print, translated into 28 different languages (Zantop “Close Encounters” 4). The power of the narrative and its Winnetou figure is in large part driven by the consistent recycling of the “Indianer” for new purposes within German culture and subcultures. A long-term scholar of German “Indianthusiasm,” Hartmut Lutz observes that identification with American Indian nations continues to be reinforced depending on the German community and time in question, and is still frequently tied to German national identity. He defines this ever-shifting “Indianertümelei” [“Indianthusiasm”] as “a yearning for all things Indian, a fascination with American Indians, a romanticizing about a supposed Indian essence…[it] is racialized in that it refers to Indianness…as an essentializing bioracial and, concomitantly, cultural ethnic identity that ossifies into stereotype…Relatively seldom does Indianertümelei focus on contemporary Native American realities” (169, his italics). The stereotypes derived from Indianthusiasm are used as a way for Germans to critique their own culture and history, and in identifying empathetically with Native American histories and causes, Indianthusiasts furthermore create an “ahistorical and guilt-free ideological realm, far removed from the more depressing aspects of German reality past and present. Morever, it allows Germans to identify with the victims of history, rather than with the victimizers” (Lutz 169). Lutz traces the history of this tendency, from Hitler’s lauding of Winnetou as the ultimate company commander, to American Indian Movement support groups in East and West Germany before reunification in 1990, to cultural appropriation by New Age culture. Katrin Sieg further explores contemporary “playing Indian” in Germany, or “ethnic drag” as she terms it, finding that East and West German Indianer hobbyist groups had different motivations for their research and play-acting depending on location and generational attitude; for East Germans, there was a strong identification with American Indians because of a perceived alliance against the American
collection of American Indian objects from Ernst Tobis, stage name Patty Frank, who was a circus performer and--inspired in his youth from reading Karl May’s books--a collector of American Indian ethnographic artifacts. With Frank’s help and the additional collections her husband and she had acquired on their visits to the United States in 1908 (and then a solo journey she undertook in 1930), she had the foundation of the present collection of over 800 objects. To house the exhibit, a log-cabin style building was erected in 1926 in the back garden of the Mays’ house, and in 1928 the “Villa Bärenfett” exhibit was opened to the public (Hoffman 7). Much later in 1985, the actual May residence was converted in part to preserve May’s study, library, and reception room, and to make a new exhibition space with the additional installation of the exhibit “Karl May – Leben und Werk” [“Karl May, Life and Work”]. This building is now known as “Villa Shatterhand,” named after the fictional German frontiersman in the Winnetou books and May’s performed alter ego. The “Karl May – Leben und Werk” exhibit was refurbished in 1992 (Hoffman 60). The “Überblick zur Museumsgeschichte” [“Overview of the Museum’s History”] on the museum’s website further explains that the “Villa Bärenfett” exhibit was remodeled in 1970, though little has been done with it since (Karl May Museum 2014). On the museum’s website, the “Zukunftsvision” [“Future Vision”] tab provides documentation of the museum’s present plans, including an outline of the remodeling and updates the museum would like to do. So far the planned American-West-themed playground has been installed, as well as a new log cabin building for children’s and education activities, called “Villa Nscho-Tschi”. Acknowledging that the display techniques, climate technology, and multimedia features lag far behind contemporary practice, “Villa Bärenfett” is a high priority for renovation and for a new addition to be built on, apparently in an Southwest Native adobe-style architecture (Karl May Museum, “Unsere Vorhaben” tab). The intention of the new renovations