Paul Bauer

Paul Bauer (1896 to 1990) was a German poet and mountaineer born in Kusel in the Palatinate. He served in the First World War, ending it as a prisoner in England, studied law in Munich and tackled many of the classic climbs of central Europe. In 1928 he and three friends climbed Dykh-Tau in the Caucasus, the second highest peak in Europe, and he led German expeditions to Kangchenjunga in 1929 and 1931, both turned back by weather and conditions, with Hermann Schaller dying on the second. In 1932 he won a gold medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his account of the 1931 attempt, and in 1936 he headed a training climb that succeeded on Siniolchu. He held prominent positions in German mountaineering organizations during the Nazi era and was an officer in the Gebirgsjäger in the Second World War.