Germanium transistors were there at the very beginning of transistor tech, what is old is new again...
Remember the earlier version of doped material technology that eventually morphed into transistors? They’re called selenium rectifiers.....most replaced now by solid state diodes....Still in use today but for much higher current/voltage applications.
I remember with rectifier stacks we had something that would smoke and smell badly when overloaded. Was that germanium or what ?