| During the years 1938--1939 a German scientific expedition conducted research in the countries of Tibet and Sikkim under the direction of the ethnologist Dr. Ernst Schaefer. The cost of the expedition was subsidized in part by Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsfuehrer-SS. Since the early 1960's an entire sub-genre of literature has been disseminated that attributes "occult" motivations to various facets of National Socialist rule. The Tibet expedition occupies a pivotal role in this literature. Using various primary German sources contemporary with the expedition this myth was explored and successfully debunked. The thesis also provides an illuminating view of Tibetan culture prior to the 1950 Chinese Communist invasion. |
