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The film “The Young Chief Winnetou” has been in cinemas since August 11th. Two books to accompany the film have also been published. But now the publisher “Ravensburger” announced on Instagram that it no longer wanted to sell the children’s books. The publisher was thus reacting to the “many negative feedback” from social media that had become loud in the course of the publication. Several followers had accused the publisher of cultural appropriation.
“Your feedback made it clear to us that we hurt people’s feelings with the Winnetou titles. That was never our intention,” explained Ravensburger. The publisher apologized for not having dealt with the sensitive topic critically enough. “We would no longer make the decision to publish the titles today,” the statement said. The publisher wants to learn from its mistakes.
Vehement rejection or great approval – the film jury also disagreed
The film is also controversial. Although the German Film and Media Evaluation (FBW) awarded the film the rating “particularly valuable”, the jury was “absolutely divided – between vehement rejection on the one hand and great approval on the other”, as stated in the jury’s statement at the FBW home page is called.
The critics complained that the film was “a cheesy backward-looking play that has nothing to do with reality”. According to the jury members, Karl May’s literary idyll in the homeland of the indigenous peoples of North America is “a lie that would completely ignore the genocide of the Native Americans and the injustice inflicted on them by the land grab by the white settlers and the destruction of their natural habitat “.
According to the FBW, however, the favorable majority took the view: “It is well known that Karl May wrote his stories in what he called ‘Indianerland’ and also in the ‘Orient’ from his imagination and never himself at the location of the adventures he imagined has been. You can therefore call him a ‘fairy tale uncle’ with a clear conscience,” it says. The film also sends out messages for peace, equality and against guns.
Native American Association of Germany welcomes Ravensburger decision
FOCUS online asked the Native American Association of Germany (NAAG). “We welcome Ravensburger Verlag’s decision to withdraw the books for the film ‘The Young Chief Winnetou’,” said Carmen Kwasny, President of NAAG. According to Kwasny, some of these would use derogatory language. For example, the word “squaw” is used repeatedly in the books, which white settlers used to describe indigenous women.
Kwasny criticized the fact that the film was still showing in the cinemas: “The film ‘The Young Chief Winnetou’ is no longer up to date. The culture of a tribal nation, in this case that of the Mescalero Apache, is reduced to the usual stereotypes.”
According to Kwasny, Germany is still a long way behind the United States and Canada when it comes to depicting indigenous nations. With the withdrawal of the Winnetou film books, however, a step in the right direction has been taken.
“Completely absurd that Winnetou should be canceled”
German politicians also join the posse. Bundestag Vice Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) said to “Bild”: “If we show consideration every time someone feels culturally overwhelmed by dreadlocks or harmless children’s book stories, at some point we will not be able to stop being considerate.” Christoph Ploß from the CDU joins Kubicki and calls it “completely absurd that even Winnetou, with whom whole generations in Germany grew up as a role model, should now be cancelled.”
