Hi Denis,

 > have a look at some novels
 > written in German: whether they were published 50 years ago,
 > or now, you will only very seldom find your ,,``. What you find
 > are reversed french quotes:
 >
 >   >>text<<
 >
 > Go to a German bookstore and convince yourself!
 >
 > ,,text`` is probably not false, but it is rare.

You must be right in some quarters, but here is the verdict of
the 12 miscellaneous books in German, with quotations,
that I happen to have on my bookshelf:

   >>text<<   1
   <<text>>   2
   ``text''   1
   ,,text``   8  (including the 2 novels in the lot)

Cheers

Laurent S.