Karl May was born into a family of poor weavers in Ernstthal, Schönburgische Rezessherrschaften (later part of the Kingdom of Saxony). He was the fifth child out of fourteen, nine of them died within several months. According to his autobiography, he suffered from visual impairment shortly after birth and regained his eyesight after treatment at the age of five. Possibly a lack of vitamin A led to night blindness, which got worse.

During his school time he got private music and composition lessons. 1856 he started his teacher training in Waldenburg, but was excluded 1859, because he embezzled six candles. After a petition he was allowed to continue his education in Plauen. His career as a teacher ended 1861 abruptly after few weeks when he was accused by his roommate of stealing a pocket watch. Therefore he had to be in gaol in Chemnitz for six weeks and his license to teach was revoked permanently.

During the following years he tried to earn a living by giving private education, writing tales, composing and declaiming. But these did not secure his livelihood. As consequence he started thefts and frauds. He was sentenced to four years in a workhouse. From 1865 to 1869 he was in gaol in the workhouse Osterstein Castle (Zwickau). Because of good behaviour he became administrator of the prison’s library and had the chance to read much including travel literature. He planned to become an author and made a list of titles named Repertorium C. May. After his release he failed starting a good existence and continued with thefts and frauds. Compared to the effort the loot was meagre. He got caught, but during judicial investigation, when he was transported to the crime scenes, he freed himself. May fled beyond Saxon boundaries to Bohemia, where he was detained for vagabondage. He was in gaol again in Waldheim from 1870 to 1874. There he met the prison’s catechist Johannes Kochta, who’s influence helped May to find to himself.

After May’s release in May 1874 he went back to his parents in Ernstthal and started writing. The first known publish of a Karl May tale (Die Rose von Ernstthal) was in November 1874. It was a time when the German press was on the move. Industrialisation, increasing literacy and economic freedom lead to many startups of presses (especially in the field of light fiction). Already in the time between his both long imprisonments he had contact to the publisher Heinrich Gotthold Münchmeyer in Dresden. Now he engaged May as editor in his press. For the first time his livelihood was secure. He stewarded several entertainment papers (e. g. Schacht und Hütte) and wrote and edited with or without naming the name numerous articles (e. g. Geographische Predigten, 1875/76). May quit in 1876, because his employer tried to bond him on his company by marriage with Münchmeyer’s sister-in-law and the firm had a bad reputation. After a second engagement as editor in the press of Bruno Radelli, Dresden, in 1878 he became freelance writer and moved to Dresden together with his girlfriend Emma Pollmer, which he married 1880. But his publications did not result in a regular income yet; there were rent and other arrears.

In 1879 Deutscher Hausschatz, a catholic weekly journal from the press of Friedrich Pustet in Regensburg, published the tale Three carde monte. After some more stories, they made the offer May should present them all of his tales first: In 1880 he started the Orient Cycle, which ran with interruptions until 1888. But at the same time he also wrote for other journals, used pseudonyms and different titles to got multiple payment for his texts. Until his death more than one hundred tales were published in instalments in diverse journals.Another important journal was Der Gute Kamerad of Wilhelm Spemann, Stuttgart, resp. later on Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, which was a magazine for boys in secondary school. There his first tale was published in 1887 (Der Sohn des Bärenjägers) and it printed one of his most famous stories: Der Schatz im Silbersee (1890/91). In 1882 there was new contact with H. G. Münchmeyer and May started the first of five very large colportage novels for his former employer. Das Waldröschen (1882—1884) was many hundred thousandfold reprinted until 1907. But May made just a verbal agreement with his friend Münchmeyer and later on this should become a problem.

In October 1888 May moved to Kötzschenbroda (a part of Radebeul) and 1891 into Villa Agnes in Oberlößnitz (another part of Radebeul). The key breakthrough came in 1891 by contact with Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld, who offered to print the Deutsche Hausschatz-stories as books. With the start of the new book series Carl May’s Gesammelte Reiseromane in 1892 (since 1896 Karl May's Gesammelte Reiseerzählungen) for the first time May experienced financial security and glory. But after a short time he had problems to differ between reality and fiction and went as far as to say he had experienced himself as Old Shatterhand resp. Kara Ben Nemsi what he had written. This was the so called "Old-Shatterhand-Legend". A gunsmith in Kötzschenbroda manufactured the legendary guns of the heroes in his novels for him, first the "Bärentöter" (Bear Killer) and the ?Silberbüchse“ (The Silver Gun), later on the "Henrystutzen" (Henry rifle). The readers followed the equalisation of author and protagonist and send numerous letters to him. In the following years he took lecture tours in Germany and Austria, let print autograph cards and let take costume photos. In December 1895 he moved into the Villa Shatterhand in Alt-Radebeul, which he bought from the Ziller Brothers.

1899/1900 May travelled to the Orient. In the first part he was for nearly three-quarter year alone just accompanied by his servant Sejd Hassan and came from Egypt to Sumatra. In 1900 he met his wife and his friends, the couple Klara and Richard Plöhn. Together they continued the journey and got back to Radebeul in July 1900. During the year and a half May wrote a travel diary, which is extent in fragments and transcription parts. According to his second wife Klara (widowed Plöhn, see below) May had two times a nervous breakdown during the journey, which lasted both times over a week. Hans Wollschläger and Ekkehard Bartsch belief that this was due to an irruption of the reality into May’s dream world. He overcame the crisis without medical benefit.

While May was on his Orient journey, attacks in the press set in, especially pursued by Hermann Cardauns and Rudolf Lebius. They criticised — with different motivations — May’s self promotion and the associated Old-Shatterhand-Legend. Simultaneously they reproached him religious sham (he wrote as protestant for the catholic Deutscher Hausschatz and several Marian calendars), immorality and later on his criminal history. These polemics and several trials about unauthorized book publications lasted until his death. His broken matrimony was dissolved 1903 by May’s endeavour. According to May, Emma, who was a friend of adversary Pauline Münchmeyer (widow of H. G. Münchmeyer), embezzled documents, which could had verified the verbal agreement with Münchmeyer. In the same year he married the widow Klara Plöhn.

Since his first employment as editor May added illegally a doctoral degree to his name. 1902 he got an Doctor honoris causa by the Universitas Germana-Americana in Chicago for his work Im Reiche des Silbernen Löwen. Christian Heermann assumes, this happened on endeavour of May or Klara Plöhn to give the false doctoral degree a legal basis. This university was a known diploma mill, where degrees could be bought for money.In 1908 Karl and Klara May travelled for six weeks to North America. They visited among others Albany, Buffalo, the Niagara Falls and some friends in Lawrence. But he did not reach the Wild West. May used the journey as inspiration for his book Winnetou IV.

Since his Orient journey May wrote in another way. He called his former works "preparation" and started then writing complex, allegoric texts. He was convinced to solve or at least to discuss the "question of mankind". He turned deliberately to the pacifism and wrote several books about the raising of humans from "evil" to "good". The friendship to the artist Sascha Schneider lead to new symbolistic covers for the Fehsenfeld edition. An exultant approval May experienced on the March 22, 1912; he was invited by the Academic Society for Literature and Music in Vienna to hold the lecture Empor ins Reich der Edelmenschen (Upward to the realm of noble men). Thereby he met his friend the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bertha von Suttner. Karl May died one week later on March 30, 1912. According to the register of deaths, the cause was "paralyse of the heart, acute bronchitis, asthma". Today an (unrecognised) lung cancer is not excluded. May was buried on the graveyard Radebeul-East. The tomb was inspired by the Temple of Athena Nike Klara had seen on the Orient travel.

May used many different pseudonyms, including Capitan Ramon Diaz de la Escosura, M. Gisela, Hobble-Frank, Karl Hohenthal, D. Jam, Prinz Muhamel Lautréamont, Ernst von Linden, P. van der Löwen, and Emma Pollmer (the actual name of his first wife; according to May, she was never aware of the purpose or content of his writing). Nowadays his works are all published under his own name.

Non-dogmatic Christian feelings and values play an important role, and May's heroes are often described as being of German ancestry. In addition, following the Romantic ideal of the "noble savage" and inspired by the writings of writers like James Fenimore Cooper or George Catlin, his Native Americans are usually portrayed as innocent victims of white law-breakers, and many are presented as heroic characters. In his later works, there is a strong element of mysticism. Karl May and his works are deeply rooted in the belief that all mankind should live together peacefully; all of his main characters try to avoid killing anyone, except when necessary to save other lives.

With some exceptions later on, May had not visited the places he described. He compensated successfully for his lack of direct experience with these places by a combination of creativity, imagination, and factual sources including maps, travel accounts and guide books, as well as anthropological and linguistic studies.

For the novels set in America, May created the characters of Winnetou, the wise chief of the Apache Tribe, and Old Shatterhand, the author's alter ego and Winnetou's white blood brother. Another successful series of novels is set in the Ottoman Empire. Here the narrator-protagonist calls himself Kara Ben Nemsi, i.e. Karl, son of Germany, and travels with his local guide and servant Hadschi Halef Omar through the Sahara desert and the Near East, experiencing many exciting adventures. Both series are linked not only by the common narrator, the author himself as either Old Shatterhand or Kara Ben Nemsi, but also by numerous other references and shared minor characters.

For a long time, literary critics tended to regard May's literature as trivial, but recent research has reversed this assessement, at least partially.

Generally there is no reading order, because May himself produced unintentionally chronological inconsistencies. Most of them arose, when he revised earlier texts for the book edition.

Travel stories

In the book series Carl May's Gesammelte Reiseromane, later entiteld Karl May’s Gesammelte Reiseerzählungen, 33 volumes were published from 1892 to 1910 in the press of Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld. The most famous titles are the Orient Cycle (volume 1—6) and the Winnetou-Trilogy (7—9). May integrated many earlier shorter texts.

  1. Durch Wüste und Harem (1892, since 1895 entitled as Durch die Wüste)

  2. Durchs wilde Kurdistan (1892)

  3. Von Bagdad nach Stambul (1892)

  4. In den Schluchten des Balkan (1892)

  5. Durch das Land der Skipetaren (1892)

  6. Der Schut (1892)

  7. Winnetou I (1893, temporarily also entitled as Winnetou der Rote Gentleman I)

  8. Winnetou II (1893, temporarily also entitled as Winnetou der Rote Gentleman II)

  9. Winnetou III (1893, temporarily also entitled as Winnetou der Rote Gentleman III)

10. Orangen und Datteln (1893, an anthology)

11. Am Stillen Ocean (1894, an anthology)

12. Am Rio de la Plata (1894)

13. In den Cordilleren (1894)

14. Old Surehand I (1894)

15. Old Surehand II (1895)

16. Im Lande des Mahdi I (1896)

17. Im Lande des Mahdi II (1896)

18. Im Lande des Mahdi III (1896)

19. Old Surehand III (1897)

20. Satan und Ischariot I (1896)

21. Satan und Ischariot II (1897)

22. Satan und Ischariot III (1897)

23. Auf fremden Pfaden (1897, an anthology)

24. ?Weihnacht!“ (1897)

26. Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen I (1898)

27. Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen II (1898)

25. Am Jenseits (1899)

28. Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III (1902)

29. Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen IV (1903)

30. Und Friede auf Erden! (1904)

31. Ardistan und Dschinnistan I (1909)

32. Ardistan und Dschinnistan II (1909)

33. Winnetou IV (1910)

After foundation of the Karl-May-Verlag 1913 in the new series "Karl May's Gesammelte Werke" many volumes were revised (partly radically) and many got new titles. Texts from others than Fehsenfeld-Press were added to the new series.

Stories for the youth

These stories were written from 1887 to 1897 for the magazine Der Gute Kamerad. He intentionally wrote for young readers. Here Old Shatterhand is not the first-person narrator as he is in the travel stories. The most famous volume is Der Schatz im Silbersee. In the broadest sense the early works Im fernen Westen and Der Waldläufer belong to these category.

• Im fernen Westen (1879, Revision of Old Firehand (1875), later revised for Winnetou II)
• Der Waldläufer (1879, Revision of "Le Coureur de Bois", a novel by Gabriel Ferry)
• Der Sohn des Bärenjägers (1887, 1890 published by Union-Press within Die Helden des Westens)
• Der Geist des Llano estacado (1888, 1890 published by Union-Press within Die Helden des Westens)
• Kong-Kheou, das Ehrenwort (1888/89, 1892 published by Union-Press entitled as Der blaurote Methusalem)
• Die Sklavenkarawane (1889/90, 1893 published by Union-Press)
• Der Schatz im Silbersee (1890/91, 1894 published by Union-Press)
• Das Vermächtnis des Inka (1891/92, 1895 published by Union-Press)
• Der Oelprinz (1893/94, 1897 published by Union-Press, since 1905 entitled as Der Ölprinz)
• Der schwarze Mustang (1896/97, 1899 published by Union-Press)

Early and Colportage Novels

There are five large (many thousands of pages) colportage novels May wrote mostly pseudonymously for the press of H. G. Münchmeyer from 1882 to 1888. When May's authorship of these works emerged, he was publicly confronted, because contemporaneously, the novels were seen as indecent.

• Der beiden Quitzows letzte Fahrten (1876/77)
• Auf hoher See gefangen (1877/78, also entitled as Auf der See gefangen)
• Scepter und Hammer (1879/80)
• Die Juweleninsel (1880—82)
• Das Waldröschen (1882—84)
• Die Liebe des Ulanen (1883—85)
• Der verlorne Sohn (1884—86)
• Deutsche Herzen — Deutsche Helden (1885—88)
• Der Weg zum Glück (1886—88)

Other Works

To the other works belong mostly shorter tales. Besides exotic scenes May used home settings, especially for his early works, e. g. the Erzgebirge for Die Rose von Ernstthal (1874). Some early stories are about ?the Old Dessauer“ Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1676—1747), (e. g. Ein Stücklein vom alten Dessauer (1875)). His first non-European tale Inn-nu-woh, der Indianerhäuptling (1875) contains a rough draft of Winnetou. Some of these tales were published in anthologies, e. g. in Die Rose von Kaïrwan (1894), Der Karawanenwürger und andere Erzählungen (1894), Humoresken und Erzählungen (1902) and Erzgebirgische Dorfgeschichten (1903).

Furthermore to his other works belong educationals (e. g. Das Buch der Liebe, Geographische Predigten (both 1875-76)), lyric (e. g. Himmelsgedanken (1900)), essays (e. g. Briefe über Kunst (1906—07)), a drama (Babel und Bibel (1906)), autobiographical texts (e. g. Mein Leben und Streben (1910)), some texts for trials and defence, and also some musical compositions (e. g. Ave Maria and Vergiss mich nicht, collected within Ernste Klänge (1898)).

After May’s death there were publishings of his residue: Fragments of stories and dramas, lyrics, musical compositions, his self made library catalogue and mostly letters.

Influence

Karl May had a substantial influence on a number of well-known German-speaking people - and on the German population itself. The popularity of his writing, and indeed, his (practically always German) protagonists, are considered by some as having filled a lack in the German psyche which had few popular heroes until the 19th Century. His readers longed to escape from an industrialised, capitalist society, an escape which May offered them. He was noted as having "helped shape the collective German dream of feats far beyond middle-class bounds" – and criticised as having offered those dreams for later exploitation by the Nazis.

Adolf Hitler was an admirer, who noted that the novels "overwhelmed" him as a boy, going as far as to ensure "a noticeable decline" in his school grades. According to an anonymous friend, Hitler attended the lecture given by May in Vienna in March 1912 and was enthusiastic about the event. Ironically, the lecture was an appeal for peace, also heard by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bertha von Suttner. Claus Roxin doubts the anonymous description, because Hitler had told much about May, but not that he had seen him. Hitler defended May against critics in the men's hostel where he lived in Vienna, as the evidence of May's earlier time in jail had come to light; although it was true, Hitler confessed, that May had never visited the sites of his American adventure stories, this made him a greater writer in Hitler's view since it showed the author's powers of imagination. May died suddenly only ten days after the lecture, leaving the young Hitler deeply upset.Hitler later recommended the books to his generals and had special editions distributed to soldiers at the front, praising Winnetou as an example of "tactical finesse and circumspection", though some note that the latter claims of using the books as military guidance are not substantiated. However, as told by Albert Speer, "when faced by seemingly hopeless situations, he [Hitler] would still reach for these stories," because "they gave him courage like works of philosophy for others or the Bible for elderly people." This influence on the German 'Fuehrer' was later castigated by Klaus Mann, a German writer who accused May of having been a form of 'mentor' for Hitler.In his admiration Hitler ignored May's Christian and humanitarian approach and views completely, not mentioning his – in some novels – relatively sympathetic description of Jews and persons of non-white race. Several novels of Karl May were re-edited in an antisemitic style during the years of Nazism and led to serious misunderstandings about May's original intentions.

The wider influence on the populace also surprised post-WWII occupation troops from the US, who realised that thanks to Karl May, "Cowboys and Indians" were familiar concepts to local children (though fantastic and removed from reality). The new Eastern Germany was less favouring of his work, and officially considered him a "chauvinist" - though this could not break his popularity, and eventually, even the communist state allowed free publication of his books and created its own Karl May museum.

Number of copies & Translations

It is stated that Karl May is the “most read writer of German tongue”. The total number of copies published is about 200 millions, half of this are German copies.

The first translation of May’s work was the first half of the Orient Cycle into French 1881 (just ten years after the French-German War), which was published in Le Monde. Since that time May’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages including Latin, Esperanto and Volapük. In the 1960s the UNESCO stated May being the most translated German writer. Outside the German-speaking area he is most popular in the Czech language area, Hungary and the Netherlands. In France, Great Britain and the USA he is nearly unkown.

List of languages: Afrikaans, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English , English , Esperanto, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovakian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Volapük, Yiddish

There are also braille editions and editions read for visually impaired or blind people.

Adaptations

After Karl May published the whole poem Ave Maria in 1896 at least 19 other persons wrote musical versions. Other poems, especially from the collection Himmelsgedanken were set into music. As present for May Carl Ball wrote “harp clangs” for the drama Babel und Bibel. The Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck made an opera from Der Schatz im Silbersee in the age of eleven. Others wrote music inspired by May’s works (e. g. around Winnetou’s death).

The first stage adaptation was Winnetou by Hermann Dimmler in 1919. Revisions by him and Ludwig Körner were played in the following years. After the Second World War first adaptations were conducted in Austria. In East Germany they started not before 1984. Different novel revisions are played on outdoor stages since the 1940s. The most famous “Karl May Festivals” are held every summer in Bad Segeberg (since 1952) and in Lennestadt-Elspe (since 1958). At both places movie actor Pierre Brice played Winnetou. Another festival is on the rock stage in Rathen, in the Saxon Switzerland near Radebeul (1940, then since 1984). Many other stages in Austria and Germany show or showed plays after Karl May. In 2006 these were 14 stages. May’s own drama Babel und Bibel has not been played on a bigger stage yet.

Karl May’s friends Marie Luise Fritsch and her husband Adolf Droop among others founded in cooperation with the Karl May Press the production company “Ustad-Film” (the name refers to May himself in Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III/IV) in 1920. They produced three silent movies (Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses, Die Todeskarawane and Die Teufelsanbeter) after the Orientcycle in 1920, which are lost. Due to the low success “Ustad-Film” went bankrupt in the following year. The first sound movie Durch die Wüste was shown in 1936. “Die Sklavenkarawane” (1958) and its sequel “Der Löwe von Babylon” (1959) were the first colour movies. Famous is the Karl May movie wave from 1962 — 1968, which was the one of the most successful German movie series. While most of the 17 movies were Wild West movies (beginning with “Der Schatz im Silbersee”), three were based on the Orientcycle and two on Das Waldröschen. Most of these movies were made separately by the two competitors Horst Wendlandt and Artur Brauner. Following actors played main characters in several movies of the series: Lex Barker (Old Shatterhand, Kara Ben Nemsi, Karl Sternau), Pierre Brice (Winnetou), Stewart Granger (Old Surehand), Milan Sdor? (Old Wabble) and Ralf Wolter (Sam Hawkens, Hadschi Halef Omar, André Hasenpfeffer). The film score by Martin Böttcher has also become famous and together with the landscape of Yugoslavia, where most movies were shot, it participate to the great success of the series. After the series more movies for cinema (“Die Spur führt zum Silbersee”, 1990) or TV (e. g. “Das Buschgespenst”, 1986) and TV-series (e. g. “Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi”, 1973) were produced. Most Karl May movies are far from the original, some even contain nothing more than May’s main figures.

No other German writer has more audio dramas than Karl May, which have a number of about 300. Günther Bibo wrote the first one (Der Schatz im Silbersee) in 1929. A greater wave was during the 1960s. There are also Czech and Danish audio dramas.

After the ending of the term of copyright and with the success of the Karl May movie series of the 1960s the first German comic wave occurred. A second comic wave came during the 1970s. The first and qualitative best German comic was Winnetou (# 1-8) / Karl May (# 9-52) (1963 — 1965). It was drawn by Helmut Nickel and Harry Ehrt and published by Walter Lehning Verlag. The most comprehensive comic was published by the press Standaard Uitgeverij. This Flemish comic Karl May was drawn by the studio of Williy Vandersteen in 87 issues from 1862 — 1987. Also in other countries comics were produced: e. g. Czechoslovakia (often reduced to the wild west plot), Denmark, France, Mexico, Spain and Sweden.

In 1988 Der Schatz im Silbersee was read by Gert Westphal and published as audiobook.“Wann sehe ich dich wieder, du lieber, lieber Winnetou?“ (1995) is a compendium of Karl May texts read by Hermann Wiedenroth. Since 1998 different presses (e. g. Karl May Press) have released an increasing number of about 50 audiobooks. Another famous reader is movie actor Peter Sodann.

Karl May and his life were basis for screen adaptations: Freispruch für Old Shatterhand (1965, dir. Hans Heinrich) and Karl May (1974, dir. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg) as well as a 6-episode TV series Karl May (1992, dir. Klaus Überall). There are also novels with or about Karl May, e. g. “Swallow, mein wackerer Mustang” (1980) by Erich Loest, “Vom Wunsch, Indianer zu werden. Wie Franz Kafka Karl May traf und trotzdem nicht in Amerika landete“ (1994) by Peter Henisch, “Old Shatterhand in Moabit” (1994) by Walter Püschel and “Karl May und der Wettermacher” (2001) by Jürgen Heinzerling. A stage adaptation is “Die Taschenuhr des Anderen“ by Willi Olbrich.

Copies, parodies and sequels

Already during May’s lifetime he has been copied or parodied. While some just wrote similar wild west stories to participate on his literarily success (e. g. Franz Treller), others even used May’s name to publish their works. Also today novels with May figures are published. In “Hadschi Halef Omar” (2010) Jörg Kastner describes the first contact of the titular character with Kara Ben Nemsi. Franz Kandolf wrote “In Mekka” (1923) a sequel to Am Jenseits, which is official part of Karl May’s Gesammelte Werke as vol. 50. An alternative to Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III/IV by Heinz Grill (“Die Schatten des Schah-in-Schah”, 2006) has been written in the adventurous style of the first parts. As sequel to Winnetou IV May had planned Winnetous Testament. A series of eight volumes with this title has been written by Jutta Laroche and Reinhard Marheinecke. Other famous writers of sequels are Friederike Chudoba, Otto Emersleben, Thomas Jeier, Edmund Theil and Iris Wörner (Her pseudonym Nscho-tschi refers to Winnetou’s sister).

Karl May Foundation

By will May made his second wife Klara to his sole heiress. He conditioned that after her death all of his property and the following earnings of his work should go to a foundation. This foundation should support poor gifted people for their education and help writers, journalists and editors, who had got into straits through no fault of their own. Klara May established the "Karl May Foundation" ("Karl-May-Stiftung") already one year after May’s death on March 5, 1913. Contributions are made since 1917. With contracts of inheritance and wills of Klara May the whole property of both went to the Karl May Foundation. After her conditions the foundation had to establish a Karl May Museum with the Villa “Shatterhand“, the real estates and the collections (foundation of the museum already took place during Klara May’s lifetime) as well as to maintain the tomb.In 1960 the Karl May Foundation leaved the Karl May Press, which belonged to her by two-thirds. Thereby the press got parts of May’s properties.

Karl May Press

July 1, 1913 Klara May, Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld (May’s main publisher) and the jurist Euchar Albrecht Schmid established the “Foundation Press Fehsenfeld & Co.” (“Stiftungs-Verlag Fehsenfeld & Co.“) in Radebeul. In 1915 the name changed into “Karl May Press“ (”Karl-May-Verlag“). They ended the civil disputes (e. g. about the colportage novels) and got the rights of works from others presses (e. g the colportage novles and the stories for the youth). Third hand revisions of these texts were added to the series Karl May’s Gesammelte Reiseerzählungen, which was renamed to Karl May’s Gesammelte Werke (und Briefe). The existing 33 volumes of the original series also were (partly radically) revised. Until 1945 there were 65 volumes. The press nearly only publishes works of Karl May and secondary literature. Beside the Gesammelte Werke (the classical “green volumes”), which have 91 volumes today, the press has a huge reprint programme.Other targets of the young press were rehabilitation of May against literary criticism and support of the Karl May Foundation. Since the contractual quitting of Fehsenfeld in 1921 and the separation from the Karl May Foundation (as Klara May’s heir) in 1960 the press lies in hands of the Schmid family. Due to the attitudes of the authorities of the Soviet occupation zone and East Germany towards May (his works should not be printed) the press moved to Bamberg (West Germany) in 1959. After the German reunification the press has a second place of residence in Radebeul since 1996. When in 1963 the term of copyright ended the press lost its monopoly. The press started a commercialisation of May. The name “Karl May” is registered trade mark of the “Karl May Verwaltungs- und Vertriebs-GmbH”, which belongs to the Karl May Press.

Museums

Radebeul

The “Karl May Museum” in Radebeul started December 1, 1828 in “Villa Bear Fat” (Villa Bärenfett) as museum about history and life of Native Americans. This villa was build as log house in the garden of Villa “Shatterhand” after ideas of the widely travelled artist Patty Frank (Ernst Tobis). Karl May’s collection about Native Americans, which was added by Klara May, and the whole collection of Patty Frank were joined, therefore Frank became the first curator and got life estate in “Villa Bear Fat”. During the time of the GDR the museum was renamed “Native Americans Museum of the Karl May Foundation” in 1956 and Karl May related exhibits were removed in 1962.

After rethinking of the GDR authorities the museum got its former name back and the street even was renamed “Karl May Street” in 1984. While “Villa Bear Fat” further on contains the exhibition about Native Americans, where the fireplace room today is used for events, Villa “Shatterhand” shows an exhibition about Karl May since 1985. Beside the library, which can be used for research, the work room and parlour (so called “Sascha Schneider Room”) are originally arranged. Among others the replicas of the “famous guns” and a bust of Winnetou are shown. Opposite to Villa “Shatterhand” May’s fruit garden has become the “Karl May Grove” (“Karl-May-Hain”).

Hohenstein-Ernstthal

The “Karl May House” (“Karl-May-Haus”) is the about 300 year old weaver house, where May was born. During the May renaissance in the GDR it has become a memorial and museum since March 12, 1985. Beside the permanent exhibition about May’s life rebuild rooms like a weaver chamber and non-German book editions are shown. The garden has been arranged according to May’s description in his biography. Opposite the house lays the “International Karl May Heritage Center” (“Karl-May-Begegnungsstätte”), which is used for events and special exhibitions. In Hohenstein-Ernstthal, which is called “Karl May Home Town” since 1992, every May related place has a commemorative plaque. These places are connected by a “Karl May Path” (“Karl-May-Wanderweg”). Outside the city lays the “Karl May Cave” (“Karl-May-Höhle”), where May found shelter during his criminal time.

Societies

Already during May’s lifetime first associations were founded, e. g. diverse “Karl May Clubs” in the 1890s. Today there are various work groups and cliques, which concern on May and often conduct series of events. While the early associations were used for May veneration or defence against May critics, the later ones often also make research. Most societies are in the German-speaking area (e. g. booster clubs of the museums), but there are also some in the Netherlands, Australia and Indonesia. Many publication series are made by the societies (e. g Der Beobachter an der Elbe, Karl-May-Haus Information, Wiener Karl-May-Brief, Karl May in Leipzig), while the magazine Karl May & Co. is independent.

The “Karl May Society” (“Karl May Gesellschaft e.V.”) is the biggest one with about 1800 members. It was founded March 22, 1969. To the targets belong the research of May’s life and work. Also should Karl May got an adequate position in the literary history and be present in the public. To the various publications belong the Jahrbuch, the Mitteilungen and the Sonderhefte der Karl-May-Gesellschaft, the KMG-Nachrichten and a huge reprint programme. Together with the Karl May Foundation and the Karl May Press it publishes the historico-critical edition “Karl Mays Werke” since 2008. This is a project started by Hans Wollschläger and Hermann Wiedenroth in 1987, which often changed the press and is now conceptualized to more than 99 volumes.

Works

• Karl Mays Werke: historisch-kritische Ausgabe. Für die Karl-May-Stiftung herausgegeben von Hermann Wiedenroth und Hans Wollschläger. F.Greno, Nördlingen 1987 ff. / then by Haffmans: Zürich / then by Bücherhaus: Bargfeld 1993-2007 / now: Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg and Radebeul (Karl May's Works: historical critical edition. On behalf of the Karl May Foundation edited by Hermann Wiedenroth and Hans Wollschläger / changed publisher 3 times / The German National Catalogue presently shows 58 entries under the name of this project, including improved re-editions, supplementary volumes, documents etc.).

Secondary Literature

• Bugmann, Marlies: Savage To Saint, The Karl May Story. BookSurge Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1-4196-5585-X, ISBN 978-1-4196-5585-2. (First English biography of Karl May)
• Frayling, Christopher: Spaghetti westerns: cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. Routledge, London and Boston 1981; revised edition I.B.Taurus, London and New York 2006, ISBN 978-1-84511-207-3.
• Plaul, Hainer: Illustrierte Karl-May-Bibliographie. Unter Mitwirkung von Gerhard Klußmeier. Saur, Munich, London, New York, Paris 1989, ISBN 3-598-07258-9. (Bibliography in )
• Sammons, Jeffrey L.: Ideology, nemesis, fantasy: Charles Sealsfield, Friedrich Gerstäcker, Karl May, and other German novelists of America. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1998, ISBN 0-8078-8121-X.
• Sudhoff, Dieter & Steinmetz, Hans-Dieter: Karl-May-Chronik (5 Volumes + companion book). Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg and Radebeul 2005-2006, ISBN 3-7802-0170-4. (Chronicle in )
• Ueding, Gert (Editor): Karl-May-Handbuch. 2. erweiterte und bearbeitete Auflage. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-1813-3. (Handbook in )
• Wohlgschaft, Hermann: Karl May — Leben und Werk (3 Volumes). Bücherhaus, Bargfeld 2005, ISBN 3-930713-93-4. (Most extensive biography in ; Online-Version of first edition)
• Wollschläger, Hans: Karl May. Grundriß eines gebrochenen Lebens. (First edition under a different title 1965) revised edition Diogenes, Zürich 1976; latest edition Wallstein, Göttingen 2004 (303 pp.), ISBN 3-89244-740-3. (Major biography in )

Works in English

• Karl May Gesellschaft - English Homepage

German sites

• Karl May Gesellschaft e.V. (Karl May Society - registered) (free texts)
• Karl-May-Museum in Radebeul

Compositions by Karl May

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