Terms of the Peace

His eyes bloodshot and his legs stiff with fatigue, an allied occupation official gulped his sixth cup of coffee shortly before dawn one day last week. Wearily he trudged back to a room where, for 14 hours, the occupiers and West German government officials had sat about a conference table. "I think we've just about got it wrapped up," said he.

The "it" in the wrapping process is the long-awaited "peace contract"* which transforms West Germany from the thrall of its conquerors into the land of the almost-free.

Twenty-Five Knots. In one marathon session, determined old Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the occupation chiefs of France, Britain and the U.S. untangled 25 of the last remaining knots. Within the week, the peace should be made. It gives Western Germany and its 48 million people more sovereignty than the conquerors of seven years ago dreamed then of giving so soon, but less than the West Germans now demand.

The limitations to West Germany's sovereignty are a curious mixture of precautions insisted upon by occupiers mindful of Germany's aggressive past, and of obligations insisted upon to make sure that West Germany takes its place as an armed ally of the West. The Western allies will keep their 16 divisions and supporting units in Germany--but as invited protectors, not as occupiers. G.I.s will be brought before German courts for violation of civil laws; the U.S. Army reserved for itself criminal jurisdiction.

Five Compromises. Five big hurdles gave the bargainers most trouble. Adenauer was being pushed from behind: his own coalition parties balked at the treaty terms. He asked the allies for five big changes, and got some satisfaction on each. The compromises:

P: West Germany wanted it be reopened if East and West Germany later become united under one government; France in particular objected to this. Solution: any future united German government will get the benefits of the peace contract only if it also assumes the obligations.

P: The Germans balked at the allies' right to intervene if West Germany's freedom is threatened. The compromise: the West agrees not to intervene until the West German government and the proposed European Army to which it will belong show that they cannot cope with a threat by themselves.

P: The allies want to preserve occupation laws which prohibit a revival of cartels; the Germans consider this an unacceptable limitation on their sovereignty. Compromise: occupation laws will prevail until the West Germans pass their own decartelization laws. If the Germans start fudging, the allies can summon a five-member international board whose decisions will be binding.

P: The Germans demand the right to grant amnesty to war criminals; the allies fear that the Germans might renounce the principles established in the Nuernberg trials. Compromise: an allied-German board will review applications of war criminals and grant clemency in some cases without renouncing the validity of their trials or sentences.

P: The Germans want to tax allied business firms in Germany (General Motors, Esso, Coca-Cola, etc.), under a new and sweeping share-the-war-burden law.* Compromise: allied firms will be exempted for about two more years.

One last hurdle remained. West Germany agrees, after the contract is ratified, to help pay for Western defense (about $2.5 billion in the first year). The Germans want most of their contribution to go toward costs of their own rearmament; the British in particular want most of it spent to help maintain their forces in West Germany, which have been living so far largely on occupational assessments. Once this question is settled, the peace contract can be signed.

Four to Ratify. "But then," remarked a West German official, "our troubles may really begin." The contract must be ratified by the French Assembly, sorely split over all things German; by the British House of Commons; and the U.S. Senate. Then the West German Bundestag must ratify. Last week the Socialists, the second largest party in West Germany, served notice that they would oppose Adenauer's peace contract. Even so, skillful old Konrad Adenauer should have enough Bundestag votes to squeak the contract through.

*Technically not a peace treaty, because one of the victors (Russia) is not participating.

*Which passed the Bundestag last week. Designed to make Germany's "haves" help those who came out of the war as "have nots," it levies a drastic 50% tax on the 1948 value of every piece of property in West Germany. Taxpayers will get 30 years to pay in installments, but with 6% interest added annually. Proceeds will be used to pay Germans whose properties were bombed out, others who were hurt by the 1948 currency reform, and to sustain the 9,000,000 East German D.P.s who have descended on West Germany since the war.

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