History Main / GermanicEfficiency

-->-- '''Stephen G. Fritz''', on the [[UsefulNotes/TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] ideal of The New German Man [[note]] ''Ideology and Motivation in the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front: The View from Below'', printed in the 60th (October 1996) edition of the Journal of Military History, pages 687-688 [[/note]]

->''"The ideal of creating a new man after the bloodletting of the trenches stemmed from the belief that this sort of war had produced a new type of individual [...] Amoral, cool, functional, and hardened, he could withstand the ultimate test of battle without his nerves cracking. [...] Matter-of-factness thus marked the new man, who replaced the romantic relics of a failed bourgeois age with the image of mechanical precision."''
-->-- '''Stephen G. Fritz''', on the 1920s ideal of The New German Man [[note]] ''Ideology and Motivation in the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front: The View from Below'', printed in the 60th (October 1996) edition of the Journal of Military History, pages 687-688 [[/note]]

* Or their more straightforward rock bands, like the Music/{{Scorpions}}, Music/WirSindHelden and Sportfreunde Stiller.

* In Literature/{{Discworld}} tales, such as ''Fanfic/ThePriceOfFlight'', Creator/AAPessimal has created the UpToEleven character of Sergeant Hanna von Strafenburg, who brings a certain German-ness to her work as a Witch and, crucially, to the Ankh-Morpork City Air Watch. Hanna is, as a flying Witch, a one-woman Luftwaffe, the essential military glue that binds a MildlyMilitary operation, and has a "Vorchsprung durch Teknik" approach to making things fly. Anything short of perfect efficiency is anathema to her. Any broomstick she flies will be fine-tuned and Magitek-engineered to within a centimetre of its life.

** The German American community is, with 43 million people, the largest ethnic group in America. Some of the largest business empires in America-Levi Jeans, Lehman Brothers, Anheuser Busch, and the [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump Corporation]] [[note]]Trump was anglicized from Drumpf, and Donald Trump's father insisted his family was Swedish because his German heritage woul've made him unpopular among New York's Jewish community[[/note]]-were started by German Americans. German Americans have contributed to the American cultural landscape with hot dogs and kindergarten.

** He also doesn't have an agent which is simply unheard of in pro-sports, and despite of that, is able to negotiate contracts upwards to $20-million per year and well in the top 3 of the league's highest salaries.

** Ever asked yourself why it is called Ritter ''Sport''? Well, back in the day the founder of the company thought that normal chocolate just doesn't fit his coat pockets when he is out doing - yaknow, sport - thus the quadratic chocolate was born which packages the same 100 grams of sweet deliciousness just a bit more ''efficient''.

* Much of the characteristics described in the intro probably stem from Germany going up against much of the rest of the world twice in the first half of the 20th century and, while not winning, giving a hard fight[[note]]"We fought in two world wars and almost won both!"[[/note]]. The morale and endurance of the German army of those two wars is considered by many historians almost miraculous. Especially in WWII, though not very nice, the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine did hold out long after hope of even a draw was gone.
** And they might have done better in the second one without the horrendous number of foolish acts and other inefficiencies decreed by the Nazis. There is a school of thought about the Eastern front that would Germany be waging war against Soviet Regime (as they tried to lie in their propaganda), rather than against Russian people, they would have won. Contrary to many tropes, even Russians, just like anyone else, don't fight all too well with Comrade Commissar's Nagant pistol as the sole incentive: they slack, they desert, they defect - incidentally all of those happening an awful lot during '41-early '42. However once information seeped just HOW Germans were treating Russian captives and civilians on captured lands - Russian soldier started to fight not for comrade commissar and not for comrade Stalin, but for the mother Russia, his own mother, brother and kids. And the rest is history.

** The Germanic Economic Efficiency is particularly prevalent in the European Union - and more specifically, the Eurozone. Germany has 21% of the overall EU gross domestic product (the closest are the UK, with 16%, and France, with 15.5%, but only the latter uses the Euro) and '''70%''' of the union's exports. Add inhabitants of Eurozone countries taking advantage of those ubiqutous cheaper German products, and smaller economies such as Greece could not handle it.

** Efficiency: young Michael Schumacher didn't have much money. To get the most out of his seriously limited funds, he preformed his practice rounds on the go-kart track when no one else want to use it - when it was raining. No wonder that he became a legendary "rainy weather" Formula One driver. He could not only handle unstable behavior of his race car (regardless whether he was racing or wet or dry tracks)...this was actually his preferred setup. Other drivers considered his car's behavior uncontrollable and simply insane.

* A classic stand-by for comics who work in Europe is to make a joke about German's being humorless and highly efficient.

* Omid Djalili once spoke about how he made a joke about Germany having a negative number of comedians and how Germans then came up to him nitpicking about the impossibility of the gag.
* Creator/HenningWehn points out that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI6HJXzkP-Y Germans have a rich, vibrant, sense of humour]]. He also said the essential difference between Germany and Britain is that Germans see humour as something to look forward to after a day of hard, efficent, work. The British see humour as something to do ''instead'' of work, or perhaps as black comedy relief to compensate for the shoddy and prone-to-breakdown nature of British work.

Germans come in a wide variety of stereotypes. Brutal barbarians [[GrimUpNorth from the north]], cold blooded [[UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights Knights Templar]], [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany corrupt aristocrats]], ThoseWackyNazis, and many more. But at the end of the day, there are only three German stereotypes: [[HerrDoktor Scientists/Doctors]], [[SuperSoldier Soldiers]] and [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Engineers]]. And they are almost always highly competent perfectionists.

The trope's creator was the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}}. After the destruction of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire in the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia, under UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck (a savvy statesman who coined the cynical term ''{{Realpolitik}}'') reunified all the Germanic states bar Austria under the Prussian banner. In doing so they made the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_virtues Prussian virtues]] of self-discipline the 'hat' of the new German state. Since the dominance of Prussia over the other German states, the older trope of Germanic Inefficiency has shifted over to Austrians and (to a lesser extent) the Dutch, partly because of the influence of [[FreestateAmsterdam Vrijstaat Amsterdam]]. However, Germany, appreciating both the culture of Bavarian and Prussia, is not a robotic sour "kraut" but closer to a WorkHardPlayHard attitude.

The trope ''maker'' was the intellectual climate of Germany and Austria the 1920s. There was a powerful emotional argument that both countries had lost the war because the German people had been too soft, weak, and 'intellectual': to survive and prosper in the cruel world in which they lived, the German people had to become ruthless, strong, and calculating. Germany had to stop being ''Das Land der Dichter und Denker'' (the land of poets and thinkers) and become the land of scientists and soldiers. When they came to power the Nazis did all they could to make these hopes a reality.

* PC component brand [[http://www.bequiet.com/ be quiet!]] is owned by Listan [=GmbH=], which is headquartered in Glinde, Schleswig-Holstein. The brand tries its best to live up to [[MeaningfulName its name]] by minimizing noise in its line of power supply units, PC cases, CPU coolers, and case fans. Thus, the company develops its own advanced technology and registers patents in diverse regions and countries.

** The German American community is, with 43 million people, the largest ethnic group in America. Some of the largest business empires in America-Levi Jeans, Lehman Brothers, Anheuser Busch, and the [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump Corporation]] [[note]]Trump was anglicized from Drumpf, and Donald Trump's father insisted his family was Swedish because his German heritage woul've made him unpopular among New York's Jewish community[[/note]]]-were started by German Americans. German Americans have contributed to the American cultural landscape with hot dogs and kindergarten.
** Up until the 20th century, Germans held a privileged position in Russian society. One German Princess became UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat and allowed Germans to settle along the Volga. Many of Russia's elite figures, like Barclay de Tolly and Sergei Witte, were of German descent. But both World Wars, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of Stalin meant many ethnic Germans found themselves robbed of their privileges, if not outright killed due to nationalist hatred[[note]]One of the reasons Tsarina Alexandra was so hated during World War I was her German heritage made others think she was deliberately sabotaging the war effort on behalf of Germany.[[/note]]

** The German American community is, with 43 million people, the largest ethnic group in America. Some of the largest business empires in America, Levi Jeans, Lehman Brothers, Anheuser Busch, and the [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump Corporation]] and were started by German Americnans. German Americans have contributed to the American cultural landscape, from hot dogs to kindergarten.
** Up until the 20th century, Germans held a privileged position in Russian society. One German Princess became UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat and allowed Germans to settle along the Volga. Many of Russia's elite figures, like Barclay de Tolly and Sergei Witte, were of German descent. But both World Wars, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of Stalin meant many ethnic Germans found themselves robbed of their privileges, if not outright killed due to nationalist hatred[[note]]One of the reasons Tsarina Alexandra was so hated during World War I was her German heritage made others think she was deliberately sabotaging the war effort on behalf of Germany.[[/note]

* Parodied with Von Kaiser from ''VideoGame/PunchOut''. He claims to be the very model of German efficiency, and when he winds up to attack you hear sound effects like a toy soldier rattling or the cocking of a rifle. If he manages to knock you down, he begins mechanically jogging in place, and when he wins a match he paces around Little Mac's unconscious body disapprovingly like a drill sergeant. Despite this, it's soon revealed that this affected perfectionism is a front to cover the fact that he's a twitchy, nervous wreck. In Contender mode, a single counterpunch turns him into a basket case, hiding his face and whimpering "mommy", and hitting him with a Star Punch in this state will automatically knock him down or even KO him outright.

* Invoked in the ''Series/{{Timeless}}'' episode "[[[Recap/TimelessS1E2TheAssassinationOfAbrahamLincoln The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]" with Flynn's men loaning Glock pistols to the Lincoln assassination and passing them off as a "Prussian" (a German state at the time) design. John Wilkes Booth, as an actor, is dismissive, thinking the Glocks lack gravitas, but the rest are more pragmatic, most notably Lewis Powell.

* Israeli satire show ''Eretz Nehederet'' featured [[http://www.mako.co.il/tv-erez-nehederet/770e3d99ade16110?subChannelId=3b0f606dd6c73410VgnVCM2000002a0c10acRCRD&vcmid=2732ac8839d73410VgnVCM2000002a0c10acRCRD this skit]], satirising the high cost of living in Israel and the fact that Israeli products often cost ''less'' abroad than they do in Israel, and specifically the outrage at some Israeli chocolate bars being much cheaper at Israeli stores in the US than in Israel, and the rise of Israeli emigration due to this, often to Berlin (yes, [[RealityIsUnrealistic Berlin]]. The skit was styled as an ad for a supermarket, owned by an Israeli and offering Israeli products, often with [[ThisIsMyNameOnForeign Germanised names]], such as ‘Neka Sieben’ for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIO_LfXh_dk Neka 7]] and [[AllGermansAreNazis Zyklon B]] bug spray. To drive the point home, the owner asked his German delivery boy when a woman asking to have her groceries delivered should be home, and he answered, ‘Between 11:47 and 11:49.’

Note that Germans never lose their nerves and know no remorse. They do their job, they do it exceptionally and they are perfectionistic {{workaholic}}s (also vindicated by the low incidence of strikes); driven by achievement and performance, they seek [[ThePerfectionist perfection]], and they [[TheDeterminator don't stop until they have it]]. And when they have it, a little imperfection in their work and they drive themselves to fix that tiniest imperfection to be ''[[TheUbermensch perfect]]''. Emotions are [[TheStoic not necessary]]. It's almost like a national badasstitute of some kind.

* Creator/HenningWehn points out that Germans have a rich, vibrant, sense of humour. He also said the essential difference between Germany and Britain is that Germans see humour as something to look forward to after a day of hard, efficent, work. The British see humour as something to do ''instead'' of work, or perhaps as black comedy relief to compensate for the shoddy and prone-to-breakdown nature of British work.

* ''[[{{Theatre/Leopoldstadt}} Leopoldstadt]]'': When detailing how his Aunt Gretl's painting was stolen during the *Anschluss*, or Night of Broken Glass, Nathan says how the Viennese citizens forced their way into Jewish homes and stole and smashed anything that caught their eye, spitting and calling them filthy names but the Germans put a stop to that after a week or two in order to more efficiently rob and terrorize them.

* ''[[Theatre/Leopoldstadt Leopoldstadt]]'': When detailing how his Aunt Gretl's painting was stolen during the *Anschluss*, or Night of Broken Glass, Nathan says how the Viennese citizens forced their way into Jewish homes and stole and smashed anything that caught their eye, spitting and calling them filthy names but the Germans put a stop to that after a week or two in order to more efficiently rob and terrorize them.

* ''Theatre/Leopoldstadt'': When detailing how his Aunt Gretl's painting was stolen during the *Anschluss*, or Night of Broken Glass, Nathan says how the Viennese citizens forced their way into Jewish homes and stole and smashed anything that caught their eye, spitting and calling them filthy names but the Germans put a stop to that after a week or two in order to more efficiently rob and terrorize them.

* In [[Series/{{Fraiser}}]], Frasier Crane drives a BMW while Niles drives a Mercedes. Martin Crane perceives their taste in vehicles as snobbery, and when Frasier's car breaks down and he has to send it to a BMW specialist garage for repairs, and then wait several weeks for the imported replacement parts to become available, Martin enjoys a bit of ''Schadenfreude'' as he tells Frasier an American car would have been much simpler and quicker to service.

* In the ''Breaking Bad'' SpinOff ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', German cars are used to denote high social and professional status among the lawyers. When Jimmy [=McGill=] lands a coveted job at David & Main, DA Bill Oakley excitedly asks about his company car: "Is it German? I bet it's German!" and is impressed when Jimmy confirms that it is. When Schweikart & Cokely deploy Kim Wexler to try and talk a man into leaving his home so they can build a call centre on the land, he is insulted by the paltry amount of compensation on offer, and even more so when he notices the lawyers' "black, shiny German cars."

* In ''Film/DieWannseekonferenz'', it even applies to their genocides. While planning UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, Heydrich comments that he doesn't know why all the various agencies want in, it just more work (though that ''is'' a basic German flaw)