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Karl May books: »subliminal for some a negative image«
Photo: Sascha Steinach / imago/Steinach
According to its own statements, the Karl May publishing house benefited from the Winnetou debate.
»A survey has shown that at least 70 percent of Germans support Karl May and Winnetou.
The whole thing has also developed into a positive marketing campaign and has given a strong boost to the sale of the 'Winnetou' books," the publisher said in response to a dpa request.
He did not initially give exact sales figures.
In the summer, a sometimes violent debate about cultural appropriation and racism raged around Winnetou.
It came about after a publisher had withdrawn two companion books to a new Winnetou film for children.
Some then sensed exaggerated criticism of traditional materials.
In retrospect, the Karl May publishing house is happy about the discussion, as he further announced.
»For some people, a negative image of Karl May has subliminally developed for some time and he was accused, for example, of disregarding the genocide of the Indians in his work.« A glance at the foreword of »Winnetou I« would suffice to realize that this is absolutely not true.
In the future, the publisher would be happy if people first dealt with Karl May and his work before commenting on social media about what had happened in many cases, it said.
In the summer, Ravensburger Verlag had withdrawn a children's book about Winnetou because of "a lot of negative feedback".
The title appeared at the start of the film »The Young Chief Winnetou«.
This sparked a debate about cultural appropriation and colonialism.
The German Film and Media Evaluation (FBW) classified the film as »particularly valuable«.
According to the jury, however, it was “absolutely divided”.
ZDF announced that it would continue to broadcast Karl May films.
isb/dpa
