"I was born in the lowest, deepest Ardistan." This is how Karl May's shocking self-biography begins. It tells of a childhood in bitter poverty, of early misconduct and harsh punishment, of a brilliant rise to the height of success, and finally of fateful suffering in old age. The volume contains the following contributions: 1.) Karl May, My confession; 2.) Karl May, My life and striving; 3.) Karl May, Up into the realm of noble men!; 4.) A. Gelber/W. Nhil/P. Wilhelm/R. Müller, Karl May in Vienna; 5.) Euchar Albrecht Schmid, Karl May's death and estate; 6.) Euchar Albrecht Schmid, Figure and idea; 7.) Ludwig Gurlitt, Justice for Karl May; 8.) Claus Roxin, Karl May, criminal law and literature. With prefaces to the first and twentieth edition by Dr. Euchar Albrecht Schmid, to the twenty-first to thirty-seventh edition by Roland Schmid, thirty-eighth to forty-first edition by Prof. Dr. Heinz Stolte, and to the first edition by Prof. Dr. Heinz Stolte.