~~Good~~ news! Seinfeld is a pedophile and supposedly kind of a sociopath. He's also tried to hop on the anti-woke train a couple of times in the past few years.
The man made a major contribution to western cultus as a whole, but man is he a bastard.
I'd encourage you to look into pocketbook. I'm not German, but they're by far the biggest option we have here for privacy-respecting ereaders.
I got a verse pro a couple of weeks back, and while the device isn't perfect, I am extremely pleased with it.
Also FWIW all current-gen color displays suffer from much worse contrast. I have yet to be in the same room as one, so I don't know what they're like IRL, but I'd encourage you to look into that before buying a color model.