In reply to MttSnr: eeh t'wonders of t'interweb - had a look at those links and have had a quick look myself
re Wiesenthal etc..
the LA jewish community seemed to find otherwise
"To placate LA's militant rabbi faction, a would-be diplomatic photo-opportunity meeting was set up in Vienna between the Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal and Herr Harrer. Wiesenthal was left unimpressed by Harrer's efforts to explain why he had kept his past hidden for 50 years (when the Austrian reporter Lehner dared to confront Harrer on the subject in his house, he was thrown out). In a subsequent statement, Harrer spoke of the events of his youth as being the `biggest aberration' in his life. For Rabbi Cooper, however, he remained `arrogant, gutless' and insincere."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199710/ai_n8777135
I don't claim to be an expert or have any special insight here, I've just followed the story since Der Stern broke it and recall from reading it at the time that they had photostat evidence from Nazi files that proved that Harrer had joined the SA in 1933 becoming an Oberscharfuhrer and had later joined the SS. I haven't read Lehner's (the main journalist on the Stern story) book but believe that in this he went over the top beyond the evidence in what had become a personal vendetta and pursued all sorts of post-war Nazi links Harrer may or may not have had.
Nevertheless the facts would appear to be
1933 - Harrer joins SA of own volition and is therefore an exceptionally keen Nazi by Austrian standards of the time
1938 climbs Eiger - great acclaim - SS membership - pictures with Hitler etc
post war - writes hundreds of thousands of words about own life never owning up to Nazi past
1997 confronted with Nazi past - denies everything - then admits SS bit and gives plausible and forgiveable explanation about just wanting to climb, spirit of times etc, all round hugs and forgiveness....(this is the story that has set in most people's minds and smacks of nothing worse than minor, even loveable, human frailty)
then emerges truth re earlier Nazism exposing whole recently concocted story as complete tissue of lies spoken with onion to eye - Harrer denies everything and continues to do so until he dies despite compelling evidence
As far as I know or can find the Dalai Lama denies none of this but understands /forgives him which is a different matter - is there any evidence to the contrary? I have seen an interview in german where DL accepts truth of allegations
I'm happy to hear another side and greatly admire his climbing achievements but unless presented with a clearly proven rebuttal it would appear to me that Harrer is one of the many historical figures who has succeeded in surviving as a myth of their own making. I'm not on a crusade or owt but AFAICT from the evidence presented the guy was an out and out Nazi
cheers P