German stereotypes

I'm a big fan of Smiley's People, for lots of reasons, but one of the things that makes me laugh now, that didn't strike me at the time, is the way the various Europeans (including the English) are stereotyped. I think this is a factor of the original novels, as well as the TV show's own standing as an historic artefact (glad I'm not getting old). Fun to watch a world where there's no internet, and the Berlin Wall is still standing, etc.

However, there's one little detail that just cracked me up in the stereotype category. When Smiley is harrassed and threatened by the apocalyptic little gathering of anarchy at the river camp, the two guys in leather tear off the door of Smiley's boot/trunk -- but they then proceed to fold it (pound it) neatly, like a blanket, and place it back in the boot/trunk. They are like a weird embodiment of the "typical" German desire for order, even in their anarchy, neatly folding the thing and putting it away like a duvet . . . .