Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich

Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich (15 September 1901 – 16 June 1979) was a German novelist, activist, professor of ancient history, and the first woman to be elected full member of the German Academy of Sciences. She was a life-long supporter of Native American causes and the author of two series of revisionist Western novels, which retell US history from a Oglala Lakota perspective. For her humanistic portrayal of the Lakota, Welskopf-Henrich was bestowed by the Lakota the name Lakota-Tashina (literally: protective cover of the Lakota). Oscar Howe referred to her as the “German Ella Deloria”.

Background and early life
Welskopf-Henrich was born in Munich, daughter of Rudolf Henrich, a lawyer, and his wife, born Marie Bernbeck. As a child, Welskopf-Henrich enjoyed mountaineering in the Alps. In 1907, her family moved to Stuttgart, where Welskopf-Henrich first enrolled in school. At age nine, she was gifted by an uncle James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, which awakened in her a life-long love and interest for Native American peoples.

At age ten, she read in a newspaper about Mexico's president deploying armed troops against Yaqui Native Americans resisting displacement and wrote a letter to Mexican president Francisco Madero. She plead for compassionate treatment of the Yaqui and Madero replied, by letter to Welskopf-Henrich, stating he had instructed his troops to treat the Yaqui humanly. In 1913, Welskopf-Henrich's family relocated to Berlin, where she attended high-school at the Auguste-Victoria Lyceum. She enrolled in a humanist curriculum and graduated (Abitur) in 1921. At Frederick-William University, she studied philosophy, ancient history, law, and economics. In 1925, she received her doctorate "magna cum laude". She was urged to pursue a post-doctoral degree (habilitation), but her academic career was cut short by her family's finances due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. Her father died in 1926. In 1928 she found employment as a government statistician.

Resistance activity
During Nazi reign, Welskopf-Henrich took part in the Confessing Church, a movement within German Protestantism in opposition to Nazi efforts to unify Protestant churches into a single, pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church. She was a confirmed opponent of National Socialism active in the resistance movement. She clandestinely delivered food and medication to interned Jews and French prisoners of war and assisted inmates from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp brought into Berlin as laborers. In 1944, she helped one, Rudolf Welskopf, whom she later married, escape after ten years in captivity. She hid Welskopf for months in what remained of her home after the Allied bombings. The same year, she was interrogated by the Gestapo. Her 1953 autobiographical novel "Jan und Jutta" summarizes some of her resistance activity.

After the war
War ended in May 1945, leaving a large region surrounding Berlin administered as the Soviet occupation zone and Welskopf-Henrich remained in what would later become East Berlin. In 1946, she was employed as a senior secretary in the city administration. In 1947, she took a position with "Baustoff-Ost GmbH", a building materials business.

In April 1946, following the Merger of the KPD and SPD creating the Socialist Unity Party (SED), Welskopf-Henrich was among hundreds of thousands of Communist Party members, who adopted SED membership while the SED developed a one-party state. At the time, membership reflected widespread commitment to construction of an anti-fascist democratic society in Germany without exploitation, repression, race-based hatred, and commitment to social justice and peace. In order to better inform herself, Welskopf-Henrich attended evening classes in Marxism–Leninism. Welskopf-Henrich's son, Rudolf, was born in 1948.

Political views
In 1946, Welskopf-Henrich joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Although she remained outwardly uncritical of party rule, in the words of one commentator she was not so much a communist, as a "friend of the people" ("....in erster Linie nicht Kommunistin, vielmehr Menschenfreundin"). Her decision to join the Communist Party may also have been influenced by her 1946 marriage to Rudolf Welskopf, who had been a member of the KPD since 1930.

Welskopf-Henrich's son, writing in his foreword to the 2015 post-humous edition of her novel,“Bertholds neue Welt", identifies the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary as a turning point in his mother's political position. She was unable to be as uncritical as her husband of Soviet-sponsored state socialism. An early version of her 1959 habilitation was rejected for publication and published only later. Based on a collection of quotes on ancient history from Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, the thesis made apparent that Welskopf-Henrich had moved on from a Stalinist standpoint.

"Bertolds neue Welt" ("Bertold's New World") was conceived as a sequel to her earlier novel, "Jan und Jutta", and set in post-war Germany. Welskopf-Henrich did not seek publication during her lifetime, knowing her critical perspective of the GDR would foil publication. The novel was posthumously published in 2015.

Academic background
In 1949, Welskopf-Henrich was accepted at the Humboldt University of Berlin to a course in Ancient History. From 1952 to 1960, she was a research assistant and supervised lectures. In 1959, she habilitated with her thesis, "Leisure as a Problem in the Lives and Thoughts of the Hellenes from Homer to Aristotle". In 1960, she obtained her professorship in Ancient History. One year later, she was made the head of the Ancient History department and in 1964 she became the first woman to be elected a full member of the German Academy of Sciences.

Academic works
in 1966, Welskopf launched a research project into city states - "Polis" - in Ancient Greece. Supported by over sixty academics from East and West Germany and other countries, "Die Hellenische Poleis ("The Hellenistic Polis") was published by Akademie Verlag, Berlin, in 1973 in four volumes.

In her follow-up work, supported by more than one-hundred contributors from forty countries, Welskopf-Henrich, classified social classes in Ancient Greece. "Soziale Typenbegriffe im alten Griechenland" ("Social Classes of Ancient Greece"), was published in 1981 in seven volumes by Akademie Verlag, Berlin.

Travels abroad
Welskopf-Henrich's academic standing in the GDR allowed her to travel abroad. Her son writes of holiday trips to Hungary after 1956 and to Czechoslovakia after 1968. As her revisionist Western novels grew popular internationally, Welskopf-Henrich was able to travel beyond the confines of Soviet sponsored fraternal socialism.

Travels to the US and Canada
Between 1963 and 1974, Welskopf-Henrich undertook a succession of trips to the United States and to Canada to study the lives, culture, and traditions of the Lakota.

Novels about the Weimar Republic, Nazism, and aftermath of World War II
Welskopf-Henrich lived through World War I, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the GDR. In the 1950s she wrote several novels in part based on her experiences.
 * "Zwei Freunde" ("Two Friends"), written in 1943, concerns the Weimar Republic and early manifestations of Nazism.


 * "Jan und Jutta" ("Jan and Jutta"), published in 1953, is in most aspects an autobiographical account of Welskopf-Henrich's experiences during World War II, including her relationship with her future husband, Rudolf Welskopf.


 * "Der Bergführer" ("The Mountain Guide"), published in 1954 by Mitteldeutscher Verlag, centers on a mountain guide in the Dolomites in 1939. The novel deals with Nazism and its story was censored, leadingd to historical inaccuracies. The book met with little success upon initial release. Faithful to the original manuscript, it was re-issued in 2015.
 * "Bertolds neue Welt" ("Bertold's New World") a sequel to Welskopf-Henrich's earlier novel, "Jan und Jutta", and set in postwar Germany, was posthumously published in 2015.

Revisionist Western novels
Based on her life-long anthropological study and her time with the Lakota, Welskopf-Henrich wrote two series of revisionist Western novels. The novels center on Oglala Lakota heroes and retell US history from a Oglala perspective. Historically accurate, the novels give a humanistic portrayal of the Lakota and center on two pivotal events in US history: Custer’s 1876 defeat in Little Big Horn and the 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee. The novels were translated into 18 languages, sold 7.5 million copies and have been in print without interruption since first publication.

For her efforts to portray the Lakota in a humanistic way, Welskopf-Henrich was bestowed by the Lakota the name Lakota-Tashina (literally: protective cover of the Lakota).

Die Söhne der Großen Bärin
“Die Söhne der Großen Bärin” (“Sons of the Great Bear”) began publication in 1951. It is a young-adult series of six novels set in the years 1863 to 1877. The hero is an Oglala Lakota youth, who defends Lakota lands against European settlers, when gold is discovered in the Black Hills and rises to become a visionary leader of his tribe. He contributes to uniting the Lakota against Custer at the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn and leads his people to freedom across the Missouri into Canada. "Die Söhne der Großen Bärin" is a classic of young adult literature and UNESCO in 1963 rated it one of the best young adult novels in the world.

Das Blut des Adlers
“Das Blut des Adlers” (“Blood of the Eagle”) began publication in 1966. It is a five-novel series set in the years 1965 to 1974. The hero is a young Oglala Lakota. Criminalized as a youth for a theft he never committed, he leaves behind a life of crime and returns back home to the Pine Ridge Reservation with the dream of returning the buffalo to ancestral lands. Despite hostility from within the tribe and encroaching ranchers, he prevails in building up a buffalo ranch and rises to become a leader of the Lakota. He contributes to the foundation of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the series culminates in the 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee.

Themes
Welskopf-Henrich saw in the Lakota people, who “under exceptionally difficult conditions remain courageous, honest, helpful, and honorable, and who fight with all their strength for their people’s right to live.” Both "Die Söhne der Großen Bärin" and "Das Blut des Adlers" are in part psychological examinations of characters in crisis situations. The protagonist's convictions are tested and in Tokei-ihto, the hero of "Die Söhne der Großen Bärin", Welskopf-Henrich saw a leader with "unflinching willingness to endure extreme hardship, while working to save his community."

Sources and influences
Welskopf-Henrich's first exposure to stories involving Native Americans were James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales at age nine. She soon read all of Cooper, but later felt Cooper's portrayal of the Mohicans was "idealized" and "romanticized" and distanced herself from Cooper's work and consulted the work and lectures of George Catlin. She read Karl May, but even as a child disliked May's work deeply. She emphatically rejected May's work and it made her determined to find out "how it really was". Turning to authentic sources, she read Dakota author Charles Eastman, who was highly successful in Germany during the interwar years. Eastman remained a life-long influence and Welskopf-Henrich studied the work of anthropologists Franz Boas, Alice Fletcher, Frances Densmore, and Margaret Mead . S he was in correspondence with ethnologist Walter Krickeberg and the anti-fascist ethnologist Eva Lips, who also worked towards a realistic and humanistic portrayal of Native Americans. Welskopf-Henrich's standing in the GDR allowed her to receive Native American newspapers and monographs, which she read and then illegally distributed.

Film adaptation
Welskopf-Henrich wrote a screenplay for the 1966 adaption of "Die Söhne der Großen Bärin". When she learnt that a screenplay was written behind her back and disagreed with DEFA on casting, she distanced herself from the project and regretted her involvement. Welskopf-Henrich demanded her name be removed from the credits, though it remained in the credits against her will. After "Sons of the Great Bear", Welskopf-Henrich refused adaption of any of her novels, insisting that "too many liberties were taken". The adaptation turned out to be the first in a long, successful DEFA films of the "North American Indian" theme.

Support of Native American causes
Welskopf-Henrich was a life-long supporter of Native American causes. She was convinced European culture had much to learn from Native American culture about how to live a life worth living in a modern, technological age. She worked to have Native American authors translated into German and went out of her way to help Native Americans improve their material conditions. She petitioned public officials about the plight of Native Americans whom she had met in prisons and offered to help pay for their legal defense. She was well-regarded on the Pine Ridge Reservation and felt it was crucial for the two cultures to communicate with each other.

In 1969, during one of her trips to the US, she assisted Native American activists during the Occupation of Alcatraz and collaborated with the leading Native American activist newspaper at the time, the Akwesasne Notes. In 1973, she attended Pedro Bissonette’s memorial on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Bisonette was a Oglala Sioux leader during the Occupation of Wounded Knee. He had been killed by police officers in Pine Ridge during a routine check of a car.

She collaborated with Lakota artist Arthur Amiotte to bring works of his students to a show in Berlin. After seeing Oscar Howe’s work in the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, Welskopf-Henrich sought out Howe. The two maintained a life-long friendship and Howe described Welskopf-Henrich as a “German Ella Deloria: grandmotherly, kind, and very interested in people."

Support of the American Indian Movement (AIM)
Welskopf-Henrich was an active supporter of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and AIM activists repeatedly turned to her for support. In 1975, AIM co-founders Vernon Bellecourt and Dennis Banks travelled to West Berlin to open an AIM office. When they travelled across the Iron Curtain to meet with Welskopf-Henrich and East German support groups, Welskopf-Henrich hosted Bellecourt and Banks at her home in East Berlin. West and East German support groups worked together to support AIM’s Red Power movement and to finance visits by AIM members. When Banks asked Welskopf-Henrich to collect signatures for a protest, she took to the airwaves and went to the press and collected tens of thousands of signatures in support of AIM. She also collected signatures in support of Sarah Bad Heart Bull and Russell Means, as they battled US courts. Sarah Bad Heart Bull was the mother of Wesley Bad Heart Bull, whose murder was one of the events leading to the Occupation of Wounded Knee. AIM co-founder Russel Means was a regular guest at Welskopf-Henrich’s house, visiting her for the third time after the Geneva human rights conference. Means trusted Welskopf-Henrich and referred to her as "the grandmother". Welskopf-Henrich was one of Means's most important contacts to the German media and he provided Welskopf-Henrich with information and handwritten letters and writings, so that she could distribute them among German supporters. When in New York a West German journalist asked means for a radio-interview, he referred the journalist to Welskopf-Henrich, and replied, "All I have to say I have already written down for the grandmother."

Upon publication of "Das Blut des Adlers", Welskopf-Henrich encouraged her readers to actively support AIM. East German currency was of no use in the US, but Welskopf-Henrich used the Western currency she received from the sales of her books to send money to AIM chapters and the International Indian Treaty Council. Because of her open support for AIM, Welskopf-Henrich spent a night in the Pine Ridge Tribal Jail and was detained and interrogated by the FBI.

Death
On 16 June 1979 Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, near the mountains where she spent childhood holidays. She was 77 and predeceased by her husband that year. They are buried together in Berlin-Köpenick.

Awards and honours

 * 1951 First prize for young adult literature of the German Democratic Republic for Die Söhne der Großen Bärin
 * 1958 Patriotic Order of Merit
 * 1961 Patriotic Order of Merit
 * 1963 Die Söhne der Großen Bärin rated as one of the best young adult novels in the world by UNESCO
 * 1966 Banner of Labor
 * 1968 Friedrich Gerstäcker prize for Die Söhne der Großen Bärin, awarded bi-annually "to recognize linguistically sophisticated works that promote to young adults tolerance, cosmopolitanism, and openness towards the traditions, beliefs, and values of other cultures."
 * 1972 National Prize of the German Democratic Republic 3rd class
 * 1974 Hervorragender Wissenschaftler des Volkes