DEFA Stiftung
by Andrea Dittgen
July 2003
The most important encounter took place in 1964 in "Among Vultures": Winnetou and Wokadeh talk to each other. Under a blue sky, with Stewart Granger as a witness in the background. This film scene stands meters high at the entrance to the exhibition, as the source of the two worlds that gave rise to the peculiar subgenre of German Indian film in two variants. Winnetou was Pierre Brice, the star of the West German Indian film par excellence; Wokadeh, that was Gojko Mitic, who from 1966 played the heroic Indian (with different role names) in the productions of the GDR. In doing so, he far surpassed Pierre Brice in popularity, as he was famous throughout the Eastern Bloc, while the West German Indian films were only shown in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey and the USA (and remained relatively unsuccessful there).
The subject matter is manageable: eleven films in the Federal Republic of Germany from the years 1962 to 1968 (from "The Treasure in the Silver Lake" to "Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead", all of them Karl May film adaptations), 13 films in the GDR between 1966 and 1985 (from "The Sons of the Great Bear" to "Atkins", based on novels by various authors); all are preserved on film and also on DVD. Anyone who belongs to the generation that grew up with Winnetou or Wokadeh and Co. (or experienced the revivals in youth performances of the 70s) knows what is going on, and will go through the synostalgic synostalgic feelings, perhaps also with an occasional smile, through the synopsis of film excerpts, photos, props, costumes, buildings and documents to Martin Böttcher's film music. But even the briefest synopsis of the films is nowhere to be found, because the show is probably primarily intended for today's kids, for whom the films are more of a minor matter. This is evident from the fact that there are hardly any originals on display, even though they exist: instead of showing scenes from the films and from the shooting as photos, they were grouped thematically and printed on metre-long strips of fabric – easy to care for, easy to touch. Although this gives an impression of the vastness of the western landscapes and the special effect that only a large screen can offer to Indian films shot in scope or 70mm, it has the disadvantage that all photos and writings are blurred. On the other hand, the compilation is excellent. For example, in the chapter "Landscapes" you can see barren mountains, dark forests, dry steppes and also waterfalls, neatly separated into West German films on one side of the metre-long fabric wall (mostly on the left!) and the films from the GDR on the other.
Lost Wigs and Locomotives
This separation is maintained in almost all subject areas, the matching film excerpts (on video images in Scope) are also well chosen and not too long for children. The visual differences between the colorful Western films and the paler films from the East, which are paler in terms of color and equipment, are quickly recognizable. But the children will certainly like the scenery better: the replica wooden saloon with the squeaky swinging doors (for reasons of space without tables, chairs and counter, in contrast to the drawn designs), the Indian tent (inside also empty, but Old Shatterhand sounds from loudspeakers: "I greet my brother strong left-handed"), a torture stake (two meters high, painted), a canoe to touch, the famous costumes by Pierre Brice and Uschi Glas packed behind glass (made of genuine leather, embroidered with many small pearls), the light brown lederhosen with dark brown bib and coarsely embroidered beige long-sleeved T-shirt by Gojko Mitic in the sections "Becoming an Indian", "Indian Camp" and "The Role of the Whites".
The differences between the Indian films in East and West, which are briefly explained in the text panels, only really take shape when you take the time to read the written documents – they are the absolute highlights of the exhibition: "During today's shooting, one of my wigs was singed by heat and therefore unusable," wrote Erich Schmekel, the make-up artist of "Winnetou in the Valley of Death" in 1968 to Artur Brauner's production company CCC Filmkunst. 360 DM for this. This is harmless compared to the losses suffered by the GDR; In 1982, the "DEFA Loss Report" complained that six uniforms were burned during the filming of "The Scout" in the MVR (Mongolian People's Republic), twelve were not returned by small actors, 20 uniform caps were lost during water shots, 15 officer's hats disappeared, as well as 45 pairs of boots. We learn that the DEFA had a railway locomotive converted for 3600 marks and in the West bought an "English mile coach (Mail Coach) from the year 1880" from a private citizen for 11,000 DM for the film "Apache II" (in the cinema it was called "Ulzana", but the exhibition does not reveal that) and later duly reported it as a loss – "due to the game" it had fallen down into a deep gorge. "A return transport of the destroyed carriage would not have been worthwhile for ecological reasons," wrote the environmentally conscious prop master Georg Wüstenberg in 1973.
Bathhng jetty and bear killer
The fact that people in the GDR were far more concerned about a correct historical representation of the Indians is shown by a letter from the author Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich (1901-79), whose novel "The Sons of the Great Bear" was filmed. In 1965, she complained to DEFA group leader Günter Karl: "The bathing jetty on which the boys sit is completely impossible. An Indian village is not a campsite of the GDR. The bathing jetty, which would only make us look ridiculous internationally, must be cut out at all costs, even if – unfortunately – the whole bathing scene is gone." Again and again, it is such letters that show how much effort those responsible put into the Indian films – and that there were difficulties in the background, of which the fascinated people sitting in the cinema had no idea at the time, of course. This also applies to the West, where the animal welfare advocate was apparently thought of early on: "I am of the opinion that the fight with the big bear must be filmed in such a way that Winnetou does not kill it, but that this death occurs through an unfortunate circumstance, i.e. the bear kills itself," according to a letter from CCC Filmkunst in 1963.
Since there is no catalogue for the exhibition (but a well-made press kit that should be given to all interested visitors who want to know more about the films), it is advisable to take a look at the attached documents in order to find out, at least indirectly, why the DEFA began to produce its own Indian films in the first place after the success of the "Winnetou" films in the West (of course not purely entertaining Karl May films): The very first one, "The Sons of the Great Bear", attracted over nine million viewers, and the following films – until "Tecumseh", 1972 – still attracted over three million, more than any other film produced in the GDR. "The Scout" (1982) only managed half a million viewers and "Atkins" (1985, for the first time without Gojko Mitic) a meagre 41,000 visitors. Figures for the Federal Republic of Germany are missing, but in the stairwell, where numerous West German magazine titles on "Winnetou" and its producers as well as some complete articles are displayed (this belongs to the chapter "Reception", as well as the "Winnetou" merchandising articles from Indian figurines to playing cards, which were first introduced in the Federal Republic in the 1960s), one can find out why Artur Brauner did not want to revive the subgenre in the 70s; especially since there were already the first Italo Westerns, which effortlessly outstripped the German Indian films. But that's another topic again, as is the only hinted at prehistory with excerpts in the teepee in the foyer, where the silent film westerns that Hermann Basler shot in Heidelberg in 1919 and 1920 and distributed through his Ludwigshafen company can be seen on video. These were cowboy movies, but the Chechens and other Indians who looked exactly like those in the Karl May films half a century later already existed back then.
The Indian films of the GDR (filmed in Yugoslavia, Uzbekistan, Romania, Mongolia):
The Sons of the Great Bear (1966, Josef Mach)
Chingachgook, the Great Serpent (1967, Richard Groschopp)
Spur des Falken (1968, Gottfried Kolditz)
White Wolves (1969, Konrad Petzold)
Fatal Error (1970, Konrad Petzold)
Osceola (1971, Konrad Petzold)
Tecumseh (1972, Hans Kratzert)
Apaches (1973, Gottfried Kolditz)
Ulzana (1974, Gottfried Kolditz)
Blood Brothers (1975, Werner W. Wallroth)
Severino (1978, Claus Dobberke)
Der Scout (1983, Konrad Petzold)
Atkins (1985, Helge Trimpert)
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