Located an hour's drive from the Czech border, Vilseck has been home to thousands of U.S. civilians and soldiers since the 1950s and currently hosts the U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment | All photographs by Louisa Marie Summer for POLITICO
VILSECK, Germany — For this small Bavarian town, the Pentagon's decision to redeploy U.S. troops within Europe might spell the end of its decades-old German-American way of life.
Located an hour's drive from the Czech border, Vilseck has been home to thousands of U.S. civilians and soldiers since the 1950s and currently hosts the U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment. That history has left its mark on the town, creating an economy enmeshed with the American presence — a situation mirrored in next-door Grafenwöhr, a vast base where Elvis Presley spent several weeks after being drafted.
That dependence is now coming to haunt Vilseck and other U.S. Army host towns across Germany. Following U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper's announcement last week that 12,000 troops were being removed from Germany, they face an uncertain economic future.
And with some 4,500 soldiers to be redeployed from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck will be hit hardest.
Rose Barracks in Vilseck could wind up empty in a few years as U.S. troops withdraw.
Housing with a German-American flair in Vilseck. Residents and town leaders worry about the real estate market when international demand slumps.
That the town's barracks could be empty in a few years' time worries Mayor Hans-Martin Schertl. "The economic clout of the training areas here and in nearby Grafenwöhr combined has been calculated to be around €650 million annually," he said, sitting in his office overlooking Vilseck's town square days after the U.S. announcement.
If thousands of Americans have to leave, "real estate prices are certainly going to go down because demand could not possibly be as big as supply," Schertl said, adding that many local Germans rely on American tenants paying rent for their homes.
A short distance from the town square, Bobby Grassick, managing director of Vilseck Military Auto Sales, echoed the mayor's remarks.
"It will affect the area dramatically," Grassick said, sitting behind his desk next to the showroom of his car dealership. Real estate prices and rents in the area receive an artificial boost from the American presence, he noted.
Sales Manager Bobby Grassick of Vilseck Military Auto Sales
Small business owners like Grassick can see sales drying up after years of American investment.
Some distance from the nearest Autobahn and not close enough to regional hubs Nuremberg or Regensburg to profit from their urban sprawl, Vilseck qualifies as what Germans like to call Pampa, a rural area in the middle of nowhere — which typically features a relaxed rental market.
"All these houses you see around here — or a lot of them, let's say — they're built for the American families," he said, adding that Germans who invested in them "will sit on these empty houses when the Americans are gone, because they will never get the rents that they need for them from the local Germans, because they wouldn't be able to afford them."
Crisis looming
Vilseck landlords aren't alone in facing a crisis.
"We have no industry, either," said Sabine Kederer, owner of Hotel Angerer in Vilseck, which dates back centuries and where "around 80 percent of guests have something to do with the Americans or are Americans themselves."
Many establishments in the town cater specifically to Americans, from restaurants — such as the Angus Steakhouse, whose 1-kilogram steak pushes the boundaries of even the meaty cuisine of Bavaria — to travel agencies advertising exclusively transatlantic flights. The town’s places of worship include not only the region’s typical Roman Catholic churches, but also the New Life Christian Center and the New Testament Christian Church.
A döner shop, just outside a grocery store in Vilseck.
The Angus Steak House is popular with both Germans and Americans.
Kederer thinks Vilseck should have started diversifying its business model away from the U.S. presence years ago. In her opinion, the picturesque town should be advertised as a tourism spot or affordable alternative for city-dwellers who don't want to spend all their money on rent. Without such strategies in place, she is worried the withdrawal will deal a severe blow to the local economy.
But apart from the economic aspect, she is also sad to potentially have to say goodbye to friends. Aside from the soldiers, many American civilians, such as family members, live in and around Vilseck.
Brigitte Trummer, above left, is now retired but worked as a safety supervisor on school buses. "I'm sad to see the Americans go," she says. "Vilseck is going to turn into a ghost town." Sabine Kederer, above right, owns Hotel Angerer in Vilseck. "We have no industry," she says. "Around 80 percent of guests have something to do with the Americans, or are Americans themselves."
"It's been going really well with the Americans," said Kederer, adding that her 9-year-old daughter's best friend is American. Not only are they "inseparable," she said, but also bound to benefit from each other's language skills.
Most Germans in Vilseck agree that the American presence has added to the quality of life in town beyond the economic perspective.
"I used to work as a safety supervisor on the school bus," retired local Brigitte Trummer said, adding that the town's German and American children have always gotten along. "I'm sad to see the Americans go ... Vilseck is going to turn into a ghost town."
Vilseck residents worry that the fate of their town rests in the hands of Pentagon decision-makers.
What Washington wants
Mayor Schertl still hopes his town can avoid that fate.
"Trump is facing resistance from Democrats and some Republicans on the issue," he said, adding that the move makes no strategic sense: "Everybody says so, including former commanding general [of the U.S. Army in Europe] Ben Hodges ... and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is rubbing his hands — 10,000 U.S. soldiers less that he would have to fear one day, should he choose to annex the Baltics or whatever."
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to tour Central and Eastern European capitals next week to discuss the redeployment of troops. The precise itinerary is still fluid, but the current plan is for him to visit Prague on Tuesday or Wednesday and then move on to Slovenia and Poland.
Mayor Hans-Martin Schertl, above left, remains optimistic that the U.S. will reverse course, arguing that the move makes no strategic sense. "Everybody says so," he says, though not everyone shares his view. Above right, a tractor makes its way through the center of Vilseck.
Grassick has a different view than Schertl.
"The Americans don't see the threat on the ground here in Germany directly, they see it more toward the borders with Russia — hence the buildup in Poland — they want to move more in that direction than to be here on the ground," he said. (The U.S. has said that it would move some troops to Poland, though the Pentagon last week said the affected Germany-based troops would mainly be moved to Italy and Belgium or back to the United States.)
Either way, Grassick's not too worried about his business, although it is 100 percent tailored to American needs.
Josh Valembrun, left, on a date with Janae Lett at the EDEKA market in Vilseck. Both their fathers work with the U.S. Army.
EDEKA is a popular gathering spot for German teenagers too.
"We're importing cars from the U.S. for the soldiers to buy here so that they can take them back home when they leave. They look the same, but they're entirely different vehicles, with their lights and windshields and all not conforming with European standards," he said.
As part of an agreement between the U.S. and Germany, his American customers don't pay import duty, Grassick explained. Germans, on the other hand, would have to pay "29 percent on top" for one of his cars, so the troop withdrawal should wreak havoc on his business model — but he said that with only a few years to go until retirement, "it doesn't really affect me that much."
For Kederer, the stakes are higher. "This hotel has been in my family since 1666 and I lead it in the 14th generation," she said. "I don't want it to end with me."
U.S. housing on the outskirts of Vilseck.
