"This terrible Karl May" in the Wild West, Kanada im Faltboot.(Carl Schwerla)

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Carl Schwerla (1) was a German journalist who visited Canada in 1929 where his goals were to travel through parts of the West, reporting on his experiences, and at the same time investigating the state of German emigrants. This would enable him to collect material for future publications. (2) One result was the book Kanada im Faltboot (Canada in a Collapsible Boat) published the year after his return.

Schwerla arrived in Canada on May 27, 1929, on the North German Lloyd ship, the Koln, and remained for several months. With him on the ship were three hundred European emigrants, many heading west. They wanted a piece of land to call their own, something that was difficult to do for the poorer classes. From their port of entry, most went to Winnipeg initially; from here they were dispersed amongst the three prairie provinces. Schwerla warned such newcomers they must be prepared to work hard. Canada was a young country with potential, but many tough years were ahead before one would see the fruits of their labour. (3)

The journalist observed that some Germans had a romantic interest in Canada because of its wilderness, wildlife, and nature. (4) Their knowledge of North America came from reading the novels of Karl May, a famous writer in the German-speaking world known for his Wild West books set in the United States. He invented the characters of Winnetou, the wise Indian, and Old Shatterhand, the German immigrant. He encouraged his readers to link the adventures of Old Shatterhand to himself. May's influential accounts were pure fiction, derived from his creative imagination, but he was widely accepted in Germany as an authority on the United States. (5)

Other authors were influenced by May. For example, Max Otto, who lived in Alberta from 1912 to 1921, claimed to be a hunter, trapper, and big game hunting guide living in a remote area. The truth was that Otto was a hired hand labouring for local Germans in the community of Brtiderheim, and not six hundred kilometers north of Edmonton as he claimed in his books. (6) In contrast to Otto, Schwerla actually did experience life away from civilization but readily admitted being influenced by May. He wrote,

 
   Such adventures I was experiencing now in 
   the Wild West. It was not a dream and no fairy 
   tale. Prairie, primeval forest, Indians, tent and 
   campfire--all this had become reality and I 
   part of it. How had this come about? Why had 
   I undertaken this? Why was I sitting in this 
   wilderness? Perhaps "this terrible Karl May" 
   was to blame. Often enough my teachers 
   predicted the worst for me, when they caught me 
   reading one of those thick green volumes under 
   the desk. (7) 

Schwerla freely admitted to having a Utopian view of the North American Indians. He often made humourous comparisons of life in Bavaria to that of the Canadian West. Many of his experiences were based upon what had happened in his childhood; for example, he explained how he would yell out to find people in the forest, just as he did during the "Indian time of my childhood" while playing in the English Garden in Munich.8 Some of the tips he gleaned from May were both practical and helpful. On one occasion, he explained that "in order to find my way back, I noted every tree and bush just like I learned from Karl May." (9) Generally he reveled in his outdoor experiences; with a "bonfire in primeval forest, I sat in front of my tent observing the red glowing embers. At one time this had been a dream of my childhood." (10)