Being in Germany again has reminded me of the country's love of American Indians. Here they are called Indianer and are quite literally everywhere: on TV in old films, little cartoon characters in the Newspapers, in childrens' books galore and in the national subconscious.
My 91 year old Father in Law still waxes about Karl May and old Schatterhand and he read them 80 odd years ago. The other day I found him watching an old movie about Winnetou.
I have spent many years around Germans and lived here for five years in the Eighties and I still can't explain this love for American Indians. Cowboys too but Indians seem to be tops.
It's strange. There's little sign of Marvel or DC super heroes here at all. Certainly not at car boots or in charity shops. I haven't been into a normal toy shop here this time yet like Smyths ( yep, Smyths are here) so I can't say how much space is devoted to super heroes there. I have seen many traditional toy shops selling wooden toys like trains and dolls houses.
There's a degree of sanitisation I feel when it comes to childhood here. A demilitarization. No guns. No army. No playing war.
But why then cowboys and Indians? Surely they were as violent as anyone? Somehow the arrows have been blunted and the braves have become cuddly.
Coming from my post-war-drenched childhood with both my parents having fought in WWII and my bedroom choc full of Action Men with Chief Cherokee looking on it's easy to spot this non-violent kids' culture here. But the Indian thing has me stumped.
Obviously given Germany's past then pacifism was the only way to go after WWII. I can see that. It's reflected in the way kids are brought up here. The evolution of 'safe' kids' characters like Indians - and pirates - is part of that post-war pacifism maybe.
Obviously I'm generalizing and my observations could be completely wrong. What do I know.
Do you think our Sixties and Seventies childhoods were too war-oriented with our toy guns, playing war and Action Men/ GI Joe figures?
Impossible to know I suppose, except the obvious that most kids who played with guns did not grow up to use real ones on people.
ReplyDeleteWe turned out OK 🤠I agree kev.
DeleteThe western genre was pretty big after the war, perhaps as a distraction from the reality of war itself. American TV companies exported a lot of shows to Europe, so perhaps the western found favour in Germany. But this does not explain the fascination with the indianer. Westerns can be as violent as war films and both involve a lot of shooting, but perhaps the Indianer was adopted as a kind of 'underdog' character, with the nobility of the braves shining through, despite the oppression by the american cowboys.
ReplyDeleteI could written the same post about pirates Wrote but I suppose pirates have been sanitised for kids in Britain too. I think you maybe right about US cowboy films being popular here. Another cultural phenomenon is Karl May. There are action figures and accessory sets based on the
Deletenovels.
I remember in my teens in the 70s visiting North Germany and being staggered how the military category didn't exist in bookshops. It was towards the mid-70s I saw that change with memoirs of war participants told from the German side. Fascinating to see.
ReplyDeleteFascinating Standby! The table has turned now. There's talk of military conscription here as a result of Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
DeleteCompared to today's kids, playing graphic 'shoot em up' computer games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, I think our era was relatively non violent.
ReplyDeleteI agree Mish. We had nothing like that. Maybe horror comics.
DeleteI think the German interest in Cowboys and Indians must pre-date WW2. Toy soldier companies such as Elastolin and Heyde had Western figure ranges. During WW2 the German name for the fighters that escorted Allied bombers over Germany was Indianer. How that interest compared to the modern interest, I have no idea. I would hardly call pirates non-violent, they were a pretty nasty bunch. There are a few military toys by modern German companies. The die-cast maker Siku do a few tanks, armoured vehicles, and aircraft. The German arm of Revell makes a ton of WW2 military kits - all without swastikas. There are also a few military models tucked away in various model railway ranges.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff Paul. Yes the swastika is still reviled in Germany as it should be.
DeleteThe interest in cowboys and Indians definitely predated WW2, and if I recall correctly Hitler was a big fan of Westerns.
DeleteReally!
DeleteBack in the early 60's I think it was the BBC in the London area that imported Eastern European children's TV shows mostly animated or stop action shorts plus a German live action, dubbed show all about American Indians.
ReplyDeleteThe show was filmed in the pine forests of Germany but the 'Indians' looked more plains than eastern woodlands types. As far as I remember there were no cowboys or white settlers just Indians.
Interesting Terran. I don't recall that show but I can well imagine it being made.
DeleteGrowing up in the 60's and 70's, my childhood was filled with plastic toy soldiers, GI Joe, toy guns and playing "war" with my friends. I don't believe that my generation grew up any more violent or war-prone; if anything, it's the current younger generation who grew up without those toys that are more prone to violence, at least here in the States.
ReplyDeleteIt's what you make of the toys, or how creative the play is, that counts. My GI Joes may have worn fatigues and carried rifles, but they went on grand adventures in the jungle (my backyard), mountain climbing (the staircase) or any number of other adventures. My plastic army men usually engaged in combat in elaborate landscapes carved in the sandbox, and it was creating the landscapes that was the most interesting to my brother and I.
Interesting Capt. I wonder why all those toy guns and GI Joes and spy cases and little soldiers didn't really affect us? Like you say kids seem more violent now but is that because we are as old as our parents were?
DeleteSome sort of cultural change, I imagine, that's made resorting to violence more acceptable.
DeleteMaybe the lack of space and astronaut themed toys? I've noticed those are hard to find in the shops these days...
Yes. Space broadened our horizons for sure. Looking up and wondering if?
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