Current United States national policy sponsors collective security arrangements as a means to increase national and international security. During the past five years, two areas—Tibet and North Vietnam—and several small Chinese Nationalist islands have been the only appreciable Communist territorial gains. Our policy has produced material success under difficult circumstances.
One of the most important of the collective security groups, sponsored by the United States, is NATO—founded in 1949 and initially comprised of twelve nations. With the addition of Turkey and Greece, in 1952, the number was increased to its present strength of fourteen. Long overdue is the admission of a fifteenth member—the Federal Republic of Germany, often referred to as West Germany. Anticipating her early inclusion, this article sets forth certain facts and figures about the capabilities of the free German people and the area in which they live, to support that point of view.
Geography and People
West Germany, composed of seven major lands or states, comprises an area of nearly 95,000 square miles—not quite as large as the State of Oregon—in which live almost fifty million people; Oregon’s population is one and one-half million. One-fifth—over ten million—of these Germans are refugees or deportees from behind the Iron Curtain. All have arrived in the past ten years; most of them, including old men, women, and children, have arrived homeless, with little or no resources and without connections for gainful employment. Those refugees were one of the major factors in creating what, for several years, was a serious unemployment problem. No area in the world has faced comparable difficulties except possibly Israel, or more recently Vietnam, and in both countries the numbers involved were considerably smaller. And no other country has had simultaneously to absorb a displaced population while overcoming the almost complete disruption of government and the terrific destruction of property incident to World War II. All this was accomplished over the obstructionist tactics of the Communists, of whom there are about 80,000 in Germany today. The number has been reduced materially during the past five years.
The birth rate in Germany is low: nineteen per thousand annually as compared to twenty-five in the United States. Since the war illegitimate births have been unusually high, but the number is decreasing. In 1946, over 116,000; in 1952, this number was down to about 60,000, but this number is still 30% above the pre-war rate. One person in every twenty-five in Germany is partially or completely disabled. Germany has a liberal social security program. More than 10% of her gross national income is devoted to various forms of social security. Approximately one- third of the population draw some form of government or state subsidy. These benefits include accident and unemployment insurance, pensions, welfare for war victims, immediate aid to refugees, public welfare, and welfare for survivors of known or suspected POWs and those still listed as missing. Six to seven million derive their main support from the Federal Republic. In terms of percentage of gross national product, the German Government’s payments to its citizens for pensions and benefits—transfer of payments to household—is in Europe second only to those of France.
Living Costs
Roughly speaking, the cost of labor is from one-fourth to one-half the price in the United States. It is the rare individual or industry that does not practice austerity in its daily routine. For example: members of the Bundestag—House of Representatives—in 1952 received $150 per month, plus $7.25 for each day present while the assembly is in session, plus $50 travel allowance per month, and $25 per month for general expenses, plus $50 per month additional if an office is maintained. Postal privileges are not accorded the members. Much of the products of industry are inexpensive because of the low labor costs. Yet the gross hourly earnings of industrial workers are twice what they were in 1938—the cost of living has increased about 70% during the same period. On the other hand, many items are so heavily taxed that prices compare unfavorably with those in the United States. For example: a small Mercedes-Benz automobile, quite a bit smaller than a Chevrolet, costs over $2000. The annual tax on such a car is $4.50 per 100 cubic centimeter of piston displacement per year. When put in terms of a United States manufactured car, this means that the annual license fee for a Chevrolet would be about $93, and for a Pontiac about $112.
Housing and Industry
German industry, with dismantled and destroyed factories in almost every area, with shortages in tools, materials, and skilled labor, and supported by a nearly worthless currency, was practically at a standstill in the summer of 1945. It commenced its phenomenal upward spiral with the Allied monetary reforms of 1948 and the simultaneous introduction of the Erhard-sponsored laissez faire economic policy. The production of coal, steel, chemicals, and scores of manufactured products is rising rapidly and steadily. Exports to the United States increased over 600% in five years, and during the same period imports dropped 50%. Over one-half million automobiles are now being produced annually, and over one-third of these are exported. It has been estimated that at the end of the war the volume of rubble from bombing and artillery fire was sufficient to construct a wall from Switzerland to the North Sea (500 miles), 100 feet high, and 60 feet wide. 54% of all buildings in Hamburg were damaged or destroyed; 70% in Cologne, 35% in Berlin, 51% in Essen. But the Germans tackled the rehabilitation program with vigor, and already many communities are rubble free. About one-half million new dwellings were completed in Germany in 1953. A minimum of over two million are needed to alleviate the acute housing shortage. Bremen, the location of our first European consulate established by President Washington, was intensely bombed. Two-thirds of its cranes, one-third of its railroad tracks, nine-tenths of its warehouses, and nearly two-thirds of its dwellings were destroyed. Its waterfront was blocked with sunken craft and its harbor was mined, yet today it can handle more goods and passengers than before the war. Nearby Bremerhaven was equally heavily bombed— today its fish market is one of the largest in continental Europe. The German industrialists’ watchword is, so produce and sell that it is in the best interest of the consumer to buy your products.
Farming
Over the years the Germans have demonstrated unusual ability in pulling food products out of the soil. It is more important today than ever before—there are over 500 people per square mile. At the end of the war, there was little livestock and practically no mechanization, and most of the work had to be done by manpower; women and children do much of the farming in Germany. In the past two years the increase in tractors and other farm implements has been noticeable. Despite their great ability and the intensive effort devoted to farming—as an example, it is not unusual to see vegetable gardens and orchards, both of which appear abundant, occupying the same ground—the farmer is in a low strata of society. This stems from two primary reasons: his low income, and his relatively low educational attainments. One of the biggest handicaps to farming is the unusual subdivisions of the land. For example: 60% of all the farms have less than 12 acres; 80% less than 25 acres. Practically all farming is strip farming; that is to say, crops are planted in small parcels of land, 25 to 50 feet wide and several hundred feet long. It is estimated that there are twenty-five million small strips of land; hence, were mechanization at hand, it could be used only with considerable disadvantage. However, the farmer who cultivates his strips with different crops, as most do, gains increased protection against crop failures or low price levels. Farms of 15 to 25 acres may encompass forty to sixty scattered areas.
While farmhouses are in evidence in Bavaria in the South, and in the Great Northern Plains of Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, it is a rare sight to see a farmhouse in some sections of the Rhine Valley. Communities are close together, and over the ages the farmer has sought the protection of the villages when not actually employed on his fields.
West Germany has long been a great food deficit area. This situation has been aggravated by the Iron Curtain which denies the products of the rich fields of Pomerania. Only a trickle of food penetrates the Iron Curtain. Fifty million people now have to be fed in the same area that thirty-nine million habitated before the war. Forty per cent of all food consumed in West Germany must be imported. Much of it comes from the Jutland Peninsula and the Low Countries, but current Germany is looking to Africa, and to a lesser extent to Southeast Asia and South America, for such supplies, in return for which she is providing engineering know-how and manufactured goods. In 1948, foodstuffs accounted for well over one-half of West Germany’s imports; by 1954 the figure had declined to thirty-five per cent, which was the pre-war percentage.
Shipping
Before the war, Germany had a merchant fleet of 1540 ships of approximately four million tons. Two-thirds of these were destroyed, the remainder were confiscated. However, for economic reasons in 1945 and 1946, the Quadripartite Naval Commission returned 132 small, antiquated craft of eighty thousand gross tons. Reconstruction was denied until 1949; since then it has been going ahead rapidly. Now the German merchant fleet exceeds one and one-third million tons; nearly all are cargo craft, which are constantly expanding their fields of operation. Current German planning calls for a merchant fleet of three and one-half million tons. Today Germany ranks second to Great Britain in shipbuilding. Last December 204 vessels—772,000 GRT—were under construction in German shipyards.
Any discussion of German shipbuilding or shipping leads to shipping on the Rhine, the world’s busiest river. It is over 800 miles long, about 50% of which is in Germany. It was internationalized by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. One need only stand on the bank and look at the ceaseless stream of water traffic to appreciate the importance of this river in the economy of Germany. Approximately 11,000 barges of four hundred tons and larger operate on the Rhine and its tributaries. These 11,000 craft represent approximately six and one-half million tons, a carrying capacity larger than the Japanese fleet in 1939. Over 20% of all cargo-ton-miles in Germany moves by water. This, despite the fact that much of the floating equipment is old; for example, about one-third of all the shipping on the Rhine was constructed in 1900 or earlier. The crews of these barges are usually a family unit, who spend their lives in the work. The jobs are passed from father to son. It is not unusual to see the craft outfitted with small gardens and play pens for the children, with pets and utility animals, the family laundry flying in the breeze over an open cargo of coal. While the barges ply up and down the river, the children are educated through a Calvert type school with offices in major river ports. While there are abundant aids to navigation, these aids are not lighted, consequently river traffic stops during periods of low visibility.
Approximately 45% of all Rhine barges fly the German flag; a similar number the Dutch flag; the small remainder being Swiss and French. Barges vary in size up to 3500 tons with an allowed maximum draft of 2| meters, approximately nine feet. The current varies from a knot to as high as nine knots, and there are a variety of rules of the road applicable only on the Rhine. The U. S. Navy, utilizing the Rhine River Patrol, is responsible for the security of something over 100 miles of the central section of the Rhine.
Military and Political
Since Germany has no military force, there is no recognized defense or military department of the government. However, the Blank Organization, headed up by Theodor Blank, is in effect just such an executive department, without troops or equipment. Blank is a former official in the German Labor movement who served for a short period of time in the German Army. His number one military adviser is Heusinger, a former German general officer. General Heusinger was present at the attempt on Hitler’s life; he was injured by the bomb blast. Over a year ago, Herr Blank informed me that there is an abundance of former senior officer personnel available to him. The press has quoted him as saying he has enough former generals to command all the armies in Europe but what he wants are privates— he will need about one-half million of them. Former junior officers are now too old to be re-enrolled in that status. Despite the lack of success in their last two wars, inherent German military capability has been amply demonstrated. She started World War II with a ten-to-one disadvantage in naval surface ships. The British employed twenty- three major ships and many minor ones to terminate the operations of the Deutschland and Spee. German land and air forces last proved their fighting ability in World War II. Over the centuries their land has provided Europe’s most used battlefields. They, as much as any other people—high and low, laborer and statesman—know the unhappy aftermath of war. Despite their experiences of the past ten years, they will fight to protect their fatherland. It is this determination to preserve the fatherland that points up the cardinal difference in policy between the two principal political parties—Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. The former, now in authority in Bonn, sponsors membership in NATO and a military buildup. In contrast, and in the words of Erich Ollenhauer, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, “The foremost aim of the Party’s policy is and will remain the unification of Germany in peace and freedom through negotiations.” Chancellor Adenauer, of course, likewise considers unification the central objective of Germany’s national policy—any other position would be hardly conceivable in a patriotic German—but he considers the chances of success will be increased when negotiating from strength—political and military. Ollenhauer contends that if the partitioned former Reich is to remain another national state in Europe, instead of becoming a component part of a Western confederation, it is essential for it to be strong to survive; hence it is important first to obtain reunion with East Germany. Despite the maneuvers of the local Communists, and the declarations from Moscow, the recent action of the Bundestag has strongly supported the Adenauer position.
Conclusions
I am not one who shares the view that the Germans themselves fear the creation of a German military force. That view is sponsored by the Communists. Much is written and said on the subject in the press and over the radio. Despite their travail of the past ten years, neutralism or pacificism is anathema to German character and history. The creation of a Prussian type—military dominated—military force would not today, however, be acceptable to the German people, nor is it sponsored by the administration in Bonn. The German people are nevertheless easily led; they like to go to the theater, to movies, to athletic events; they like to wear a uniform; to march in parades; they will endure long dry speeches. Even before the days of Luther—one of whose principles was that the citizens of a country have a responsibility to their government to serve—and today, the Germans have an extremely high sense of loyalty—loyalty to their club, to the boss, and to their country. One need only observe a railroad crossing: I do not recall seeing a young German dodge under or around a lowered gate and run across the tracks, which is certainly contrary to the practices of the youngsters of most countries. To stop Germans from cutting corners across vacant lots, one need only put up a sign—DURCHGANG VER- BOTEN—no fence is needed. But, above all, the individual German is industrious; he strives to better his position, especially economically; and he does not look with favor on share-the-wealth programs.
At the moment, and in the foreseeable future, I hold no real concern over the possible resurgence of Nazism. The overriding problem in our time is to forestall the spread of Communism and, should that unhappily require the resort to arms, I consider it important that the Germans be on the side of NATO. Since the Politburo is endeavoring to prevent it, this in itself presents a good argument to consider such action to our advantage.
Some old-time German naval leaders hold the Russian Navy in contempt. Post-war Communist naval developments, including a fleet of over 300 submarines, cause me to differ with that view. However the Germans do know the Baltic, and the Baltic is an important highway to the heartland of Russia.
Already Germany is in a most favorable position in the EPU—European Payments Union. With each passing month their real and relative economic position is strengthening.
Inwardly, the Germans hate Communism, and they have a real and first-hand knowledge of its workings. The current political- military status of the West German people cannot advantageously be prolonged. To do so, will tend to weaken their resistance to Communism. To initiate a rearmament program and to admit West Germany to NATO will materially increase the anti-Communist resources of the West. Restoration of West Germany to full sovereign status, to admit her to full membership in the councils of European political and military affairs, will signify understanding on the governmental level. This understanding can be made to filter down to the people, it can provide the means to help allay the resentment, jealousies, and rivalries between neighbors, and to lessen such fear and hatred as may have weathered the events of the past ten years.