100. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the German Ambassador (Krekeler) and the Secretary of State, Department of State, Washington, March 27, 19571
SUBJECT
- Financial Support of United States Forces in Germany
The German Ambassador called at his request. He presented to the Secretary a note, a translation of which is attached,2 in response to the United States note of February 23, 1957,3 to the German Federal [Page 222] Government requesting an increase in the amount of financial support which the Federal Government had offered for United States troops in Germany. The Ambassador also gave the Secretary of State a letter from the Chancellor to the President on this subject.4
Ambassador Krekeler said he had been instructed to inform the Secretary that the Chancellor had reviewed the problem with great care. He was very sorry, but he felt it would be impossible to allocate more than the DM 1.200 million which had been established with the agreement of Parliament for the support of visiting forces in the Federal Republic. The Chancellor felt that it was impossible to ask the Parliament for an increase in this amount. He had asked the Ambassador to point out that this problem had a special bearing on the elections and asked that the difficulties of the Federal Government be viewed with understanding. He pointed out that the Federal Government was going forward with its military build-up and would assign five divisions to NATO this year.
The Secretary noted that the Federal Government took the position that the defense burden which it was carrying was comparable to that being borne by other countries. The Ambassador said that this point was elaborated on in the note. While the Federal Government admitted that Great Britain was bearing a heavier burden, it felt that the Federal Government was bearing a burden equal to that of France, and higher than that of Belgium and The Netherlands.
The Secretary asked whether the Federal Government felt that it was bearing a burden as heavy as that of the United States. The Ambassador said he felt that the position of the Federal Government and the United States were different. The Secretary remarked that the American gold reserves were going down, whereas the German gold reserves were going up.
The Secretary concluded the conversation by saying that he had been informed by representatives of the Defense Department that this matter had recently been discussed in the Congressional committees concerned, which had expressed considerable unhappiness with what was being done and strong criticism of what had been offered. The Ambassador said that the Federal Republic had a problem in this respect, as well, since it would have to have the consent of Parliament for any increase in the amounts of funds which had been allocated for the support of visiting forces.
The Secretary said that he and the President were sympathetic with the problems confronting the Federal Republic in this particular year. He said that the German note would be carefully studied.