When Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, he mistakenly believed that he had found the sea route from Europe westwards to India. It was due to this misunderstanding that the original inhabitants of America from Tierra del Fuego in South America to the Northwest Territories in Canada were called Indians. 

A famous son of the Erzgebirge, Karl May (1842-1 912) wrote a number of widely-read adventure books for the young about the Indians (over 11 million copies). Can there be anyone who doesn’t wish to identify with the ideals of “Old Surehand” or “Winnetou”? 

The painter, Sascha Schneider, illustrated Karl May’s works with great imagination depicting the redskins with their headdresses and tomahawks. In reality, of course, red was just the usual color used for painting the body in the countless native tribes in the New World. Karl May, himself, didn’t experience America until he was 66. It was a Sioux chief who then presented the worthy son of the Erzgebirge with the peace pipe as a mark of great respect.