Paul Bauer

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full namePaul Friedrich Peter•Bauer
Used namePaul•Bauer
Born29 December 1896 in Kusel, Rheinland-Pfalz (GER)
Died9 January 1990 in München (Munich), Bayern (GER)
NOC Germany
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in addition to the brothers Schmid, yet another German climber achieved Olympic honors. Paul Bauer, who lived in München, led an expedition to Kangchenjunga in 1929, at 8,586 m the third highest mountain in the world, reaching 7,300 m. In 1931 a second attempt followed and the so called Eastern Offset (7,756 m) was climbed, although one mountaineer and a Sherpa fell to their death, and two other participants died of illness.

Bauer submitted eight chapters of the manuscript for his planned book under the title On Kangchenjunga, which earned him the Gold Medal for literature. The book was eventually published in 1931 under the title Der Kampf um den Himalaya (The Battle for the Himalayas). Many editions followed, among others, in 1952 by a München publishing company. Bauer was probably the main representative of nationalist and Nazi-dominated German Mountaineering under the motto “The goal must be achieved at any cost.” Bauer, who sympathized with the Nazis before 1933, joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and in 1934 became leader of the mountaineering and hiking division of Germany, later renamed the National Socialist Reichsbund for Physical Exercises.

In 1936 Bauer undertook another expedition to the Himalayas. In 1937 and 1938, he headed a recovery action to find the victims of the dramatic German Nanga Parbat expedition in 1937. He even reached Camp IV, which had been buried by an avalanche at 6,185 m. Bauer retired from leading the mountaineering and hiking division in 1938. During World War II he was commander of a mountain infantry battalion in the Caucasus. After the war, the law graduate lobbied on behalf of convicts and prisoners-of-war.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1932 Summer Olympics Art Competitions GER Paul Bauer
Literature, Open (Olympic) 1 Gold