Western powers were becoming increasingly concerned with the growing Cold War and wanted West Germany to begin rearming to counter the perceived Soviet threat. In 1950, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer met with former officers to discuss West Germany's rearmament and the Himmerod memorandum was agreed. This memorandum laid out the conditions under which West Germany would rearm: their war criminals must be released, the defamation of the German soldier must cease, and foreign public opinion of the Wehrmacht must be transformed.