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= Native_Americans_in_German_popular_culture =
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Introduction
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Since the 18th century, Native Americans have been a topic of
fascination in German culture, inspiring literature, art, film and
historical reenactment, as well as influencing German ideas and
attitudes towards environmentalism. Hartmut Lutz coined the term
Indianthusiasm for this phenomenon.
However, these "Native Americans" are largely portrayed in a
romanticized, idealized, and fantasy-based manner, that relies on
historicised, stereotypical depictions of Plains Indians, rather than
the contemporary realities facing the real, and diverse, Indigenous
peoples of the Americas. Sources written by German people (for
example, Karl May) are prioritised over those by Native American
peoples themselves.
In 1985, Lutz invented the term Deutsche Indianertümelei ("German
Indian Enthusiasm") for the phenomenon. The phrase 'Indianertümelei'
is a reference to the German term 'Deutschtümelei' ("German
Enthusiasm") which mockingly describes the phenomenon of celebrating
in an excessively nationalistic and romanticized manner 'Deutschtum'
("Germanness"). It has been connected with German ideas of tribalism,
nationalism and Kulturkampf.
Background
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According to the history laid out in H. Glenn Penny's 'Kindred By
Choice', many Germans identify their roots as tribes that lived
independently of one another that were colonized by Romans and forced
to become Christians. Because of this distant tribal background and
history of colonization, and in fact all ancient Europeans lived
tribally at some point in their history, many of these Germans
identify with Native Americans more than European nations in
contemporary times. This belief in kindred lifestyle is detailed in
Penny's in-depth study of German fascination with and performances as
their ideas of historical Native American peoples. These Germans are
also interested in depiction of Native Americans in art and
anthropology. Penny covers this history in 'Kindred By Choice' and
other published writings, chronicling German artists such as Rudolf
Cronau, Max Ernst, Georg Grosz, Otto Dix, and Rudolf Schlichter's
portrayals of Native Americans. German academics such as Alexander von
Humboldt, Karl von den Steinen, Paul Ehrenreich, and Carl Jung all
traveled to the United States to learn more about Native Americans.
Their documentation of their journeys were regarded positively by the
German public and assisted in fostering German fascination with Native
Americans. Penny also details how Germans often denounced the violence
inflicted upon Native peoples by the United States government.
Another factor in the popularity of Hobbyism in Germany can be
attributed to the many Wild West shows that toured throughout Germany
and featured real Native Americans in stereotypical "cowboy and
Indian" performances. One of the most popular Wild West shows was
organized by William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. German Hobbyism is
generally believed to have been largely popularized by the dime-store
novelist Karl May, whose fictional Apache warrior character, Winnetou,
and his German blood-brother, Old Shatterhand, adventure throughout
the Wild West. In one of the many novels, Winnetou is murdered and Old
Shatterhand avenges him and ultimately becomes an Apache chief. The
Winnetou novels were first published in the 1890s.
Projections of sentiments
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H. Glenn Penny states a striking sense, for over two centuries, of
affinity among Germans for their ideas of what American Indians are
like. According to him, those affinities stem from German
polycentrism, notions of tribalism, longing for freedom, and a
melancholy sense of "shared fate." In the 17th and 18th centuries,
German intellectuals' image of Native American was based on earlier
heroes such as those of the Greeks, the Scythians, or the Polish
struggle for independence (as in 'Polenschwärmerei') as a base for
their projections. The then popular recapitulation theory on the
evolution of ideas was also involved. Such sentiments underwent ups
and downs. Philhellenism, rather strong around 1830, faced a setback
when the actual Greeks did not fulfill the classic ideals.
Antisemitism and pro-Indian stances did not necessarily exclude each
other in Germany.
In the 1920s, Anton Kuh's mockery of a contrast between 'Asphalt und
Scholle' (asphalt and clod), urban literature referred to metropolitan
Jews and rural-inspired Heimatschutz writings.
Much of German nationalism glorified ideas of "tribalism", using
heroes of Germanic mythology and folklore such as Sigurd and Arminius,
and attempting to position itself as an alternative role model to the
colonial empires of the time (and the Roman past) by trying to convey
the ideal of a colonizer loved by the colonized. After 1880, Catholic
publishers had a specific role in publicizing Karl May's fictional
Indian stories. The way May described Native Americans was seen as
helpful to better integrate German Catholics, which were "a tribe on
their own" and faced Kulturkampf controversies with the Protestant
dominated authorities and elite. H. Glenn Penny's 'Kindred By Choice'
treats the image and changing role of masculinity connected to Indians
in Germany besides a (mutually assumed) longing for freedom and a
melancholy sense of shared doom.
Johann Gottfried Seume (1763–1810) was among the Hessian auxiliaries
contracted by the British Crown for military service in Canada and
wrote about his encounters with Native Americans in his autobiography.
His admiration for naturality and a description of a Huron as a noble
but sort of frank man is part of his poem "Der Wilde" (the savage)
which became well known in Germany. Seume is also among the first to
use the words "Canada" and 'Kultur' (culture) in today's meaning in
German. Seume's Huron has stereotypical characteristics used as well
for Germanic people of old - he drinks mead and wears a bear skin and
uses a sort of blunt didactic on an unfriendly European settler. Seume
had actually met some Mi'kmaq, but in his poems he used tribe names
with symbolic significance. Hurons (Wyandot people) stood in the
contemporary poetry for the noble savage, Mohawks for the brute.
Wandervogel and youth movement
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The German Empire saw the rise of the German youth movement,
especially the Wandervogel, as an antimodern culture criticism. The
German image of Indians again projected German beliefs and dreams
about a bucolic past onto them. Authenticity, living free and close to
nature, was among those aims. It closely interacted with outdoor
meetings, games, songs and even commercial Wild West shows, as by
Buffalo Bill and other various media. Austrian Christian Feest
attributes the popularity of the Indian in the German youth movement
to the then all-European impact of late-19th-century human zoos. The
first actual Indians came to Germany in the 19th century.
Kah-ge-ga-ga-bow, an Ojibwa born in 1819, baptized as Reverend George
Copway, took part in the 1850 World Peace Congress at St. Paul's
Church, Frankfurt am Main. The image of the warrior turned Christian
went down well with the public and Copway became a media star in
Germany. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recommended him to the leftist
poet Ferdinand Freiligrath.
Other Native Americans arrived with human zoos and took part in shows
in zoological gardens and circuses. In 1879, Carl Hagenbeck
(1844-1913) engaged among others some Iroquois for a show in Dresden.
Painter and author Rudolf Cronau, a personal friend of Sitting Bull,
invited members of the Hunkpapa Lakota, who came to Europe in 1886.
Buffalo Bill's European shows in 1890 and between 1903 and 1907
involved several hundred Indians and were quite popular in Germany.
Edward Two-Two, a Lakota-Sioux, worked at the Sarrasani circus in
Dresden in 1913/14 and was buried there in 1914 according to his
wishes.
File:Karl-May-Spiele-Bischofswerda.Blutsbrüder.jpg|Karl-May-Spiele
Bischofswerda: Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the "blood brothers"
bonding scene
File:Karl-May-Spiele-Bischofswerda.Darsteller.jpg|Karl-May-Spiele
Bischofswerda: German actors playing Apaches
Karl May
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A strong influence on the German imagination of Native Americans is
the work of Karl May (1842-1912), who wrote various novels about the
American Wild West which relied upon, and further developed, this
romantic image. May is among the most successful German writers. ,
about 200 million copies of May's novels have been sold, half of them
in Germany. He is among the most popular authors of formula fiction in
the German language. These specifically German fantasies and
projections about 'Indianer' have influenced generations of Germans.
'Indianer' refers to Native Americans in the United States, and also
to natives of the Pacific, Central and Latin America, and "Red
Indians" in the stereotypical sense.
Karl May found admirers among such different personalities as Ernst
Bloch, Peter Handke and Adolf Hitler, but has almost no presence in
English-speaking countries. His most famous books, mainly about the
Wild West with a fictional Apache, Winnetou, among the main
characters, were at first deemed 19th-century pulp fiction. Winnetou
was described by some as "an apple Indian" (outside red, inside
white). However, Karl May never visited America, or had any direct
contact with Native American people, before he wrote these influential
works. May drew his inspiration among other sources from Balduin
Möllhausen, who had traveled in the Rocky Mountains in 1850 with Duke
Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg, and George Catlin's reports, which were
popular in Germany.
Gojko Mitić became famous playing Red Indians in various films for the
East German company DEFA, such as 'The Sons of Great Bear', and was
popular in the Eastern bloc. The Karl May festivals (in East and West
Germany) gain interest by real Indian guests and partners in the
meantime. In 2006, the cultural authority of the Mescalero Apaches and
the Karl-May-Haus in Hohenstein-Ernstthal made an agreement to
cooperate.
Films based on May's Winnetou novels were shot from 1962 to 1968,
starring Pierre Brice. A parodistic adaptation of the genre, the
comedy 'Der Schuh des Manitu', was among the biggest box office hits
in Germany. 'Bravo', Germany's largest teen magazine, awards an annual
prize, the 'Bravo-Otto', in the form of a classic Karl May Indian.
Spiritual and esoteric aspects
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At the end of the 19th century, there was a widespread notion of a
coming new humanity, building on then-current esoteric myths such as
those of Helena Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner as well as on popularly
accepted philosophy such as Nietzsche's 'Übermensch'. May was no
esoteric, but a devout (Protestant) Christian, published by Catholic
publishing houses. He used Winnetou and other protagonists (Winnetou's
mentor Klekih-Petra, a former German 48er, became a member of the
Apache tribe) less as 'apple Indians' than as personifications of his
dream of a German-Native American synthesis based on shared Christian
faith. According to Mays' vision "in place of the Yankees, a new man
will emerge whose soul is German-Indian". This approach is found both
in his later novels, such as 'Winnetou IV', and in public speeches,
such as his last speech, given in 1912 and titled "Empor ins Reich der
Edelmenschen" (Ascend to the empire of noble men).
Austrian novelist Robert Müller's 1915 'Tropen. Der Mythos der Reise.
Urkunden eines deutschen Ingenieurs' (Tropics, The myth of travel) is
an important early example of a German exotic novel. Here, as in May,
the Indians are not just projections of what white Europeans had been
(in a mere racist outline of unilineal evolution), but also of what
they should be in the future, on a higher level.
Role of the noble warrior image
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Prior to European contact, the Native American population is estimated
to have been in the millions. By 1880, the population had been
severely impacted mainly by disease brought by the colonists as well
as wars and violence. The destruction of communities and culture gave
rise to the idea of the "Vanishing Indian". Theories about the rise
and fall of human "races" (in and beyond Germany) were rather popular
in the late 19th century, as a part of science and the eugenics
movement, and in esoteric writings by authors such as Helena
Blavatsky. Friedrich Nietzsche's popular, 'The Gay Science' praised
endurance of pain as a prerequisite of true philosophy. Nietzsche drew
parallels between his ideas of contemporary Indians and his preference
for Pre-Socratic philosophy and "pre-civilized", "pre-rational"
thinking. The romantic image of the noble savage or "seasoned warrior"
took hold on Wilhelminian Germany; phrases that originated in this
period, such as "An Indian knows no pain" ('Ein Indianer kennt keinen
Schmerz'), are still in use today, for example to console children at
the dentist's.
The German approach was somewhat different from the Social Darwinism
taking place in the majority of American society at the time, as the
German stereotypes were more idealized than denigrating. However,
according to Philip J. Deloria, Americans also perpetrated the same,
problematic idealization in a parallel tradition of Playing Indian -
simultaneously mimicking stereotypical ideas and imagery of "Indians"
and "Indianness", while also dismissing, and making invisible real,
contemporary Indian people. In Germany and America, these hobbyists
idealize these archaic and "back to the roots" stereotypes of Native
Americans. Stefan George, a charismatic networker and author, saw (and
studied) Indians as role models of his own cosmogony, using ecstatic
and unmediated experiences to provide a sacred space for himself and
his disciples. The Munich Cosmic Circle, an enlarged (compare Fanny zu
Reventlow) circle of followers beyond the all-male Georgekreis, became
(and made Munich) famous for its lavish parties and happenings ante
litteram. George has been quoted with "Nietzsche may have known the
Greek philosophers, but I am aware about the (Red) Indians".
In World War I, about 15,000 Native Americans served in the Allied
Forces as members of the United States and Canadian armies. Both their
own comrades and the enemy shared the stereotypical image of them as a
"vanishing race" but with a strong warrior spirit. German soldiers
feared Indian snipers, messengers and shock troops and the Allied
troops were already using Indian languages via "windtalkers" to encode
open communication. World War I propaganda claimed to be quoting a
Cherokee soldier, Jo Fixum, with stereotypical, improbable, and
offensive language features.
By 1940, the Indigenous population in the USA had risen to about
334,000. Because the German government was aware of the Indian
communications specialists' abilities, their agents tried to use
anthropologists as spies on reservations to subvert the cultures of
some Indian tribes and learn their languages. The pro-Nazi German
American Bund tried to persuade Indians not to register for the draft,
for example using the swastika with some Native Americans as a symbol
depicting good luck in order to gain sympathy. The attempts may have
backfired. During World War II, more than 44,000 Native Americans
joined the military service, e.g. the 45th Infantry Division, and had
all Americans enlisted in similar numbers and with such fervor,
conscription would have not been necessary. Indian participation in
World War II was extensive, and became part of American folklore and
popular culture.
Johnny Cash's recording of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", which
commemorates the Pima Marine of the title who was one of the six men
who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima, also became popular in
Germany. Like Cash himself, who had been a G.I. in Bavaria, soldiers
formerly or currently based in Germany played a role in German-Native
American relations. Veterans are highly honored in most Native
American communities, and many who serve in tribal government are
veterans.
Since 1945, more Native Americans have set foot in Germany - many
through US Army bases, and others due to business or educational
reasons. The Native American Association of Germany, formed in 1994,
provides resources and contact between Native Americans in Germany,
greater Europe and the USA.
"Indianthusiasm" (''Indianertümelei''), hobbyists and politics
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There was a widespread cultural passion for Native Americans in
Germany throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. "Indianthusiasm"
(German: ) contributed to the evolution of German national identity.
Long before German unification in 1871, it had been widely assumed in
German nationalist circles that a unified 'Reich' would also have a
colonial empire, and many of the debates at the proto-parliament in
Frankfurt in 1848-49 concerned colonialist ambitions. In the late 19th
century, a recurring complaint in Germany was that the 'Reich' had a
relatively small colonial empire compared to other nations, especially
the United Kingdom. As a result, "Indianthusiasm" served as a sort of
'Handlungsersatz'-an untranslatable term meaning a surrogate for an
action that substitutes for real power. Many of the colonial adventure
stories in 19th century Germany had as their theme "stories of sexual
conquest and surrender, love and blissful domestic relations between
colonizer and colonized, set in colonial territory, stories that made
the strange familiar and the familiar 'familial'". A recurring theme
of "Indianthusiasm" suggested that German immigrants would be act in a
morally superior manner towards the indigenous population of North
America than the "Anglo-Saxon" powers of Great Britain, Canada and the
United States; this theme also promoted the idea that Germans held a
genuine interest in Native American culture that other Europeans
lacked.
A popular theme of Indianthusiasm novels in Imperial Germany were
stories of German immigrants settling in rugged places such as the
wilderness of Canada, where 'Auslandsdeutschtum' ("Germanness abroad")
served as a "civilizing force" that tamed the wilderness while also
simultaneously offered up a very romanticized picture of the
Indigenous inhabitants of Canada as "noble savages". The idealized
picture of Indigenous Canadians as having an innate moral nobility
served as a critique of modernity. Most notably, the image of
Indigenous Canadians as "noble, but dying races" suffering from the
"cruel misrule" of the British Empire not only allowed the authors of
these books to portray the Germans as better colonizers than the
British, but also allowed them to resolve the dilemma that the
"civilizing process" begun by German immigrants and celebrated in
these novels also meant the end of the traditional lifestyles of
Indigenous Canadians by putting the latter down to the British.
Imagery of Native Americans was appropriated in Nazi propaganda and
used both against the US and to promote a "holistic understanding of
Nature" among Germans, which gained widespread support from various
segments of the political spectrum in Germany. The connection between
anti-American sentiment and sympathetic feelings toward the
underprivileged but authentic Indians is common in Germany, and it was
to be found among both Nazi propagandists such as Goebbels and
left-leaning writers such as Nikolaus Lenau as well. During the German
Autumn in 1977, an anonymous text by a leftist 'Göttinger Mescalero'
spoke "with secret joy" (klammheimliche Freude) of the murder of
German attorney general Siegfried Buback and used the positive image
of 'Stadtindianer' (Urban Indians) within the radical left.
In his book on the topic, 'Indianthusiasm', scholar Hartmut Lutz
states that after the Second World War, Indianthusisam served as a
surrogate for guilt about the Holocaust. After 1945, the "Wild West"
of the 19th century became a historical zone in German popular
imagination where it was the victors in World War II who were
committing genocide. The 19th century "Wild West" became for Germans
in the 1950s-1960s a "distant, vaguely defined past" where it was the
Americans who were perpetuating genocide while German immigrants to
the United States like May's hero Old Shatterhand became the ones who
were trying to stop the genocide. There was an implicit 'tu quoque'
argument to Indianthusisam in West Germany that Allied nations such as
the United States had also committed genocide in the 19th century with
the obvious conclusion that therefore there was no reason for the
Germans to feel especially guilty about the Holocaust. In East
Germany, this message was made explicit where policies of the United
States government towards Indians in the 19th century were linked to
capitalism, and therefore the treatment of American Indians supposedly
showed the brutal, rapacious and genocidal nature of American
capitalism and imperialism. In East Germany, the frequency of films
devoted to the subject of the Indians led to the term 'Indianerfilme'
being coined to describe the genre. In the East German
'Indianerfilme', the Americans were always the villains while the
Indians were always the heroes. More recently, Indianthusiasm has been
linked to the rise of environmentalism in Germany, where the
traditional lifestyles of the Indians is portrayed in a romantic
manner as superior to modern industrial civilization of the West.
Karl May festivals during the Nazi period
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In 1938, the first outdoor Karl May festivals took place at the Rathen
Open Air Stage. The open-air theatre was laid out in 1936, inspired by
the ideas of the 'Thingspiele' movement, which was active in the early
stages of the Nazi period. The Thingspiele movement failed in staging
neopagan and Nordic mythical aspects of the völkisch movement, while
May's all-Christian legends found more approval with the mainstream.
Communist interpretations
===========================
The Communist East German government had major problems with the mixed
heritage of May's works: his strong Christian leanings and his broad
support, including on the political right. His books were not
available for a long time, and "indianistic" reenactors were closely
monitored by the security forces. The Communist authorities tried to
integrate the movement into the socialist world view. Some prominent
communist philosophers, such as Karl Marx' friend and sponsor
Friedrich Engels, had used Native American tribal structures as
examples for theories on family, private property, and the state.
Engels contributed to the controversy about whether the Native
American tribes actually had a notion of private property before the
Columbian age. Indianerenthusiasm is now also being found in Russia.
West German interpretations
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In West Germany, May's heritage was less problematic; both the books
and the festivals were soon copied and reprinted. The Karl May
Festival in Bad Segeberg overtook its predecessor in Rathen, as the
GDR officials discontinued the tradition there. The Federal Republic
experienced some aspects of an idealized Indian image during the
Protests of 1968 and the related generation and in the founding phase
of Die Grünen and NGOs like Greenpeace, which have a strong influence
in Germany. Cultural critics tended to depict Indians positively to
criticize Western society while conflicts of and with actual Native
Americans over issues such as fur hunting, slavery, forest fire
triggering, non-sustainable practices such as buffalo jumps, seal
clubbing and whaling were neglected. The positive image, however, also
influenced the self-image of actual Indians.
Hobbyists
===========
Native American hobbyism in Germany, also called Indian Hobbyism, or
Indianism, is the performance and attempt at historical reenactment of
the American Indian culture of the early contact period, rather than
the way contemporary Indigenous peoples of the Americas live. The
cultures imitated are usually a romantic stereotype of Plains Indian
cultures, with widely varying degrees of accuracy; influenced by the
stereotypes seen in Hollywood Westerns. Some of the early to mid 20th
century hobbyists gained widespread acclaim as selftaught experts in
anything pertaining to the subjects of Native Americana, particularly
the Zurich, Switzerland, based accountant, Joseph Balmer.
This is done by non-Natives as a hobby and pastime, such as for a
weekend retreat, hobbyist pow wow, or summer camp. It exists in
several European countries, but is prominent in Germany, where
approximately 40,000 practitioners, known as hobbyists, participate.
Response to this by actual Native Americans has been largely negative.
In the 20th century
=====================
The first such hobbyist club was the Cowboy Club founded in Munich in
1913. As part of the phenomenon of 'Indianertümelei' a number of
Western and Indian theme parks operate in Germany, the most popular of
which are the Pullman City theme park outside of Munich and El Dorado
theme park outside of Berlin.
Hobbyism was greatly affected by the separation of Germany after World
War II. :de:Katrin Sieg|'s 'Ethnic Drag' discusses the differences
between West German Hobbyism and East German Hobbyism, saying that
while West Germany could continue to openly participate in the hobby,
East Germans had to go underground for fear of being targeted as
rebels. This translated to a difference in opinion between East and
West in how they interacted with real Native Americans; East German
hobbyist clubs often interacted with Native Americans and supported
them in their issues financially. On the other hand, West Germans
often avoided contact with real Native Americans, which Sieg surmises
is because they feared being told they are not truly Native American.
These patterns continue to be true today. Dakota academic Philip
Deloria theorizes in his book Playing Indian that there are two types
of Hobbyism--people Hobbyism and item Hobbyism. West Germans would be
considered, according to Deloria, as item hobbyists who focus on the
objects, and the East Germans would be considered people hobbyists,
who also include objects but want to interact with real Native
Americans and issues facing Native communities.
The East German interest in having hobbyists start engaging with
living Native Americans may be partially attributable to the fact that
the East German government began to recognize the propaganda value;
criticism of the historical treatment of American Indians could be
used as an example of why East Germans citizens should criticize US
policies in general.
May's novels featuring Winnetou and Old Shatterhand have been adapted
into both theatrical and film productions in German-speaking
countries. It is believed that film adaptations of Karl May's
characters in the 1960s may have saved the West German film industry.
Each summer in Bad Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the Karl May
Festival (Karl-May-Spiele) hosts stage productions weekly and
particularly during the Karl May Festival. The Karl May Festival is an
annual event purported to bring the Wild West to northern Germany.
In the 21<sup>st</sup> century
================================
German Hobbyism continues today in the form of festivals, museums, pow
wows, theater, and clubs. The Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg
continues each year and is a popular attraction to families from all
over Germany and Europe. Additionally, there are multiple Wild West
Amusement Parks all throughout Germany. The Karl May Museum in
Radebeul and other museums that host Native American exhibits continue
to be wildly popular. Hobbyists that organize through the means of a
club host pow wows and teach each other and communities about Native
American culture. The topic of German Hobbyism has become more
recently documented by mainstream news sources 'New York Times', the
Huffington Post, and independent filmmakers such as Howie Summers, who
created a short documentary titled Indianer that explores German
Hobbyists and their fascinations.
Writer, psychologist and filmmaker Red Haircrow, whose father is
African American while his mother is of Native (Chiricahua
Apache/Cherokee) heritage, attended the Winter Pow-wow 2014 in Berlin
on 15 February. He described the participants as wearing as many
"breastplates, bear claw necklaces, feathers and bone jewelry as they
seemed able to physically support," and that the attendees also wore
Native American costumes in addition to the hobbyist dancers.
In 2019, it was estimated that between 40,000-100,000 Germans are
involved in 'Indianer' hobbyist clubs at any given moment. Interviewed
in 2007, one member of an 'Indianer' club stated: "Our camp is always
in summer, in July for two weeks. During this time, we live in tipis,
we wear only Indian clothes. We don't use technology and we try to
follow Indian traditions. We have those [pretending to be] Lakota,
Oglala, Blackfeet, Blood, Siksika, Pawneee... and we go on the warpath
against each other day and night, anytime at all. In two weeks, every
tribe can fight each other. We don't know when somebody will attack or
when they will come to steal our horses. And the battles are always
exciting, too. I really enjoy them".
Criticism
===========
The main criticism of German Hobbyism by Native American journalists
and academics argues on the basis of cultural appropriation and
misrepresentation of Native American cultures and identities. When it
comes to the borrowing of American Indian culture, Philip J. Deloria
dubs it "playing Indian", which he defines as the adoption or
portrayal of being Native by Anglo-American individuals. These actions
are often motivated by hobby and sometimes financial gain. Further,
Deloria writes that these individuals and groups who play Indian build
a collectivity in their performance of otherness, which in turn
defines their own identity through the distinction of playing the
national "other".
Katrin Sieg applies the thoughts and ideas of Deloria to the
performance studies field in Germany. Her book 'Ethnic Drag' discusses
the ways in which Germans have historically dressed up as "othered"
peoples, which includes Jews, Native Americans and Turks. While the
portrayals of Jews and Turks were largely negative stereotypes, the
portrayal of Native Americans differed in that they were seen as
heroic and noble.
The first Native American women's theater troupe known as Spiderwoman
Theater traveled to Germany and Europe in order to perform a satire of
the European and particularly German fascination with Native
Americans. According to Spiderwoman Theater, it was an act of
resistance meant to reclaim their identity as real Native Americans.
Their show is titled 'Winnetou's Snake Oil Show from Wigwam City', and
parodied Karl May's characters, New Ageism, and individuals who
pretend to be Native American.
In 1982, a Canadian Ojibwe painter Ahmoo Allen Angeconeb visited West
Germany where he discovered his paintings were selling better than in
Canada, looking for a chance to exhibit his work. Angeconeb soon
discovered that most Germans were interested in the traditional
culture of the Plains Indian peoples and had no interest in the
Eastern Woodslands peoples such as the Ojibwe or in the modern First
Nations peoples. His attempts to argue that there was more to the
Indians of North America than the lifestyle of the Plains Indians in
the 18th and 19th centuries did not meet with much success as he
recalled in an interview: "Actually most of these Indian clubs were
interested in Plains Indians. So when they found out I was Ojibwe they
had no idea who the Ojibwe were. We weren't Plains Indians, so
therefore we weren't 'real Indians' [...]. [...] And then, they seem
to have this romantic view that they didn't want to have altered. I
was too 'real' an Indian for them. They wanted to keep their romantic
view; they didn't want to hear about the modern way of living for
Ojibwe people here. That we lived in wooden-structure homes, that we
drove cars".
Red Haircrow has written articles from Berlin, where he resides,
regarding the controversial aspects of Hobbyism from the perspective
of a real Native American. Haircrow has traveled to pow wows and
reported to Indian Country Today Media Network about his experience as
a Native American at an event in which Germans performed Native
American identity. He reported the premiere of the blockbuster remake
'The Lone Ranger', in which Hobbyists were hired to perform as Native
Americans in Berlin. Haircrow also covered a controversy at the Karl
May Museum, when the owners of the museum in Radebeul refused to
return Native American scalps to the tribes from which they are
claimed to have come. As an act of protest, Native American singer
Jana Mashonee chose not to perform at the Karl May Fest in Radebeul,
Saxony and released an official statement denigrating the refusal of
the Karl May Museum to return the Native American scalps. The scalps
were not returned to the Ojibwe nation as requested, but they were
removed from display.
Haircrow also notes that not every Native American has a negative view
of the German fascination with their culture. Comanche Laura Kerchee,
who was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Air Force, told him that
"she was impressed with how enthralled the Germans there were by
Native Americans". Haircrow adds that "some tribes in North America
[are] reaching out to their fans in Europe. They realize that this is
an opportunity to promote understanding and education and a way to
market Native culture to a highly sympathetic audience."
Red Haircrow's 2018 documentary "Forget Winnetou! Loving in the Wrong
Way" focuses more Native perspectives on Indian hobbyism, cultural
appropriation and the connection to racism and continuing colonial
practices in Germany, won the Audience Award at the Refugees Welcome
Film Festival in Berlin, Germany in 2018.
In the United States, there is a widespread criticism from Native
Americans about the misappropriation and misrepresentation of Native
American identity and culture. Examples include the Native American
mascot controversy, backlash against artists such as Gwen Stefani and
Lana Del Rey who have performed in feather war bonnets, and campaigns
to educate the public about not wearing Native American costumes for
Halloween and themed parties, such as My Culture Is Not a Costume.
This same sentiment was expressed by Haircrow's son, who claimed that
"they are stealing from others, but don't want to admit it. That's why
they didn't want us there, because they know we know what they are
doing is wrong". In a 'New York Times' short documentary titled 'Lost
in Translation: Germany's Fascination with the American Old West', the
actor portraying Winnetou, Jan Sosniok, is asked if he thinks that
real Native Americans would take offense to the portrayal of Native
Americans. The actor responds that he does not believe they would be
offended. The video also portrays a German man who studied at the
Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. This person shares
his discomfort with seeing a burial dance take place in the Bad
Segeberg performance, and calls it grotesque and claims that it
perpetuates a stereotypical image of the Native American.
Journalist James Hagengruber discussed German hobbyists in an article
for Salon's website, describing the occasional clashes between the
German fantasists and actual Native Americans. Visiting Native
American dancers were shocked when German hobbyists protested their
use of microphones and details of their costumes (to which they
counter-protested). A hobbyist profiled in the article defended the
German tendency to focus on Indian culture before 1880, instead of
engaging with issues that affect contemporary tribes, comparing it to
studying "the [ancient] Romans." Some Germans have been surprised and
irritated when real Native Americans don't act the way they do in the
German imagination. On the other hand, Hagengruber comments that "some
dying Indian languages may end up being preserved by German
hobbyists." Dick Littlebear, "a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation
and the president of Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, MT," told
Hagengruber "he doesn't worry about Germans fixating on his culture,"
as long as they do not copy sacred ceremonies, and pointed out that he
had learned "lost Northern Cheyenne stitching methods from the 1850s"
from German hobbyists.
Journalist Noemi Lopinto in her article for UTNE reports that an
Ojibwe man named David Redbird Baker found the performance of sacred
ceremonies in Germany to be offensive: "They take the social and
religious ceremonies and change them beyond recognition." Lopinto
paraphrases Baker as adding, "They've held dances where anyone in
modern dress is barred from attending--even visiting Natives." Both
Lopinto and Hagengruber quote Carmen Kwasny, who works with the Native
American Association of Germany, as saying the Germans need to learn
to view Native Americans as people, rather than idealized cultural
fantasy characters.
Literature and art
======================================================================
The specific image of Indians originated earlier than May's writings.
Already in the 18th century a specific German view on the fate of
Native Americans can be found in various travel reports and scientific
excursions.
Philipp Georg Friedrich von Reck (1710–1798) traveled to Massachusetts
and Georgia in 1733/34 and saw the Muskogee nation. James Fenimore
Cooper's 'Leatherstocking Tales' were admired by Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe and still are among the German youth literature classics. In
1815-18, the poet Adelbert von Chamisso took part in a tour around the
world led by Otto von Kotzebue and met native people in Latin and
Northern America.
Christian Gottlieb Prieber, a lawyer and political utopian from
Zittau, emigrated to North America in 1735 and lived with the Cherokee
in Tennessee. He tried to build a society based on his ideals but was
imprisoned in 1743 and died in prison in 1745. Maximilian zu
Wied-Neuwied, a nobleman and scientist, traveled from 1815 to 1817 to
Brazil and from 1832 to 1834 to North America, accompanied by the
Swiss painter Karl Bodmer. Bodmer's portraits of North Dakota, Ohio
River and Missouri River Indians includes among others Blackfoot,
Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw. Karl Postl (1793-1864) wrote various
novels about his experiences in the US between 1823 and 1831, using
the pseudonym Charles Sealsfield. Similarly to Friedrich Gerstäcker,
he wrote about Tecumseh and provided a more realistic picture than
previous authors. Fritz Steuben's Tecumseh novels were bestsellers in
the 1930s. After some Nazi allegations had been erased, the novels
were reprinted – and sold well again – in the 1950s.
Painter and ice skater Julius Seyler (1873–1955) lived in Montana and
depicted Blackfeet ('Three Bear', 'Eagle Calf', 'Bear Pipe Man', etc.)
and sacred locations such as the Chief Mountain. Early modern painters
inspired by Native Americans include August Macke, George Grosz, Max
Slevogt and Rudolf Schlichter.
Klaus Dill (1922–2000) was a well known illustrator of German books
about Native Americans.
Bavarian musician Willy Michl describes himself as an "Isar Indian".
Pop rock band Nena's first album, 'Nena' (1983), includes a song about
"Indians like you and me" ().
German musician Olaf Henning made a hit song called "Cowboy und
Indianer" that was quite successful, reaching 6th position on the
German charts in February of 2009.
The Vanilla Ninja cover of "When the Indians Cry", originally by Chris
Norman, became a major hit in Austria in 2004, reaching 7th in the
charts.
Franz Kafka's short short story (just one sentence) "Wish to become an
Indian" ('"Wunsch, Indianer zu werden"') was published in 1912:
East German Westerns
======================
The GDR produced 'Indianerfilme' (Indian Films) under the production
company DEFA. These films were massively popular and heavily inspired
by West German interpretations of Karl May novels and spaghetti
westerns. Under DEFA, the western genre was entirely different with
the protagonists being Native Americans, their chief usually being
played by actor Gojko Mitic, and the antagonists being white settlers
and the US military. Indianerfilme are mostly concerned with
presenting an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist message. These
films were massively successful in East German box offices with more
than 9 million tickets sold for the most popular Indianerfilm, "Die
Söhne der großen Bärin (The Sons of Great Bear)."
List of GDR Westerns:
* "Die Söhne der großen Bärin" (1966)
* "Chingachgook, die große Schlange" (1967)
* "Spur des Falken" (1968)
* "Weiße Wölfe" (1969)
* "Tödlicher Irrtum" (1969)
* "Osceola" (1971)
* "Tecumseh" (1972)
* "Apachen" (1973)
* "Blutsbrüder" (1975)
Common German proverbs referring to "Indianer"
======================================================================
In a 1999 speech delivered in the United States in English, Lutz
declared: "For over two hundred years Germans have found 'Indianer' so
fascinating that even today an Indian iconography is used in
advertising. The most popular image of the 'Indianer' is provided by
Karl May's fictional Apache chief Winnetou...Indian lore is profitable
and marketable, as some Native Americans travelling in Germany may
attest...There is a marked Indian presence in German everyday culture,
even down to the linguistic level, where sentences like 'ein Indianer
weint nicht' (an Indian doesn't cry), 'ein Indianer kennt keinen
Schmerz' (an Indian braves pain) or figures such as 'der letzte
Mohikaner' (the Last of the Mohicans) have become part of the everyday
speech". Other examples include:
German-American heritage
======================================================================
The descendants of the founders of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg in
Texas claim that their peace treaty with the local natives, the
Meusebach-Comanche Treaty of 1847, has never been broken. However,
German immigrants underwent less of a close synthesis and interaction
than, for example, Scottish Americans, with some notable exceptions
such as Ben Reifel.
Prominent German-Americans with a certain role in the image-building
of Native Americans include the painters Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)
and Louis Maurer (1832–1932). Important contribution in the humanities
include anthropologist Franz Boas (1858–1942) and Native American
Renaissance writer Louise Erdrich (born 1954).
Germans still have an easygoing approach to using blackface or
redface; there is a varied and continuing tradition of temporarily
immersing oneself in different customs that is part of Carnival.
'Indianerhobby' reenactment or living history is in effect part of
German folklore. The "cult" goes beyond Karl May and aims at a high
level of authenticity. This sort of "second-hand folklore" is an
alternative way of dealing with Americanization, "anti-Imperialism",
and popular ethnology.
The background in human zoos (Völkerschau in German) and the first
Western movies is still vivid as well in "Cowboy and Indianer"
children games. Americans have e.g. harshly criticized photoshoot of
(predominantly white) candidates dressed in Native American garb in
Heidi Klum's 'Germany's Next Topmodel' show.
The harsh condemnation by Marta Carlson, a Native American activist,
of Germans for getting pleasure from "something their whiteness has
participated in destroying", is not shared by others. As with Irish or
Scottish immigrants, the "whiteness" of German immigrants was not a
given for WASP Americans. Both Germans and Native Americans had to
regain some of their customs, as a direct heritage tradition was no
longer in place. It is however still somewhat disturbing for both
sides when German hobby Indians meet Native German enthusiasts. There
are allegations of plastic shamanism versus mockery about Native
Americans excluding non-Indians and banning alcohol at their events.
German (and Czechs) hobbyists' concept of multiculturalism includes
the inaleniable right to keep and drink beer in their tipis or kohtes.
Notable collections and museums
======================================================================
The Indian department of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin contains
one of the largest collections of Native American artifacts in the
world, the curators ask for a more active community dealing with the
heritage.
Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, sketches and paintings are part of Prince
Maximilian's travel report book 'Reise im Inneren von Nordamerika'
(1844) and can be seen at the Nordamerika Native Museum (NONAM) in
Zurich and in the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
Villa Shatterhand in Radebeul, Saxony, hosts the Karl-May-Museum and
in its backyard, a log cabin called 'Villa Bärenfett' (bear fat villa)
with an exhibition about Red Indians. Author, adventurer, artist,
curator and acrobat Ernst Tobis alias Patty Frank (1876–1959) founded
this leading collection of Native American artifacts in Germany and
took care of them till his death. He led hundreds of thousands of
visitors through the collection.
The Museum Five Continents in Munich contains the collection of Indian
artefacts and art of Princess Theresa of Bavaria, a natural scientist
and eager traveler.
The Übersee Museum Bremen possesses a permanent exhibition on the
Americas with many North American Native pieces and examples. The
museum even includes a buffalo taxidermy.
The Linden Museum in Stuttgart has a permanent exhibit of items from
plains and prairie cultures present in their America Room.
See also
======================================================================
*List of fictional Native Americans
*Cosplay
*Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
*Indian princess
*Native American criticism of the New Age movement
*Ostern, the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries' take on the
Western.
*Pretendian
*Rainbow Gathering
Further reading
======================================================================
*Chandler, Daniel and Rod Munday (2011). 'A Dictionary of Media and
Communication'. Oxford University Press.
*Deloria, Philip J. (1998). 'Playing Indian'. Yale University Press.
.
*Eddy, Melissa (2014). "Lost in Translation: Germany's Fascination
With the American Old West". 'The New York Times'.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/world/europe/germanys-fascination-with-american-old-west-native-american-scalps-human-remains.html?_r=0
*Friedrich von Borries / Jens-Uwe Fischer: 'Sozialistische Cowboys.
Der Wilde Westen Ostdeutschlands'. Frankfurt/ Main: Suhrkamp, 2008,
(www.sozialistische-cowboys.de about the 'socialist cowboys' in the
GDR)
*Galchen, Rivka (2012). "Wild West Germany: Why do cowboys and Indians
so captivate the country?". 'The New Yorker'.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/09/wild-west-germany
*Gerd Gemunden, Colin G. Calloway, Susanne Zantop: Germans and
Indians: Fantasies, Encounters, Projections, University of Nebraska
Press, Lincoln, NE 2002,
*Gilders, Adam (2003). "Ich Bin Ein Indianer: Germany's Obsession with
a past it never had". 'The Walrus '.
http://thewalrus.ca/2003-10-feature-2/
*Hagengruber, James (2002). "Sitting Bull: Bush-hating Germans might
not sing 'Hail to the Chief,' but they're infatuated with the first
Americans". 'Salon'.
http://www.salon.com/2002/11/27/indians/
*Haircrow, Red (2013). "Ich Bin Ein Tonto: Johnny Depp at 'Lone
Ranger' Premiere in Berlin". 'Indian Country Today Media Network'.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/ich-bin-ein-tonto-johnny-depp-lone-ranger-premiere-berlin-150589
*Haircrow, Red (2014). "A Star Trek Convention for Native Enthusiasts:
Inside a German Pow Wow". 'Indian Country Today Media Network'.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/24/star-trek-convention-native-enthusiasts-inside-german-pow-wow-153712
*Haircrow, Red (2014). "An Agreement Is Reached Regarding Scalps at
the Karl May Museum". 'Indian Country Today Media Network'.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/14/agreement-reached-regarding-scalps-karl-may-museum-155307
*Ulrich van der Heyden: Eine unentdeckte Nische der DDR-Gesellschaft:
Die "Indianistikszene" zwischen "antiimperialistischer Solidarität"
und Verweigerung, in: Kultursoziologie. Aspekte - Analysen -
Argumente, Nr. 2, Leipzig 2002, S. 153-174, about the GDR Indianistik
scene
* Pamela Kort and Max Hollein (ed.): 'I like America. Fiktionen des
Wilden Westens' (The title is a pun on Joseph Beuys' 'I Like America
and America Likes Me'). Katalog der Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.
München: Prestel, 2006. [
http://d-nb.info/980002907/04 dnb entry and
catalogue].
*Levine, Carole Quattro (2008). "'Indianer': A glimpse inside the
world of German Hobby Indians". 'Scene4 Magazine'.
http://www.scene4.com/archivesqv6/may-2008/html/carolelevine0508.html
*Lopinto, Noemi (2009). "Der Indianer: Why Do 40,000 Germans spend
their weekends dressed as Native Americans?". 'Utne.com '.
http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/germans-weekends-native-americans-indian-culture.aspx#axzz3Iclt4HSK
*Penny, H. Glenn (2011). "The German Love Affair with American
Indians: Rudolf Cronau's Epiphany". 'Common-Place.org'.
http://www.common-place.org/vol-11/no-04/reading/
*Penny, H. Glenn (2013). 'Kindred By Choice '. The University of North
Carolina Press. .
* Hans-Peter Rodenberg: 'Der imaginierte Indianer. Zur Dynamik von
Kulturkonflikt und Vergesellschaftung des Fremden,' Frankfurt/ Main:
Suhrkamp, 1994. (The imaginated Indian)
*Sieg, Katrin (2002). 'Ethnic Drag'. University of Michigan Press. .
*Spiderwoman Theatre (1999).
"[
http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000086266.html Winnetou’s snake oil show
from Wigwam City]". 'Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library'.
*Stetler, Julia Simone (2012). "Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Germany. A
Transnational History". University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 1634.
* Frank Usbeck
** 'Fellow Tribesmen: The Image of Native Americans, National
Identity, and Nazi Ideology in Germany.' New York: Berghahn, 2015.
** "Fighting Like Indians. The Indian Scout Syndrome in American and
German War Reports of World War II," in: Fitz, Karsten (ed.): 'Visual
Representations of Native Americans: Transnational Contexts and
Perspectives.' Heidelberg: Winter. 2012. 125-43.
** "Learning from Tribal Ancestors: How the Nazis Used Indian Imagery
to Promote a Holistic Understanding of Nature among Germans." 'Elohi.
Peuples Indigènes et Environnement,' Vol. 4. 2014. 45-60.
External links
======================================================================
*
"[
http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/germans-weekends-native-americans-indian-culture.aspx
Der Indianer: Why do 40,000 Germans spend their weekends dressed as
Native Americans?]" in the 'Utne Reader'
*
"[
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/23/germanys-obsession-american-indians-touching-and-occasionally-surreal-148331
Germany's Obsession With American Indians Is Touching--And
Occasionally Surreal]" at Indian Country Today Media Network
*
"[
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2015/07/europeans-dressed-as-native-americans-photos
Last of the Munichans]" pictorial of hobbyists in Mother Jones
magazine.
*
"[
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/world/europe/germanys-fascination-with-american-old-west-native-american-scalps-human-remains.html
Lost in Translation: Germany's Fascination With the American Old
West]" in 'The New York Times'. Includes video, 'Native Fantasy:
Germany's Indian Heroes.'
*
"[
http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/past%20issues/brev31/alexie_genocide.html
Somebody Else's Genocide] " - Sherman Alexie on the German view of
Indians.
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