Germany overall has a long-standing obsession with the Old West particularly emphasizing the culture of American Indians which largely goes back to the "Winnetou" novels of 19th century adventure writer Karl May, and before that, James Fenimore Cooper. Their books were turned into West German movies and TV films shot in Yugoslavia and Romania during the 60s, while East German productions also used locations in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and the Caucasus. Yugoslavian actor Gojko Mitić played native roles in both, but particularly rose to fame in East Germany. Frenchman Pièrre Briece became iconic for playing noble Apache chief Winnetou in the West, while his German blood brother "Old Shatterhand" (Karl May's alter ego telling the Winnetou stories) was American actor Lex Barker, who probably was noted for his lead in the 1957 "The Deerslayer" based upon Cooper's book.
Well as Westerns, they tended to be a bit cheesy. In the case of the May adaptions, the author had never even set foot in the US when he wrote the books, so they included a lot of falsehoods and stereotypes, amplified with Hollywood stereotypes in the movies. TV productions like the "Leatherstockings Stories" suffered in production values, too; if you want to see British redcoats fighting Chippewas with Romanian Mausers, the entire series is on Youtube, though in borderline watchable resolution.
Still, together with classic American, and later Italian, Westerns and US shows like "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza" they were hugely popular, and informed the Old West image of Germans from the 60s. I'm not sure if it's unusual among Europeans, but playing Cowboys and Indians was a staple of my childhood in the 70s and 80s; we had a pair of toystore wigwams and all. There's still a lively scene of Western reenactor clubs, theme parks, and the annual Karl May open-air festivals in several locations, most famously in Bad Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein. Just recently there was a popular storm of indignation when a publisher withdrew two "Young Winnetou" books over the inevitable accusations of cultural appropriation, ethnic stereotypes etc.
quote:
Publisher's withdrawal of Winnetou books stirs outrage in Germany
By Scott Roxborough | 6h ago
Germany wrestles with the legacy of author Karl May, whose fictional Native American hero, Winnetou, embodies the Germans' love affair with the Wild West.
Another day, another online outrage over "cancel culture." German Twitter lit up with instant indignation this week after a German publisher announced it was pulling two children's books from its line-up amid accusations of racism and cultural appropriation.
Both books were inspired by Wild West stories from the wildly popular, and increasingly controversial, 19th-century German writer Karl May.
The books imagine the childhood of May's most famous creation: the fearless Apache brave Winnetou, a fictional Native America chief who made his first appearance in 1875 and whose adventures have been retold in numerous novels — May's books have sold around 200 million copies worldwide — as well as in several movies and even an animated series.
The new titles were to accompany the release of "The Young Chief Winnetou," which hit German theaters August 11. Now there are calls to pull the film as well.
The publisher, Ravensburger Verlag, citing "lots of negative feedback" around the "romanticized" and "clichéd" depiction of Native Americans in the books, dropped the titles from its program and apologized if it had hurt anyone's feelings.
The blowback was quick, and predictable. #Winnetou has been a trending topic online since with the majority of posters furious over what German tabloid Bild, with characteristic restraint, termed the "woke hysteria" that was "burning the hero of our childhood at the stake".
Germany's Wild West obsession
Behind the online fury lies a very real, and particularly German, love affair with the Wild West, an affection that can be traced directly back to Karl May and his idealized depiction of 19th-century America.
May's characters — the noble, heroic Winnetou and his white-skinned "blood brother" Old Shatterhand, a German immigrant land surveyor — are as present in the German popular imagination as the figures in Grimm's Fairy Tales.
You'll find Winnetou books and records in many German households. A series of Winnetou films made during the 1960s are still staples on German TV. There are Karl May-inspired Wild West festivals and theme parks across the county where families gather to dress up as cowboys and Indians on stage sets of saloons and hitching posts. The most popular, in Bad Segeberg , attracts about 250,000 people a year.
That, for many, is the problem. Critics say May's vision of Native American culture, as a sort of prelapsarian utopia, is little more than a convenient fiction that ignores the nastier truths about the genocide of Indigenous people by white settlers.
[...]
But labeling May and his imaginary America as racist and imperialist ignores how radical, for its time, Winnetou was. A century before Kevin Costner's 1990 epic Western film "Dances with Wolves," Karl May flipped the traditional depiction of "wild Indians" and "civilized cowboys," portraying Indigenous Americans (at least Winnetou and his friends) as the heroes, and white settlers mainly as the villains.
German society does not lack for racism but, thanks in large part to Karl May, Native Americans are held in near-universal regard, even if the image the average German has of Indigenous people bears little relation to reality.
In his 2020 book "Indianthusiasm," historian and Indigenous studies scholar Hartmut Lutz, a sharp critic of Karl May, admits the author's escapist fantasies have also spurred interest in Indigenous culture and inspired generations of German academics to find out the truth behind the tales.
[...]
Looking to Karl May and Winnetou expecting an authentic picture of Native experience is like reading Hansel and Gretel for tips on child rearing.
Of course the best (Austrian-) German (neo-) Western is probably the 2014 "Dark Valley", not even set in the US rather than in a small 19th century village in the Alps to which the son of a local woman who emigrated to America returns in search of revenge.
Originally posted by BansheeOne: Of course the best (Austrian-) German (neo-) Western is probably the 2014 "Dark Valley", not even set in the US rather than in a small 19th century village in the Alps to which the son of a local woman who emigrated to America returns in search of revenge.
Thanks to the collective knowledge possessed by the SIGforum membership, this has evolved into a very informative thread. I have actually seen Dark Valley. For fans of the revisionist western genre, the film is aptly titled with an emphasis on dark. Check it out.
Posts: 3612 | Location: Western PA | Registered: July 20, 2010
In the latter half of the 19th century, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, an area which has already been allocated to the Dakota Indians as a winter reservation in a treaty. Nevertheless, gold diggers, profiteers and adventurers flock to the region. Among them is the hard-hearted land speculator Bludgeon, who tries to expel the Indians using brutal methods like slaughtering entire herds of buffalo. The Dakotas take their revenge by attacking a Union Pacific train. While Chief Farsighted Falcon and his men are out hunting, Bludgeon and his gang massacre the Indian village. The Dakota warriors retaliate and soon the gold diggers' town becomes the scene of a giant battle. Only the advancing cavalry manage to head off certain defeat for the Whites. Farsighted Falcon conquers Bludgeon in single combat, however. Gathering up the remaining members of his tribe, he leads them to safety elsewhere.
Posts: 29125 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012
It's rumored that just before production began, a character was eliminated from the script for reasons unknown: Farsighted Falcon's brother, Myopic Mongoose.
Para, as usual your knowledge has opened doors for the rest of us.
From the Wikipedia page on DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktuellen Gesellschaft):
quote:
In the 1960s, DEFA produced the popular Red Western The Sons of the Great Mother Bear, directed by Josef Mach and starring Gojko Mitić as the Sioux Tokei-itho.[5] This spawned a number of sequels and was notable for inverting Western clichés by portraying the native Americans as the "good guys", and the American army as the "baddies".[6][citation needed]
Many thanks to BansheeOne for posting the information about the wild, longstanding popularity of Karl May novels in Germany, and the uproar over recent withdrawal of publication. When I studied in Berlin in 1965-66 I first read about Old Shatterhand Winnetou etc. and was quite surprised at their popularity, particularly given that May had never been to the U.S.
A few years ago I asked a German acquaintance if these were still popular, and he said indeed they were.
It seems that German portrayals of the American west are about as accurate as Hogan's Heroes was of Germany.
_________________________ “Remember, remember the fifth of November!"
Posts: 18654 | Location: One hop from Paradise | Registered: July 27, 2004
