Winnetou Who?
Slovaks are utterly shocked when they learn that I had never heard of Winnetou until I moved to Slovakia.
How can that be?! How can it be that I’m not familiar with the Native American hero, the Apache Indian who with his friend Old Shatterhand helped keep the peace between Indians and white settlers? What about Winnetou’s famous horse, Iltschi, or Hatatitla, Old Shatterhand’s horse? Nope. Didn’t ring any bells.
Winnetou and his story are the creation of the German author Karl May. His books became extremely popular and fundamental reading for children all across Europe. In the 1960’s a series of Winnetou films were made, making the popularity of the characters even greater.
Winnetou is quite beloved in Slovakia. Children played cowboys and Indians in Slovakia too. I was required to watch at least one of the films when they were shown on Slovak TV (every year around Christmas time). I found it interesting despite the fact that I didn’t understand anything. The films were a German-Yugoslav collaboration and shot on location in Croatia.
Back in California, the parents of a Czech friend of mine came to visit her. She lived in San Jose. They asked me to recommend some local sites around that area and after mentioning a few things I also recommended the Winchester Mystery House, designed and built by the Winchester Rifle heiress. “Ahh,” my friend’s dad said. “Winnetou had a Winchester.”
4 Comments on “Winnetou Who?”
Hah this is really hilarious. I'm Slovak, though moved away when I was little and my husband is American. We have had this same exact exchange with my Slovak relatives (multiple times) who were flabbergasted to hear that we had no clue about Winnetou and Old Shatterhand.
June 26th, 2010 at 10:35 PM
There you go. I'm not the only one ;-)
June 27th, 2010 at 03:28 AM
I read the whole Winnetou series when I was 10 or 12. I still remember how I started reading it. The first chapter of the first book, the one about how Old Shatterhand was a greenhorn, was super boring. But once he tamed that wild horse, oh boy, that's when it started to get interesting and I got hooked and couldn't stop reading until the last chapter of the last book. Even nowadays, almost 20 years later, I get excited just by thinking about it. Now that I'm America and often see some of the uninhabited landscape - the rolling hills and prairies and forests - I immediately get flashbacks of Winnetou's adventures, that took place exactly in this kind of environment. I don't know how Karl May did it without ever being in America, but that guy nailed it!
July 4th, 2010 at 02:42 AM
same situation, I am from California, husband Slovak and I never heard of Winnetou, The Slovak family can not believe that I wouldn't know of him and his adventures.
August 8th, 2010 at 04:57 PM