Toys: The Steiffs of Giengen

For three generations, the craftsmanship of West Germany's toymaking Steiff family has delighted children the world over. As the town's biggest employer, the family has also endeared itself to the burghers of Giengen (pop. 14,000), a community of cobblestone streets and gingerbread houses that has nestled for the past 900 years in the wooded foothills of the Swabian Alps. Although it seems an anomaly in such a storybook setting, the bronze bust of Theodore Roosevelt in the lobby of Giengen's town hall is there for good reason: the Steiff company is best...

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