Is Pumpernickel Different From Rye Bread? Not Really, but Yes

My friend Franz is the son and grandson of German bakers and he is, himself, an academy-trained baker now working in California. He told me that in Germany pumpernickel is made differently. It is dense and heavy and bread crumbs from previously baked loaves are added to the dough. I have never been to Germany nor seen any recipe describing such a bread but I believe Franz because there are so many recipes available for bread called pumpernickel that there may be no way to deny that any rye bread is a legitimate heir to the title. Calling rye bread pumpernickel usually means that it is dark, though there are many other dark ryes; that it has a German or Russian derivation, though there are German and Russian ryes that are not pumpernickel; and, most importantly, that it has a small but fanatical following convinced that there is no such thing as good pumpernickel anymore. (“But yours is close,” they always say.)