Publishers and station bosses give their Indian word of honor |
Winnetou STAYS!
Crazy Winnetou bans: Ravensburger stops selling Winnetou books, ARD no longer plays the films. Now the publishers of the Winnetou books and TV stations are speaking up and giving BILD their Indian word of honor: Winnetou stays!
The head of the traditional Karl May publishing house, Bernhard Schmid, announced in BILD: “Our Indian word of honor has stood for decades and it will remain so. We will continue to treat the works of Karl May with respect for what they are: German-speaking cultural assets.”
Bernhard Schmid (middle), head of the Karl May publishing house, here at the Karl May Festival in Pullman City
He etches in the direction of culture bans: “This is not cultural appropriation, but cultural arrogance – Germans do not have the right to tell Indians what they should feel discriminated once morest.”
The publisher Reinhard Marheinecke also ruled out stopping the sale of his Winnetou books: “In the last few decades I have been in contact with a lot of Kiowa, Navajo and Comanche chiefs. The greatest Kiowa chief calls himself ‘I’m an Indian chief!’ But these weirdos don’t know that, and they’ve most likely never set eyes on an Indian.”
The head of the publishing house, Eckhard Friedrich auf der Zinne: “This anti-movement is absurd, as it was precisely the novels by Karl May that led to the culture of the indigenous population (Indians) being intensively dealt with in Germany.”
And are the TV stations still playing Winnetou?
► Kabel Eins broadcaster Marc Rasmus to BILD: “Like many other classic films with millions of fans worldwide, we continue to show Winnetou films at Kabel Eins.”
► RTL is also continuing to show the remake “Winnetou – The Myth is Alive” (2016) online – in addition, “further broadcasting on linear TV is also planned”.
► And the ZDF stays with it: On October 3rd at 11.30 a.m. “Winnetou and the half-blood Apanatschi” will be broadcast, the ZDF press team said when asked by BILD.