Günter Oskar Dyhrenfurth was a Himalayan expert and geologist. He and his wife Hettie became Swiss citizens in 1932 and won, to the chagrin of the Nazis (they were Jewish), the gold medal in alpinism in 1936 for their Himalaya Expeditions of 1930 and 1934. Günter also participated in the literature competition at the 1936 Games. Their son Norman Günter was also a successful expedition leader in the Himalayas and participated in many mountain films as cinematographer. Günter Oskar became a professor at the University of Breslau (Wrocław) in 1919. With the Nazi takeover, however, he resigned and went back to Switzerland. In 1956 he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany).
Dyhrenfurth’s book Demon Himalayas as well as the Report of the International Karakorum Expedition 1934 appeared in print in 1935 in Switzerland. Other contributions to the book came from his wife Hettie, Gustav Diessl, Hans Ertl, André Roch and the Swiss expedition doctor Hans Winzeler. In a dramatized form, the film footage was used for a feature film, which was released in 1935 under the title The Demon of the Himalayas with German actor Gustav Diessl in the lead role.
Switzerland