A Indian Scandal Story

 This is a German story that requires an introduction before we get to the 'scandal' part.

This story starts with Karl May...a German guy born in 1842.  What you can generally say from his early beginnings....Karl was NOT destined for great things, and came from a bottom-of-the-working-class family.  

Karl eventually rose up....got educated to some degree, then started to wander off into trouble.  So eventually, around age 28, Karl got sent off to state prison.  There....some humble servant of the prison offered Karl magazines which featured American cowboy and Indian stories (this being the 1870s era).

Karl felt inspiration and tried his hand at writing these.

In 1875, Karl wrote "Die Rose von Ernstthal".   So began this career of stories under Karl's name.

The more famous of the series?  "Winnetou".

My description of the Winnetou series?  It's this wonderful tale of Indians in their environment and settlers in theirs....with bad guys in the middle, who Winnetou (the Chief of a local tribe) and his friend Old Shatterhand (a cowboy who seems to never drink and is always humble/honest).  

If you tried to associate the Winnetou books to any reality?  They would fall short.

But in the early 1960s, a number of Karl May books were made into movies, and just about every German has watched these....probably more than a dozen times each.

Germans over the age of forty will lay a very enthusiastic feeling over Winnetou and how things were always settled in the positive way for Indians.

So we come to 2022, and the scandal.

A new book was added by the 'owners' of Winetou business (Ravensburger Verlag)...called "The Young Chief Winnetou".  It was supposed to just another step in the legend of Karl May.  However, all hell has broke loose with woke folks and what is called "cultural appropriation."  The book?  Withdrawn, and it appears that everyone is hyped up about the 'true' story of the Indians, and how Karl May's books/movies really don't resemble the truth.

The movies likely disappearing from commercial TV?  Oh, I'd say by the end of 2023.....you probably won't see them run for several years.  Karl May's legend?  Probably gone permanently.  

In some ways funny?  Well, we will reach a point where a lot of German history....told down for the past thousand years....will be condemned for various reasons, and people will just start dismissing things left and right.