Karl May’s stories have triggered a broad debate on how to deal with historical depictions of other cultures. Experts from Saxony have now started a petition.
Hohenstein-Ernstthal/Radebeul (dpa/sn) – The debate about the adventure writer Karl May (1842-1912) is picking up speed. The Karl May Society and the Karl May Foundation published an open letter on Thursday entitled “Is Winnetou done?” and started a petition. The Karl May Museum in Radebeul spoke of a “Winnetou cancellation”. The Saxon Minister of Education, Christian Piwarz, also admitted to being an early May fan. He is very surprised at the hysteria and the extent of the allegations. In the current discussion, he could only shake his head, said the CDU politician.
The authors of the open letter responded to the argument that May “allegedly represents an outdated racist world view and romanticizes or conceals the genocide of the indigenous population of America”. As a 19th-century German writer, May was “inevitably shaped by the habitus of a colonial age,” the letter said. His early writing in particular contained ethnic stereotypes that were common at the time and a Eurocentric perspective. “It is the task of literary and cultural studies to work out these critically and to trace them back to their sources.”
Another argument put forward by the authors is that May shared the contemporary world view with practically all authors of the past. “What is special about Karl May is that in his portrayal of the ‘Wild West’, the narrator’s sympathy is with the suffering indigenous population right from the start.” Their dignity and human qualities would be embodied in ideal figures like Winnetou. The tragic destruction of their material and cultural existence underlies all of May’s North American stories.
The head of the Karl May House in Hohenstein-Ernstthal (Zwickau district) accused the critics of ignorance and superficiality. According to his assessment, it is a small, noisy group that is closed to arguments, said André Neubert of the German Press Agency. The whole thing is like patronizing others. Karl May was a pacifist and was very committed to international understanding. This is particularly evident in the blood brotherhood between the novel characters Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. In view of the current crises and wars in the world, more than less Karl May should be read, said Neubert.
After criticism, the publishing house Ravensburger had withdrawn two Winnetou children’s books for a cinema film. Accordingly, the titles would have hurt the feelings of others. In view of the historical reality and the oppression of the indigenous population, one had come to the conclusion that a “romanticizing picture with many clichés” was being drawn, it said. Meanwhile, a representative survey by the YouGov opinion research institute has shown that a good two-thirds of Germans believe the decision was wrong.
The adventure writer Karl May was born in Hohenstein-Ernstthal (Zwickau district) in 1842 and died in Radebeul in 1912. Museums in both cities commemorate his life and work. The museum in Hohenstein-Ernstthal recently named the criticized children’s book “The Young Chief Winnetou” book of the month and described it as “highly recommended”. However, according to the information, the last copies are now sold out there as well.
