In the debate about Karl May’s “Winnetou” novels and the accusation of cultural appropriation, the “Indian films” produced by DEFA in the GDR are now also a topic. At the request of “Picture” informed the MDR that the films should remain in the program.
“I can tell you that MDR will continue to broadcast such productions,” said a spokesman for the broadcaster. Several of the productions are already in the program for 2023. The inventory of the GDR film company is managed by the DEFA Foundation, but the MRD currently holds licenses for broadcasting. In July, Trace of the Falcon and White Wolves were last seen.
Actor Gojko Mitic: “What nonsense!”
“What nonsense!” dictated actor Gojko Mitic “Bild” into the microphone for debate. The 82-year-old played the leading role in numerous DEFA “Indian films”, such as “Apachen” (1973) and “Blutsbrüder” (1975).
“Native American films are part of our culture, like detective stories and comedies,” Mitic said. It is about charity, blood brotherhood, friendship between peoples. The DEFA films were even made with the help of the historian Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich († 78), who researched the culture of North American Indians.
Although Karl May was Saxon, his works were considered undesirable in GDR cultural policy. While numerous “Winnetou” films were made in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Karl May Games began in Bad Segeberg in Schleswig-Holstein, the GDR instead commissioned its own “Indian films” from the “state-owned” film company DEFA. These should take the perspective of the indigenous people oppressed by colonists.
Is Karl May’s “Winnetou” racist?
The Ravensburger publishing house announced on Monday, August 22, that it would no longer sell two “Winnetou” books. This led to a debate about the representation of the indigenous people in Karl May’s works and films and plays based on them. For example, while the Hamburg colonial researcher Jürgen Zimmerer is of the opinion that May’s work is “racist in its DNA”, a petition from the Karl May Foundation, among others, defended the material. Although May was inevitably shaped by the colonial era, his sympathies in the novels are basically with the indigenous people.