Karl May's "wild" West
Karl May: The German 'cowboy'
Karl May and Europe's fascination with the American Wild West go on show in Berlin.Johannes Zeilinger, the curator of the Karl May exhibition argues that May framed a popular image of North America with Indians "as a dying race, tragically killed off by fate and by the spread of a new empire."
Hans-Ottomeyer, the Museum's director, largely agrees, claiming May taught Germans in the mid-1880s, "America was a wild place of natives and intruders."
Generations of young Germans grew up reading May's books, says Ottomeyer, who was no exception. Comment: The young Germans included young Adolf Hitler.
So America was a "wild place" inhabited by a "dying race." In other words, it was ripe for being "tamed" and "civilized" by annexing the land and removing its occupants, who were doomed anyway. Sounds like a model for the Nazi agenda to me.
Karl May and Europe's fascination with the American Wild West go on show in Berlin.
Hans-Ottomeyer, the Museum's director, largely agrees, claiming May taught Germans in the mid-1880s, "America was a wild place of natives and intruders."
Generations of young Germans grew up reading May's books, says Ottomeyer, who was no exception.
So America was a "wild place" inhabited by a "dying race." In other words, it was ripe for being "tamed" and "civilized" by annexing the land and removing its occupants, who were doomed anyway. Sounds like a model for the Nazi agenda to me.
posted by Rob at 1:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home