Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a small commission if you purchase through those links.
The second Monday in October is Indigenous Peoples Day (or Columbus Day) in the US. It might come as a surprise to you that Germans have had a long standing fascination with Native Americans and their many cultures. But when I think of American Indians I don’t only think about Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, Little Big Horn, Wounded Knee, and the Trail of Tears, I also think of Karl May, Winnetou, and Old Shatterhand.
If those names mean nothing to you, you are probably not German.
It started with Karl May
Let me explain why in Germany the most famous Native American, Winnetou, and his white blood brother, Old Shatterhand, are not American or even real people.
Winnetou and Old Shatterhand are inventions of the German writer Karl May. Born in 1842 in Saxony to a poor weaver family, May got in trouble from an early age. He had multiple stints in prison, mostly for petty crimes like stealing furs. In 1870, he was sent to jail for four years during which he was in charge of the prison library. He read extensively and wrote the outlines to many of the stories that would later become adventure books that are still being read today.
In 1875, his first Winnetou book was published and he went on to publish around 70 books. His other very popular series featured Kara Ben Nemsi and Hadschi Halef Omar on their adventures in the Middle East.
Karl May presented himself as a travel writer. That helped explain his absences when he spent time in prison, and it gave him credibility. He sometimes pretended or alluded that he was Old Shatterhand, a German engineer who went to America to build railroads. Unbeknownst to him the railroad company was building its tracks through the land of the Apaches. When he finds out he realizes the mistake he has made and goes on to redeem himself. Eventually, he and Winnetou, the Apache chief, become friends and blood brothers.
The truth however is that May had never visited the places he wrote about. The stories about Winnetou and Old Shatterhand were entirely made up inspired by May’s reading about the Native Americans in North America.
In 1908, he did go to the US and saw the Niagara Falls but due to his poor health couldn’t go to the prairie where Winnetou and Old Shatterhand fought for justice and against the exploitation of the Native Americans and their land.
Audio plays, shows, and movies
I have to admit that I never read the books. I found them, dare I say it, boring. My mother had read all the books and that’s why I tried reading them too, without much success. But of course I knew the stories. My brother and I had the audio plays (audio plays were and are pretty big in Germany) and figures to play with. We called Sam Hawkens, Old Shatterhand’s white friend and mentor, Kichermann (giggle man) because we couldn’t pronounce his name and he would always cackle after he said “Wenn ich mich nicht irre…” (If i’m not mistaken..).
We watched the movies from the 1960s with Pierre Brice (a French actor) and Lex Barker (the American actor who also played Tarzan). We played “Cowboy und Indianer”, “tortured” the prisoners at the Marterpfahl (stake), and became Blutsbrüder (blood brothers) with our friends (with real blood of course otherwise it wouldn’t be real).
I couldn’t find any royalty-free photos of Brice, Barker or from the movies, so I’m including this video that shows some pictures. You are listening to Winnetou’s melody. So when you are attending a show like the open-air Karl-May Festival in Segeberg and this music begins to play, you know Winnetou is going to make his appearance and you can start cheering.
Lex Baker aka Old Shatterhand shows up in the last part of the video.
My personal experience
I read stories and books about Native Americans and when I was seven or so I had an Indian birthday party. And since I am blond I wore a wig with black braids. I had an Indian costume, a teepee and a Native American doll that I named Weiße Wolke (White Cloud).
Nearly every year, we went to the Karl-May-Festspiele in Bad Segeberg, a city known for its bat caves, Kalkberge (limestone mountains), and the Karl-May-Spiele taking place in an outside arena or stage. You can come dressed as an Indian or a cowboy, you can buy toy guns and knives, and not authentic jewelry. The show features real horses, music, fights, at least one explosion or fire (going in the evening is really better for effect), and one bird stunt where the eagle flies over the heads of the audience and lands on a Native American’s hand.
My mother used to go as a teenager (alone, mind you!) and so it was only natural that she took us too. And now my brother and I are taking our kids to experience the same awe and fascination that comes from a live show with action, horses, fire, and some comedy and romance.
Karl-May-Festspiele
When my American boy-friend (now husband) studied in Germany in 1996/97, we took him to the Karl-May-Festspiele as a unique “German” experience like going to a Christmas market. At that time the Serbian actor Gojko Mitic played Winnetou. But he is better known for his role as Tokei-itoh in “Die Söhne der Großen Bärin” (The sons of the big she-bear, based on six books which I loved as a teen) because the East Germans were as fascinated with Native Americans as the West Germans.
Before Mitic took over the iconic role at the Karl-May-Spiele in Segeberg which he played til 2006, Pierre Brice from the actual 1960s movies played the part. Mitic returned to Segeberg in 2013 to play Winnetou’s father Intschu-tschuna. I have also seen him in that role, just saying … (see photos below)
After the show “Old Surehand” (2017) the actors went past the children and high-five them. All the way in the front are my son and my two nieces.
"Hobby-Indianer"
Germany has many clubs dedicated to Native Americans. So-called “Hobby-Indianer” meet on weekends and live like Native Americans used to. They have a deep appreciation for their life style or rather what used to be their life style. They imitate the dances, invite Native Americans to their powwows, and museum openings, they make flutes and drums.
The role the American Indians played for Europeans, and Germans specifically, has changed over time. There was curiosity in the beginning of the 20th century when Wild West shows with cowboys and Native Americans traveled through Europe. Some people went so far to have human zoos where they exhibited people from all over the world. It is a shameful part of our European colonial history that is often forgotten.
Our image of Native American is that of the prairie Indians and we often forget that there are over 500 tribes in North America and they didn’t all live in teepees. They are as diverse as any ethnic group inhabiting a continent.
Karl May and his adventure stories tapped into the need for people to escape to a world where they could face danger and become the people they really were. Like Old Shatterhand who was tested and rose to the occasion becoming the hero he always was. The life how it is portrayed in the books, movies, and shows is highly romanticized.
During the sixties the Native Americans served as a symbol of resistance for the counter culture. In the eighties the focus lay with spirituality and shamanism and now we direct our attention to the environment and the way Native Americans live or lived in unison with nature.
But are we allowed to do that? Does it do justice to the actual Native Americans? Or do we just keep them stuck in time, a time when their life was better and easier even if they had to fight bad guys but before they were forced to live on reservations if they survived at all?
Or can we use it as inspiration and a starting point to educate ourselves and our children about the multitude of Native American life? Is the person who lives like a prairie Indian on the weekend, learns how to dance like them, tries to follow their philosophy appropriating a foreign culture or is he or she paying homage to them?
Carmen Kwasny of the Verein der Native American Association of Germany says that they don’t hold dance events anymore because there too many people who just wanted to do the native dances without understanding the culture and customs behind it. At their events only Native Americans wear their traditional costumes and do their traditional dances. She herself gives workshops for teachers and also goes to schools and preschools to try to educate the children and break down prejudices, preconceptions, and clichés we still hold.
And what role do live shows like the Karl-May-Spiele have to play? Are the children who go there still allowed to wear a feather in their hair and have their faces painted. Are they allowed to dress up as Native Americans for Karneval?
I’m not sure what the right answer is. Straight up forbidding anything that is not your own culture will not work because we live in a society that already consists of many parts of different cultures. And throughout time, we have adopted and adapted to new influences and sometimes made something new and better. Maybe the difference between careless appropriation and homage is intent.
As flawed as the approach that Germans take to Native American life might be at least they aren’t forgotten.
Sources, Further Reading, and Videos of the German Hobby Native Americans
- New Yorker article
- dw- Karl May
- dw - Winnetou
- dw - Pierre Brice
- Winnetou Filme - dt
- Ass.of Native Americans of Germany - dt
- Indianer- und Cowboy Vereine - dt
- Westernbund e.V. - dt
- Karl-May-Festspiele Segeberg Homepage - dt
- Indianer im Erzgebirge
- Grand Entree Powwow - dt
- Native American Leo Rojas Interview
- Der Schuh des Manitu - dt Parody of Winnetou
