On the crossroads of Eurasia: The Tatar images as a longue durée of stereotypes. by Mieste Hotopp-Riecke, M.A. | Papers by Mieste

Mieste Hotopp-Riecke, M.A. Tschaikowskystr. 26 13156 Berlin PIAC 51 On the crossroads of Eurasia: The Tatar images as a longue durée of stereotypes. Abstract For centuries long, the Eurasian steppes and their inhabitants influenced the knowledge and reason of Western societies. These influences in the fields of language, culture, science and everyday life are thwarting through the xenophobic – negative images of Tatars, which are visible in the contemporary literature, film and art of today’s Western Europe. There are shared histories but different memories in the collective minds of people at several points of the Silk road as well as in the lieux de mémoire of every society there. So is for instance the literature in German language, which is still transporting narratives with negative images on ´ferocious´ Tatars like centuries before. I want to identify in this project entry points of historical images: How do the institutionalized images of the past function as a semantic reservoir for perceptions of the present? Especially Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian authors have formed in this way the the image on Tatars in Germans’ peoples collective mind as well as in theirs countries of origin. But German writers are bequeathing those narratives also since centuries and this takes place in different spheres of literature: Fairy tales, legends, screeds, daily news as well as novels and journey diaries are transmitting the impressions of writers. I will focus on the images, subtexts and circumstances described in German, Ukrainian and Romanian books of the last century dealing with the invasions of TataroMongols along with the daily lifes of prisoners from West in the East and with daily life of near neighbours of Tatars. I want to ask whether the existence of Tatar communities in Europe matter in the context of xenophobic Tatar stereotypes or not - and why? According to social scientists such Pierre Noir, in the collective memory of social groups, their identity and alterity paves the way to a common basis of a national myth and this common basis manifests itself in „lieux de memoir” [places of memorie]. These can be visible through the institutions of a country, through the monuments, arts, daily-cultural life or literature. In order to investigate manifestations of the images of Tatars within the German ´national identity´ I am currently devoting my studies to literature and folk culture in German language which are focused on the “Tatars.” Of course, for the construction of the common German “occidental” identity, the “Tartarenfurcht” – “Tatar fear” and in that context the Tatar-Mongolian, Lithuanian-Tatar or Polish-Lithuanian-Tatar troops and their history of invasions and wars played a crucial role. Thus, the “slaughter” of Liegnitz and Tannenberg became fix-points of references for the construction of the German national identity - lieux de mémoire upon the map of Germanys identity construction and unification. 1) Folk sagas / poems / ballads I. Historical ´true´ Tatars Tatar grave, Dippoldiswalde, Saxony Tatar stone, Western-Prussia/Poland II. Tartars / Taters (Gypsies/vagabonds) Tatar images r Tartar mountain, Saxony-Anhalt Tartar stone, near Tater hill, Saxony-Anhalt 28. 7. 2008 Mieste Hotopp-Riecke, PIAC, 51. Meeting, Bucarest At the time I am exploring the literature published in Germany on the stereotypes of Tatars which passed on through the centuries as narratives. In doing so, one has to distinguish diverse genres, epochs and political frameworks. As areas of Belletristic we can present following categorisations: 1.) folk sagas, poems and ballads, anecdotes 2.) trivial literature – comics – pulp fiction 3.) stories and novels 1 Concerning the sagas and lyrics one can identify two different sections. The first deals with toponymies with Tatar components. These are passed down into the German languages through various forms such as “Tatarstone – Tatarpillow – Tatargrave – Tatarmountain, Tatarroad, Tatarhills, Tatarbushes, Tatarhole, Tatarcorner etc. On the one hand, one should distinguish between the texts which really has to do with the Tatar history, such as the sagas of Tatarstone near Neidenburg (In Western Prussia), the Tatarroad of Liegnitz (Silesia) or the Tatargrave of Klein Beucha (Saxony). On the other hand one can see the bulk of the literature of narratives of pass down imaginations on ´Tartars´ or ´Taters´ whom has nothing to do with the Tatars of today but more with gypsies, errants, blacksmiths or lansquenets. These people had given hers footprints in names like Tartar mountain in Seehausen (Börde), the Tatar stone in the near of Taterhill in Altmark-region, the Tatar swamp of Berlin or other above mentioned toponyms in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, SchleswigHolstein, Brandenburg und Lower Saxony / Niedersachsen. In the backround-sagas, poems and fairy tales of that toponimies mostly gypsies and vagabonds are mentioned as Tatars in a negative manner. 2 In the second category of trivial literature, Comics and Pulp fictions one is faced with works, which deals superficious, sketchy characterisations of Tatars instead of the historical facts. Through the diverse socio-political developments in East and West Germany, respectively in GDR and FRG we come across to different literature on and from Tatars following the end of the Second World War: By being within the Soviet sphere of influence, in the GDR, no written texts can be found on the Crimean Tatars due to the complete deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. Whereas in the FRG, through the exiled-Tatars and East-European experts, one can come across to the history and culture of the Crimean Tatars. A similar situation can be discerned concerning the Belletristic: Through translations from Russian and Romanian literature one can come across to DobrudshaTatars and Kazan-Tatars whereas the Crimean Tatars are again neglected. In Western Germany, the Soviet-Tatar, Romanian and Russian authors were not so frequently published as in East Germany. In West Germany the bulk of literature was coined with the pre-occupation of anti-communism and secondly the image of horse riding-fighting Tatars were more frequently emphasised then in East Germany, especially in trivial-literature. Furthermore, in the West-German sphere through the dictates of the capitalist market mentality luridness-Comics are better sold instead of informative Articles and thus paved the way to a pejorative Tatar-image. The iconography of the ‘other’ in this kind of literature which is used both in the cover and content using the same stereo-types: blackhaired horse-riding, dark-skinned warriors with Mongolian physiognomy (moustache – slid-eyed) in addition to the stereo-typed attributes such as horse, arrow, arc and scimitar. In the third category that I chose, novels and stories, such areas are present: A) Literature according the geographical origins (Ukrainian, Romanian, Russian, German) that are published in German. During the German Reich – GDR, FRG during the Cold War and now the reunified Germany. B) Literature according to Genres: In the domain of Belletristic one can again find on the one hand a rich-bulk of Memoirs such as the memoirs of Exiled-Tatars on the one hand, and former German POWs that wrote on the Tatars. Such books were published both only in FRG and later in the reunified Germany. Whereas the communistinfluenced literature on Tatars or by Tatars are only published in the GDR (Reiser, Musa Dshalil). At this presentation, I would like to focus on the first category. The geographical origins of authors and the circumstances where they were published in German language presuppose each other. During the German-Reich one comes across to old stereotypes of wild, horseriding Tatars while after the World War II one can find a more elaborate literature that touches the theme in a differentiated way. In contrast to the pejorative cliché transported through literature of German authors in the time from 1813 up to World War II, there are indeed positive motivated publications of for instance Rumanian authors in the 20. century. They used on the contrary to pejorative narratives realistic, nearly affectionate precise characterisations such as the works of Zahira Stancus “The Daughter of the Tatar” or Walter Oscar Cisek’s “The Tatar-girl”. These works of the Rumanian authors implies knowledge of the multi-ethnic reality of Dobrudsha region but you cannot find any back round information’s on Dobrudsha Tatars within the East-block states. If one needed more background information one has to go through the Lexicon and Encyclopaedia or specific-country based literature. But for example in the GDR one can come across only to common inputs on Rumania or Bulgaria. Most of the published articles in Encyclopaedias mentioned only the common situation in the Socialist states of southeast Europe but not especially about the multi-ethnic fabric of the Dobrudsha. So the readers impression is, that the authors telling stories from far times in a land of nowhere. But also the primal-fear of the occident, the Tatar invasions described Romanian were by authors such as the historical novels “In the sign of Cancer” and “The Dynasts of falcons” of Mihail Sadoveanu.. These Romanian works also are indeed differentiated through the historical context. In contrast to the German novels, these deals with images stemming from a common Tatar-Romanian-Ottoman-Russian past. A combination of political and military events as a part of the local history in the novels of Sadoveanu makes it different from the German narratives. Consequently, we will speak about the novels and short-stories of German authors now. In the novels and short-stories such as Worgitzki’s “Tatar-storm”, Engelhardt’s “Storm over the Occident” or H. S. Laube’s “Wandas Bequest”, it is evident that a perspective based upon the Tatar “calamity” as occidental Christians looking for a new “land”. The events such as the 1241 “battle of Wahlstatt or Liegnitz” which influenced the authors paved the way to the emergence of a “fixed” Lieux de mémoire of German history. However, other contacts between the Tatars, Tartars, or Taters and Germans are focused mainly on the context of military events, war and cultural-difference. The battle of Tannenberg, or the Polish-Tatar invasions of Western Prussia or the copious quartering of Tatar, Bashkir and Kalmuk soldiers during the Napoleonic wars are also reduced to stereotypes and continue to have their effect also in the 20th and the 21st centuries. At this point I will introduce three examples to highlight this. The first quotation is from the local history narratives of a clergyman in Altmark region, Brandenburg-Prussia. “The Bashkirs more animal then man, came to us as terrible overeater and they excessively looked for brandy in order to compensate themselves from the need of Kumiss. They were covered up with bugs and dirt, and changed the quarters in which they accommodated very quickly into a hole of dirt”.1 But also nearly euphoric depictions from the “French times” are also handed down. Friedrich Meinecke, the German historian commented in his memoirs that he had contacts with the bearded journeyman (Kosaks and Tatars), when he was a child. That time he wanted to go away together with that horse riding heroes, but finally was stopped by his mother. Another short story describes a situation, when foreign soldiers went into the city of Salzwedel in Altmark region: “There went a russian Cavaleriedetachement into town, one officer and around twenty soldiers: Tatars, Bashkir’s, only armed with arc and arrow and some irregular Cossacks beside them. People had so an immense confidence to that foreigners, that wet nurses and mothers reaches her breast-feeding babies up to horses of these guests, in order to let them kiss.” Later on in the GDR books such as “Nafisse – Novel of Love” by Bashirov and the “Springwinds” of Nadshmi Kawi were published under the rules of the Socialist realism. About the Crimean Tatars or from Crimean Tatars one cannot read anything, since these virtually did not exist in the USSR following the collective deportations of 18th May of 1944 – even the entries in the Lexicons were erased, of course along with the Literature-lexicon, which was silenced in the daily-literature too. Accordingly, through the whole area of Warshaw-Pact the Crimean Tatar literature was non-existent apart from the child-literature such as the “The Chicken god” of Juri Sbanazki or “Michaylik, the Cosak servant” of Maria Pryhara. On the other hand in West-Germany especially the novels, memoirs or stories of Kazan-Tatar authors like Guysel Amalrik, Alija Rachmanowa and Medina Mamleewa were published, sometimes with neutral or positive images of Tatars. Some works even of the Kazantatar Princes Medina Mamleewa were bestsellers in West-Gemany in the 50s and 60s. But after those positive events the image of Tatars attentive changed not in a positive matter, the same pejorative thinking’s are still alive. Responsible is therefore in my opinion also the used iconography in Cover art and book presentation. There are as we can see the same essentials on many bookcovers and illustrations, the horse, fire and flight from somewhere. 1 1 Bauke 1832, S. 114/115. My question is now what is left in the collective memory after all these stereotypes, halfknowledge or uncovered facts on the one hand and some positive outputs on the other hand? In what extent is this complemented or adjusted through the Schooling in Germany or even not? In order to examine this in contrast to the “nice literature” I have focused on the analysis of School textbooks, because they have the function like blueprints of social knowledge in each society. The knowledge of pupils according Muslims and Islam and of course on Tatars, theirs semantic reservoir is transmitting through textbooks. In that range I came across to a stunning congruency with belletrist sources. So I asked: A.) Which images do the temporary textbooks communicate? Are Tatars denied and ignored as autochthony European Muslim people? In which chpters we can come across Tatars? • In the Past: Chapters of history dealing with Mongol Empire, the Golden horde and Ottoman empire • Today: Chapters dealing with transformation states of CIS and South Eastern Europe. • Past and present time: Chapters dealing with Muslim world. In the most of investigated textbooks Tatars are not mentioned at all. I have done my research in two issues of the “Thematically selected list of teaching material” published by the Georg-Eckardt-Institute for International Textbook-Research in Braunschweig. In these selected lists Tatars are mentioned: Only in 4 of 31 sources in the chapter “Russia and other countries of former USSR” Only in 3 of 24 sources in the chapter “The end of east-west confrontation / EU and NATO-east-enlargement”. In 13 of 223 sources in the chapter “Islamic world”. Though we come across to the subjects of Chechnya and Bosnia Herzegovina in the German history textbooks, Tatars are nevertheless remains untouched. It seems like a paradox: Only in cases of war and ethnic cleansing in Europe, Muslims are often mentioned in textbooks. Tatars are not on the map, while they are not fighting? And: In the case they are mentioned using the term “Tartar” instead Tatar perhaps is a mistake, but it shows the influence of prejudices which are powerful especially on the history books authors not only in Germany but also in the Anglophone and French speaking countries. In historical sources it shows the association of Tatars with the deities from hell, the tartaros in Greek mythology. In the most cases the Tatars were mentioned in the context of occupation, Mongol storm or war and invasion. B.) Could they exemplary stand for peaceful common settlement in contemporary textbooks? The fact that the Tatars, in case they are referred at all in the books, they are portrayed as Invaders or as Foreigners. Nevertheless, they are by no means referred as European Muslims. So as a Conclusion we can see that: The images on Tatars in Germany are mostly influenced by literature of foreign writers from Eastern Europe, like a blueprint of theirs stereotypes – positive or negative - in addition with the stereotypes of German folk culture, pulp fictions and diffuse Tatar fear in oral tradition. As a way to resolve problems of mutual understanding in globalising societies and rising acceptation of Muslim communities in Western Europe it can be necessary to study together the lacks of information’s about Tatars as European Muslim societies in history textbooks of the past in order to create new textbooks for the future. Therefore, it would be essential to transform the history of Russia and the Turkic Empires of the East in school Medias into a common history of both: Slavic history as part of great Turkic civilizations and vice versa. As we see there are similar problems in belletristic, short stories and German textbooks regarding the Tatar history, portrayal of Tatar people and especially denial of the Tatars as the biggest contemporary autochthonic people of Islamic belief in Europe. Neither in old novels and novellas nor in German textbooks are they represented in an adequate fashion depending on their actual meaning in the past and the present. As a consequence, we can say that in contemporary German language literature and textbooks, Tatars are almost far exotics not normal neighbours. While the historic communities were in the majority of cases in anectodes, novels, short stories and comics decreased up to “mongol warriors” or burning invaders they are unmentioned in nearly 97 % of school textbook-passages which are dealing with the “Muslim world” at all. So the stereotypes on wild Tatars found the way up to the western borders of the Altaic world and we are still in that longue durée of pejorative Tatar stereotypes. But there is a chance in our time of Globalisation and Internet to break down that. First small steps were done: New Tatar writers from Tatarstan and Crimea will publish their works in German language in the next time and a international textbook research group under the umbrella of the European Science Foundation started a reform-project together with Tatar history teachers and scientists from the Academy of science in Kazan. Thank you for listening. Literature: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Blankenhorn, Fritz: … und fahr´n wir ohne Wiederkehr. Von Ostpreußen nach Sibirien 1944-1949. Reinbek: RoRoRo, 2005. Cisek, Walter Oskar: Die Tatarin. Berlin/Weimar: Aufbau, 1974. Pryhara, Maria: Mychalyk der Kosakenknappe. Kiew: Dnipro, 1987. Dawletschin, Tamurbek: Von Kasan nach Bergen-Belsen. 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