future plans of exploration and to
provide Schäfer with the funds needed for his next expedition to Tibet
are are argued by many to have been driven by his desires to explore in
his occult beliefs of Tibet; consequently allowing Himmler to use the
expedition led by Schäfer for his occultic interests. 8
Himmler’s Failure to Influence
Schäfer’s Expedition
The claims of these many conspiracy
theorists that Himmler had used Schäfer in order to pursue his occult
interests are false. It is true that Himmler did have the intention to
use Schäfer’s expedition in this manner, which is something Schäfer
attests to after the war, but these theories leave out very important
facts that fabricate or contradict the truth. Firstly, Himmler did have
occult interest in exploring Tibet but he also had non-occult political
and military interests in Tibet. For example, Himmler had a bitter
rivalry with Alfred Rosenberg, Reichsleiter and head of the Ahnenerbe’s
rival organization, the Amt Rosenberg. “Like Himmler, [Rosenberg] was
obsessed with Aryan origins, the fate of Atlantis as well as a of
pseudoscientific meta-theories about history.”9
Thus, with the successful undertaking of a celebrated expedition
Himmler believed he could gain a political advantage over his rival
Rosenberg, as well as demonstrate the value of the Ahnenerbe’s work.
Secondly, the extent of Himmler’s occult beliefs are largely
speculation. The claims that Himmler believed in very specific theories
like that of Agarthi, Aryan supermen, and geomantic quadrilateral
energies have no base in any real evidence. Thirdly, and most
importantly, contrary to the claims of these mentioned authours and
occult groups, Himmler did not use the expedition for his occult
interests because, although it is true that he had interests in doing
so, his attempts were unsuccessful. As an applied scientist, Schäfer
felt conflicted by Himmler’s constant attempts to influence the work of
the expedition’s scientists in order to to pursue his occult interests.10
Schäfer’s plans for the expedition were for more legitimate scientific
purposes, thus, Himmler’s occult plans for the expedition caused Schäfer
to distance himself from the Ahnenerbe’s sponsorship. Schäfer requests
for permission to independently conduct negotiations concerning the
expeditions financing and organization was finally granted in January
1938 when Wolfram Sievers, general secretary of the “Ahnenerbe,” and a
man who was later to be executed at Nuremberg for crimes against
humanity, declared that “…the tasks of the expedition has diverged too
far from the goals of the Reichsführer-SS and does not serve his ideas
of cultural studies.”11
A letter from Schäfer to his team member Bruno Beger sent a month
before the statement, in December 1937, shows Schäfer’s reaction to
finally being gaining scientific freedom from Himmler’s influence.
Schäfer wrote, “…I set the yardstick for our coming expedition quite
independently of other people or explorations…This independence awarded
to me by the Reichsführer – and without which I would have never have
taken on the charge…”12
(The anachronism in dates suggests that Schäfer had received the news
before the official statement). Therefore, sponsorship of the expedition
by the Ahnenerbe was withdrawn and Schäfer was to look elsewhere for
the funds needed for his expedition. This meant that besides the
political help given, the German Expedition to Tibet when launched in
1939 was not sponsored or financed by Himmler or the “Ahnenerbe”.
Schäfer was able to successfully raise the funds for the expedition from
independent German companies such as, its biggest sponsors, Werberat
der Deutschen Wirtschaft (‘Public Relations and Advertising Council of
the German Economy’) and Illustrierter and Voelkischer Beobachter (a
publishing house) each sponsoring 40,000 Reichsmarks. The expedition
also received individual help from Germans like Hermann Goering, a
hunting enthusiast like Schäfer who took great interest in the accounts
of Schäfer’s hunting experiences in Tibet from Schäfer’s book Mountains,
Buddhas and Bears; Goring helped by procuring foreign currency for
the expedition.13
Multiple SS Expeditions to Tibet?
The different conspiracy’s theories on the
German involvement with Tibet claim that the 1939 German Expedition to
Tibet was only one of the many German expeditions sent into Tibet.
According to Helsing, the Germans had undertaken two SS expeditions to
the Himalayas in order to find the entrances to the underground realm of
Agarthi. In contrast, Pauwels and Bergier claim that SS had mounted
multiple expeditions to Tibet until 1943. However, although there had
been a 1939 mountaineering expedition to the Himalayas to climb the
Nanga Parbat, the 1939 German expedition led by Ernst Schäfer, was the
only German expedition sent to Tibet under the name of the SS. 14
Interestingly however, there had been plans
of another SS expedition to Tibet after the return of the 1939
expedition. Just months after Schäfer had returned from his expedition
he devised a plan to to return to Tibet with a select group of men
through the Soviet Union, who was an ally of Germany at the time, train
and equip Tibetan guerilla army consisting of Tibetan nomads and then
unleash them against British-India.15
But in 1940, the operation was called off by Alfred Rosenberg and never
took place. In that same year Schäfer had become leader of the
‘Research Centre for Inner Asia and Expeditions’. As Germany began to
advance towards the East and the Japan began to advance towards the
West, Tibet increasingly became recognized as an object of ‘purposeful
research’ that would be important for the war. It was also contemplated
as to whether Tibet could play a significant role as an ‘allied race’
within a “pan-Mongolian federation” under the support of Germany and
Japan. Consequently, in the spring of 1942, plans for another Tibet
expedition were drawn up but were once again were called off after the
German army had reached the Caucasus and investigative work in this area
was deemed as more important then the work in Tibet.16
Hitler and Tibetan Occultism
Adolf
Hitler
The speculation of Nazi leaders involved in the occult has not only
surrounded Himmler, in the conspiracy theories of German author, Jan van
Helsing (aka. Jan Udo Holey), Helsing claims that Hitler had believed
in the occult conspiracy theories of Agarthi and that the 1939 German
Expedition to Tibet had been the result of a request by Hitler to find
the entrances into the underground realm of Agarthi in order to contact
the descendents of the “Aryan god-men”. Helsing claims that Hitler was
“completely taken” by the search for this realm and countless young men
were trained in order to be sent to Tibet for this task.17
In 1960, Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier published their best-seller,
The Morning of the Magicians, which claimed Nazi connections
to occult beliefs linked to Tibet. Pauwels and Bergier wrote that the
Nazis took “extraordinary interest” in Tibet, and that “Tibetan lamas”
had even settled and formed colonies in Munich and Berlin in 1926. One
of these “lamas” had lived in Berlin and was nicknamed “the man with the
green gloves.”18
They claim that Hitler had regularly visited and consulted this man,
and that the man was rumored to have possessed the keys to “Agarthi,” a
legendary subterranean city where a theocracy of rulers directed global
events and ruled over a spiritually and technologically advanced people.
Pauwels and Bergier argue that Hitler had therefore sent the expedition
in 1939 out of his desire to find Agarthi, a city which Hitler was said
to have been made aware of from his relationship with “the man with the
green gloves.”19
Historian Lee Feigon, attributes the 1939 expedition to the occult
interests of both Hitler and Himmler and explains that it had even been
reputed that, by Hitler’s request, the expedition had brought back a
group of monks to Germany whom Hitler then instructed to “perform
special chants to alter weather patterns in preparation for his
ill-fated Russian invasion.”20
However, these claims that Hitler had
requested the expedition because of his occultic interests and occultic
forces that influenced him has no evidence; In fact, the evidence would
strongly suggest otherwise. The stories of Hitler’s beliefs and links to
the occultic have been around since the 1920s in the earliest days of
the Nazi era. After the war these stories and the literature explaining
the supposed link became more numerous and more popular. As Ken
Anderson explained in his book Hitler and the Occult, many of
these claims are now accepted and considered as important and
explanatory parts of Hitler’s story.21
Those who argue that Hitler was linked to occultism claim that Hitler
had connections to occult figures like Lanz Von Liebenfels and “the man
with the green gloves”, or occult groups like the Thule society. However
all of this speculation, and no definitive evidence has proven these
claimed links. For example, based on the information from the German
“aliens branch of the police”, there is no evidence of any Tibetan monk
living and working in Germany during Hitler’s time.22
Therefore, the claims of “the man with the green gloves” are absurd and
the claims of a Tibetan colony in Germany even more so. The only
recorded Tibetan in Germany during this period was a servant of the
explorer Albert Tagel, who later married a German woman and published a
book in 1947. However, it was later discovered that this supposed
Tibetan was really a fraud and was really a non-Tibetan man named T.
Illion.23
Writers like Francis King (Satan and
Swastika), Gerald Shuster (Hitler: The Occult Messiah),
and Trevor Ravenscroft (The Spear of Destiny), have attempted
to tie Hitler to the occult by claiming that he had interests in
occult-like subjects like magic, the paranormal, psychokinesis, and
water divining. However, from what we know of Hitler’s youth, Hitler was
said to have had a wide range of interests and read a diverse range of
books which also included subjects like history, religion, technology,
art, architecture, and military science. Therefore, it is not fair to
say that Hitler held occult beliefs simply based on a possible passing
interest of his youth in occult subjects. In fact, the records of
Hitler’s actions and words would suggest that, later in his life, he had
held contempt for occultism and did not believe in it. Hitler also
seemed to have looked down on the Nazis who did believe in these bizarre
beliefs and even mocked their interests. Hitler’s contempt for
occultism was demonstrated in July 1937 when he banned the occult action
of Freemasonic lodges, Theosophical circles, and related groups
throughout the Reich by official decree. Hitler also held contempt for
astrology and horoscopes, according Martin Brauen, informants who had
known Hitler quite closely reported that Hitler had viewed astrology as
absurd. Evidence of this was demonstrated when Hitler banned the
practice of fortune-telling and star-reading in Germany prior to the
outbreak of the war.24
In addition, on September 6th, 1938, Hitler made a speech at
a Kulturtagung stating that:
National Socialism is a cool and highly
reasoned approach to reality based on the greatest scientific knowledge
and its spiritual expression… . Above all, National Socialism is a
Volk Movement in essence and under no circumstances a cult movement! …
For this reason, the infiltration of the movement by mystically inclined
researchers into the otherworldly cannot be tolerated. They are not
National Socialists, but something else – certainly something with
which we have nothing to do. … Cult-like activities are no our
responsibility, but that of the churches.25
From this speech we see that Hitler
perceived National Socialism (Nazism) as a “Volk Movement” driven by
reason and based from science rather than occult beliefs in magical or
supernatural forces. Of course in reality Nazism was driven by what the
Nazis believed or simply passed off as reason and science, but from this
speech we see that Nazism’s head figure recognized the nature of
occultism as “cult-like” and its researchers of the “otherworldly” as
people whom he did not want associated with Nazism. Himmler had
recognized these sentiments held by Hitler, especially after his
Ahnenerbe’s occultist research and expeditions had received little
interest from Hitler. Thus, in the summer of 1936 Himmler had sought out
Ernst Schäfer largely because of this. Himmler wanted the “Ahnenerbe”
to earn legitimacy in Hitler’s eyes by extending its research into
serious sciences like the field of natural sciences. Schäfer was a
recognized naturalist and had won fame and respect for his previous two
expeditions to Tibet and therefore seemed like the perfect candidate for
achieving this goal.26
Unfortunately even after the success of Schäfer’s expedition Hitler’s
disinterest in the “Ahnenerbe’s” research remained unchanged. Tibet and
its religion seemed “alien and irrelevant” to Hitler. Consequently,
according to one of Hitler’s subordinates, on May 14th, 1942,
in his Wolfsschanze headquarters, Hitler, after being told about the
film Geheimnis Tibet (‘Mystery Tibet’ – a film about the 1939
German expedition to Tibet), he responded with no concern for the film
or Tibet.27
Therefore, contrary to what is claimed in many publicized works and
occult theories, the claims that Hitler requested the 1939 German
Expedition to Tibet in order to explore his occult interests are
complete fiction.
Schafer’s Scientific Interests
The 1939 German expedition to Tibet was not
driven by occultist interests like finding a secret subterranean realm
or hidden higher beings of Aryan ancestry. The expedition was explicitly
scientific, its aims were to create a complete scientific record of
Tibet, “through a synthesis of geology, botany, zoology, and ethnology,
referred to in the German science of the day as “holism.””28
In the summer of 1945, Schäfer was captured in Munich by the Allies as
the advanced into Bavaria. Due to his position as an officer in the the
SS, Schäfer was immediately taken as a prisoner of war and interned at
Camp Moosburg where he received ‘de-nazification’ treatment until he
received a certificate of exoneration after three years .29
During his interrogations by US military intelligence agents, Schäfer
stated that he had used the SS only as a means to obtain funding and
support for his scientific research. He described Himmler’s occult
beliefs as absurd and laughable, he explained that “it would have been
impossible,… for a hard-headed scientist such as himself to have admired
a man like that.”30
Certainly this may have been a testimony used by many Germans
affiliated with the SS or Himmler who wished to cover-up their past
criminal activities or their past Nazi connections, especially to
Heinrich Himmler himself, but Schäfer’s final interrogation report
remarks that his statements were reliable and also confirmed by
Schäfer’s former secretaries who were also interrogated. Schäfer’s past
actions seem to also suggest that his statements during the
interrogation were reliable. During the early stages of planning for the
expedition Himmler had repeatedly pressured Schäfer into recruiting his
team from the Ahnenerbe staff. Himmler had recommended Edmund Kiss, an
occultist and archaeologist whom Himmler had tasked with the objective
of finding proof of the ‘World Ice Theory’s’ validity, but Schäfer
repeatedly refused Himmler’s attempts. As Isrun Engelhardt explains,
“Schäfer from childhood on hated to yield to authority and resisted
being used in any way, be it political or ideological.”31
Conclusion
In conclusion, the 1939 German Expedition to
Tibet was not driven by occultic beliefs on the roots of the Aryan race
but rather the scientific interests of Ernst Schäfer. Firstly, claims
that Himmler’s occult beliefs and position as a SS-Reichsführer, allowed
him to exert his influence on the expedition’s goals are completely
false. Himmler had failed in exerting his influence on the expedition.
Ernst Schäfer’s scientific interests as head of the expedition
conflicted with Himmler’s interests, and consequently, after failure to
dictate his interests, Himmler withdrew financial sponsorship of the
expedition, thus leaving all of the expeditions objectives, planning,
and funding in Schäfer hands. Secondly, claims that Hitler held
occultist beliefs surrounding Tibet that compelled him to request the
expedition in order to explore his beliefs are also completely
fabricated. Evidence shows that Hitler did not believed in occultism and
that he even ridiculed those who held occult beliefs. In practice,
Hitler’s actions seemed to also suggest he looked down on occultism
after he passed laws banning occultist practice. And lastly, the
expedition was not driven by occultic interests because Ernst Schäfer’s
had successfully resisted Himmler’s repeated efforts to influence the
expedition’s aims. Thus Schäfer, a man who found Himmler occult beliefs
laughable, was able to dictate his own scientific interests for the
expedition.
1Final
Interrogation Report (OI-FIR/32), “The Activities of Dr. Ernst
Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored Institutes,”
United States Forces – European Theatre. Military Intelligence Service
Center, Feb. 12, 1946.
2Christopher
Hale, Himmler’s Crusade: The Nazi Expedition To Find The Origins of
the Aryan Race. (New
Jersey: John Wiley
& Sons, 2003) 3-4.
-Final Interrogation
Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and
Scientist with SS-Sponsored
Institutes.”
3Joseph
Tenenbaum, Race and Reich: The Story of an Epoch. (New York: Twayne
Publishers, 1956) 30
4Hale,
5.
-Heather Pringle,
The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust. (London: Fourth
Estate, 2006) 2-3
-Final Interrogation
Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and
Scientist with SS-Sponsored
Institutes.”
-Martin Brauen,
Dreamworld Tibet: Western Illusion (Thailand: Weatherhill, 2004) 64
5Gerald
Suster, Hitler: The Occult Messiah, (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1981) 167-169.
6Hale
118
7Brauen
58-60
8Isrun
Engelhardt, “Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to
Tibet,” in Tibet in 1938-1939:
Photographs from the
Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet. Ed. Isrun Engelhardt (Chicago:
Serindia, 2007)13-15
-Isrun Engelhardt,
“The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” in Images of Tibet in
the 19th and 20th Centuries, Vol. 1., Ed. Monica
Esposito (Paris: Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient, 2008) 76
-Final Interrogation
Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and
Scientist with SS-Sponsored
Institutes,”
-Goodrick-Clark 177
-Brauen 65-66
9Hale
117
10Engelhardt,
“Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,”16
-Final Interrogation
Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and
Scientist with SS-Sponsored
Institutes,”
11Nigel
Pennick, Hitler’s Secret Sciences: His Quest for the Hidden Knowledge
of the Ancients (Suffolk: Neville Spearman Limited, 1981) 150
-Engelhardt, “The
Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 76
12Engelhardt,
“Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,”17
-Engelhardt, “The
Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 76
13Engelhardt,
“The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 77
14Hale
26
-Brauen 68-69
15Hale
15
16Engelhardt
“The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 69
17Hale
32
Brauen 58-60
18Engelhardt,
“The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 67, 80-81
19Suster,
123
-Engelhardt, “The
Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 67, 80-81
-Brauen 52
20Lee
Feigon, Demystifying Tibet (Chicago: Elephant, 1996) 15
21Ken
Anderson, Hitler and the Occult (New York: Prometheus Books, 1995) 14
22Brauen
62
23Brauen
62
24Ibid
35
25Engelhardt,
“The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 71
26
Pringle, 146-147
-Engelhardt, “The
Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 75-76
-Engelhardt, “Tibet
in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,” 14-15
27Engelhardt,
“The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 72
28
Claudius Muller, “The Schäfer Collection Through An Ethnographic
Lens,” in Tibet in 1938-1939:
Photographs from the
Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet. Ed. Isrun Engelhardt (Chicago:
Serindia, 2007)
-Engelhardt, “The
Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 76
29Hale
6
30Final
Interrogation Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet
Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored
Institutes.”
31Engelhardt,
“Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,” 16-17
eath Defiler wrote: