75th anniversary of death of Karl May - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1987 - 80 Pfennig

On March 30, 1912, Karl May died in Radebeul near Dresden in the "Villa Shatterhand". For one hundred years he has been one of the most widely read German writers. Many figures of his imagination - Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, Kara Ben Nemsi and Hajji Halef Omar - have achieved such popularity that most German-speaking readers have been familiar with them since their youth. His extensive life's work, which is now in 74 volumes, has been won from an unusually difficult and eventful life. Karl May was born on February 25, 1842, the fifth of fourteen children of an Erzgebirgian weaver in Ernstthal (later Hohenstein-Ernstthal) in extreme poverty. He was a primary school teacher, but at age nineteen lost his position after a few weeks because of a minor misconduct. Out of need and defiance and mental disorder, he then went on the wrong track, by his superlative imagination and his humiliated need for approval by stolen supplies tortures satisfied. Because of these acts he had to serve prison terms of a total of about eight years. After the dismissal (1874) May turned to the writing profession. First of all he wrote homeland short stories and anonymous collegue novels. The breakthrough came with his "travel narratives", which appeared in book form from 1892. May describes in the first person the adventurous experiences of his hero in exotic countries, especially in the Wild West of North America and the Orient. He managed to present these fictitious reports so suggestively and to paint their geographical and ethnographic background so colorfully that the travel narratives ("Winnetou," "Old Surehand," "Through the Desert," etc.), although their literary value still judges differently will continue to fascinate new generations of readers to this day. The humane tendencies of his books and their commitment to oppressed peoples (such as the Indians and the Kurds) also ensure that the "Shakespeare of the Boys" (Ernst Bloch) keeps up to date interest and the affection of countless readers. After the turn of the century, Karl May became the focus of numerous lawsuits and press feuds. The disclosure of his criminal youthful sins, the unauthorized publication of his collegue novels, and attacks of literary criticism entangled him in relentless struggles for honor, copyright, and literary recognition that ultimately wrecked his health. Nevertheless, a significant later work, no longer dedicated to the adventure narrative, developed in this time, which develops Maya's visceral Christianity and his ideas of peace ("And Peace on Earth!", "In the Realm of the Silver Lion," "Ardistan and Jinnistan "). On March 22, 1912, eight days before his death, May gave an acclaimed speech to more than 2,000 listeners in the Sofiensaal in Vienna, in which he defended his life and work and propagated the pacifist teachings of Nobel Peace Prize winner Berta von Suttner. She wrote in her obituary of Karl May: "Whoever heard the beautiful old man speak on that 22nd March ... for a whole two hours, ... enthusiastic, aspiring to the highest regions of thought - must have had the feeling: In this soul blaze the fire of kindness. " (Text: Prof. Dr. Claus Roxin, University of Munich, Chairman of the Karl May Society)