speeches
Opening of the “I Like America” Exhibit
Schirn Kunsthalle
Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr.
Frankfurt
September 27, 2006
As prepared for delivery.
Felix Semmelroth,
Max Hollein,
Pamela Kort,
Distinguished Guests,
Thank you very much for the invitation to this exhibit opening. I am pleased that it is so well attended. In the past year, Sue and I have met many Germans -- of all ages, occupations and backgrounds -- and they always, or almost always, tell us in the course of our conversation how much they like America. But usually those conversations are private. I very much like this big public sign up here -- “I Like America.”
Getting back to those private conversations, the most interesting part of the last year for both of us has been the many opportunities we have had to talk to people – not only about their perceptions of America but also what’s important to them. We have learned how much we have in common. This exhibit on the fascination of the “Wild West” in both American and European culture is a case in point.
Americans have been brought up on the idea that the West or the Frontier is something essentially American. It defines our character. It is part of the American Dream. But the Frontier is also a European myth. European artists have invented an American West as a backdrop for European characters and self-images.
As patron of this year’s Karl-May-Festtage [May, pronounced MY] at Radebeul near Dresden, I learned that the "Wild West" is alive and well in Germany! In his Winnetou novels, Karl May created characters who have become living legends here, although they are less well-known to Americans.
Karl May’s Wild West was, however, as we all know, written on the basis of travel books about the Southwest. His stories were basically a retelling of German myths about Good versus Evil, transposed to Arizona and Colorado. They had very little to do with the reality called America.
In fact, it is hard for both Americans and Germans to do justice at all to the kaleidoscopic world of the American West in which a series of frontiers formed, overlapped, changed, and reformed over a period of thousands of years. The kernel of truth, however, that applies to all of our perceptions of the West is the common value of freedom and liberty. That is what inspired my German great-great grandfather to uproot his family to America in 1838 – and it is what links Germans and Americans today.
So, on behalf of the Embassy and in particular our new Consul General here in Frankfurt, Jo Ellen Powell, I would like to commend you, Mr. Hollein, your staff and colleagues, as well as the sponsors of this exhibit, for exploring and paying attention to the perceptions that shape our relationship.
