Read Online I Sleep in Hitler's Room by Tuvia Tenenbom - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Tuvia Tenenbom
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Oranges are easier. In Spain, for instance, they need only 15 liters of water per orange, because they concentrate the water just on the orange. Not in Africa, a very rich and corrupt place, which spends all its water . . .
The man goes on and on and on. Who taught him so much stuff?
Nothing here is about money, in case you wondered; it’s all about goodness. Really. I, Tuvia Schmidt, know. I can read a map. VW is run by people who care for human integrity and equality; it’s not really a car company, it’s a church. There are many nuns and pastors in this church, all of them selfish-less volunteers.
Above them all is Otto F. Wachs, CEO of Autostadt. We sit down to chat about the Autostadt Charitable Organization and Culture Corporation.
He’s fifteen years on the job and personally he drives a “very fast Audi.”
He explains to me, the slow-to-get-it American: “Our people, Germans, are very driven on technical elements. We might not be as good as you are in communications, as you are in Silicon Valley.”
I don’t know what comes over me suddenly, probably temporary insanity. My face gets very ugly, like the faces of those fat American journalists, and I say to him something very nasty: I tell him to drop the mask, that I don’t buy his employees’ comments that VW cares about people, and that all this Level Green business smells to me like one big hypocrisy. Will he challenge me on this?
I need a psychiatrist, no doubt. Otto looks at me and says:
“You want a very open answer? We are selling cars. You won’t believe how many cars we sell!”
Did he lose his mind as well? Is he saying what I hear him saying? Does he say that all those exhibitions are just a show?
“My purpose is to sell cars.”
Insanity is contagious, I can see.
VW, he tells me, produces more than six million cars a year. In America, he explains to me, a car is about going “from point A to B.” Not so in Germany. Most Germans buy cars because they like the product. “They are buying it not because they need it for the mobility factor, for going from A to B. Much different from your country.”
Mercedes-Benz, he is proud to share with me, is the inventor of cars, and this makes the Germans proud.
There are other differences between Americans and Europeans:
“I remember this
60 Minutes
piece, on CBS, with the priest saying, ‘My daughter was driven to death by this Audi in the garage, because my car accelerated by itself. I could do nothing, and I killed my own daughter.’
60 Minutes
, CBS.’ So, we are out of business. Now I have to say something, because I was very open with you. You are a very open, democratic society. But in your country . . . your public, your media . . . Sometimes it’s over-exhausting, how the media is reacting in your country.”
The German media, he obviously believes, won’t do this.
Good to know. If one day I get to own a car company and suddenly get bogged down with sudden acceleration problems, I’ll move to Germany in a blink of an eye.
Otto is in a good mood today. He keeps on talking, sharing with me the idea of it all:
“Once you leave Autostadt you believe in VW . . . and you’re more inclined to buy a VW.”
We talk for a long time and then he accompanies me out. He tells me that as long as I am with him I can smoke, that no one will stop me. I try it out. He’s right! I go back to the hotel. I’m tired. Doors open, smiles again. I get to my room. I can’t see my TV Lady. She must be very upset with me. I lie on the bed. Where am I going from here?
If I learned anything today it’s this:
Socialism is about making money while talking about the environment. Capitalism is about losing money during massive recalls.
Is this true? I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe I should go downstairs, take a chair with me, sit between doors, and have all those lovely ladies smile at me for hours.
I fall asleep dreaming of the Eternal Smiles by the Ritz-Carlton ladies and a big smile
The man goes on and on and on. Who taught him so much stuff?
Nothing here is about money, in case you wondered; it’s all about goodness. Really. I, Tuvia Schmidt, know. I can read a map. VW is run by people who care for human integrity and equality; it’s not really a car company, it’s a church. There are many nuns and pastors in this church, all of them selfish-less volunteers.
Above them all is Otto F. Wachs, CEO of Autostadt. We sit down to chat about the Autostadt Charitable Organization and Culture Corporation.
He’s fifteen years on the job and personally he drives a “very fast Audi.”
He explains to me, the slow-to-get-it American: “Our people, Germans, are very driven on technical elements. We might not be as good as you are in communications, as you are in Silicon Valley.”
I don’t know what comes over me suddenly, probably temporary insanity. My face gets very ugly, like the faces of those fat American journalists, and I say to him something very nasty: I tell him to drop the mask, that I don’t buy his employees’ comments that VW cares about people, and that all this Level Green business smells to me like one big hypocrisy. Will he challenge me on this?
I need a psychiatrist, no doubt. Otto looks at me and says:
“You want a very open answer? We are selling cars. You won’t believe how many cars we sell!”
Did he lose his mind as well? Is he saying what I hear him saying? Does he say that all those exhibitions are just a show?
“My purpose is to sell cars.”
Insanity is contagious, I can see.
VW, he tells me, produces more than six million cars a year. In America, he explains to me, a car is about going “from point A to B.” Not so in Germany. Most Germans buy cars because they like the product. “They are buying it not because they need it for the mobility factor, for going from A to B. Much different from your country.”
Mercedes-Benz, he is proud to share with me, is the inventor of cars, and this makes the Germans proud.
There are other differences between Americans and Europeans:
“I remember this
60 Minutes
piece, on CBS, with the priest saying, ‘My daughter was driven to death by this Audi in the garage, because my car accelerated by itself. I could do nothing, and I killed my own daughter.’
60 Minutes
, CBS.’ So, we are out of business. Now I have to say something, because I was very open with you. You are a very open, democratic society. But in your country . . . your public, your media . . . Sometimes it’s over-exhausting, how the media is reacting in your country.”
The German media, he obviously believes, won’t do this.
Good to know. If one day I get to own a car company and suddenly get bogged down with sudden acceleration problems, I’ll move to Germany in a blink of an eye.
Otto is in a good mood today. He keeps on talking, sharing with me the idea of it all:
“Once you leave Autostadt you believe in VW . . . and you’re more inclined to buy a VW.”
We talk for a long time and then he accompanies me out. He tells me that as long as I am with him I can smoke, that no one will stop me. I try it out. He’s right! I go back to the hotel. I’m tired. Doors open, smiles again. I get to my room. I can’t see my TV Lady. She must be very upset with me. I lie on the bed. Where am I going from here?
If I learned anything today it’s this:
Socialism is about making money while talking about the environment. Capitalism is about losing money during massive recalls.
Is this true? I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe I should go downstairs, take a chair with me, sit between doors, and have all those lovely ladies smile at me for hours.
I fall asleep dreaming of the Eternal Smiles by the Ritz-Carlton ladies and a big smile
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