HUTTENBERG, July 2, Austria--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 2, 1997--In response to inquiries from the media concerning his membership in Nazi organizations during the 1930s, the famous Austrian mountaineer and explorer Heinrich Harrer issued the following statement from his home in Huttenberg:

A number of stories have appeared recently in the media reporting on my involvement with Nazi organizations some 60 years ago. Many of the facts cited in these stories are true. It is the implications in many of the reports that are in error.

I was a member of the SS for a limited period in 1938 after I had gained national attention in Germany for my feat as one of four climbers of the Eiger North Face (the first to accomplish this famous climbing challenge in the Alps), I was asked to join the SS as an athletic instructor and agreed. I was issued an SS uniform at that time. As it turned out, I did not give a single lesson in my teaching capacity due to my participation in an expedition to India. I wore the uniform only once at the time of my wedding in December 1938, which was heavily publicized by the government.

Other than this involvement, I had a purely ceremonial group picture taken with Hitler and other officials during a 1938 sports festival in Breslau which was cut to show just the two of us when published recently. I was never a member of the SA.

Thus, though the facts concerning these events of 60 years ago are generally accurate, any implications that these facts indicate I was a dedicated Nazi supporter or was involved in any way in the heinous crimes of the Hitler period are totally false. First, the events in question took place in my youth and I was then interested in athletics - mountain climbing and skiing - and not in politics. Second, my association with the SS was very brief. I departed on the expedition to India in early 1939 and did not return to Austria until 1952.

My life in that 1939-1952 period is the subject of my book "Seven Years in Tibet" which has been made into a movie scheduled for opening in October of this year. My personal political philosophy grew out of my life in Tibet. It is outlined in my book. It is a belief that reflects many tenets of Buddhism and places great emphasis on human life and human dignity. It is this philosophy that has guided my life during my return visits to Tibet and my explorations in many parts of the world over the past four and a half decades. And it is a philosophy which leads me to condemn as strongly as possible the horrible crimes of the Nazi period.

My conscience is clear on my record during the Hitler regime. Nevertheless, I regard the events that involved the SS as one of the aberrations in my life, maybe the biggest, and I regret deeply that these events may give rise to false impressions.

I conveyed these facts and sentiments on Monday, June 30, in Vienna to Mr. Simon Weisenthal in a meeting to which he graciously agreed and it is my belief that he has accepted them as a sincere and forthright statement on my part.