what you said is in the book, not necessarily in real life.
The middle class Germans at least do not believe in "fair play" as in US. Do you see how many executives of German firms are non-German Europeans?
Germans promote "fair play" when they can beat you in a fair game, but use not-so-fair tricks when you are superior to them. Deeply in the heart of many mid-class Germans, they believe they are superior to other people.