On a cloudy and rainy summer day in Hamburg, I was running through crowds at a white- and gray-tiled subway station. On a dirty and graffiti-covered display board, a single poster drew me to it through the crowds of damp commuters. The poster showed a tan European man in buckskins and beadwork that wouldn't seem out of place in a heavily stereotyped ‘30s Western movie, where he would be mowed down by John Wayne. The poster was for “Winnetou” and what the man playing Indian represented would follow me across Germany.
The crisp, freshly placed poster was advertising for the Karl May Festival in the town of Bad Segeberg. The festival features reenactments of Karl May's “Winnetou” stories and various other Wild West-themed activities. All nestled within the “Indian Village” which features an old-time general store that looks to be out of a carton with teepees encircled nearby.
May’s stories tell the adventures of Winnetou, an Apache leader, and his German blood brother Old Shatterhand. These tales, which were written by a man who had never been to North America before he wrote them, helped launch a fascination with his stories and with Native Americans.
Outside of books, this has also spread to “Indian hobbyism.” This hobby, which has as many as 40,000 participants, according to DW News, features mock pow-wows where non-Natives perform fancy dance, grass and many other styles done in traditional pow-wows.
As I crossed East Germany, I encountered several who had this fascination with Native culture and people inspired by the books and movies. Many of whom I met would be shocked that I was Native given that I lack any resemblance to Gojko Mitic who was famous in East Germany for playing different Native characters. Given my complexion of a Downton Abbey extra, I am used to the constant “but you don’t look Native” comments.
Part of the travel was being introduced to many folks across Germany and the icebreaker people often used to introduce me was the fact I was Native. The usual questions would follow: “What tribe are you?” and, “How native are you?” A majority had never heard of the Ute of which I belonged.
Stereotypes had managed to cross the pond as well. On a ride on the humid and crowded S-Bahn, I was told by a woman that she had heard “Indians couldn’t have alcohol” in a tone a person would use to describe garlic and a vampire. Questions like these never seemed to be made out of hatred, rather curiosity.
The younger generation in Germany tended not to have the same reaction toward Native culture with there being more education toward understanding the history of the United States. Along with American history, the German school systems, and the culture at large, focus on the “Culture of Remembrance” or “Erinnerungskultur.”
It focuses on having frank discussions on the crimes committed during the Second World War. This has not always been the case within the country, however. Deutschland.de describes, “In the immediate post-war period, a divided Germany found different ways of shirking responsibility for the not-so-distant past. People in the West generally avoided the topic entirely, while the newly established Communist East gave itself a clean slate, essentially absolving itself of any responsibilities for Nazi crimes.”
This changed over time due to the actions of people like Chancellor Willy Brandt and American television airing documentaries focused on the Holocaust.
Now, within the country you will see many monuments that honor the lives that have been lost. In Berlin, you can see the haunting Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The austere gray blocks rise to engulf you as you walk toward the center. It sucks you out of bustling Berlin for a moment to ask you to consider the lives lost.
Across the Atlantic, the U.S. features a culture of forgetting rather than that of remembrance.
A 2016 poll conducted by the Reclaiming Native Truth Project found alarming numbers regarding U.S. knowledge of Native Americans. In the education system, 87% of schools did not teach about Native Americans past 1900.
The same poll found that 78% of Americans had little to no knowledge of Native Americans. It also found that “a significant percentage of Americans weren’t even sure that Native Americans still existed (and believed that, if we did exist, we must be a dwindling population).” The study, however, does not provide an exact figure for that stat.
Television and films did not fare much better with Native representation within film and television being at a startling 0.4%, according to the same poll.
Unlike much on the poll, we have seen a shift toward more representation with shows such as “Reservation Dogs” and “Dark Winds” becoming hits on streaming.
With enough time and representation, we may see a shift toward an “American Culture of Remembrance.”