[1] Despite that, services such as the issuing of visas or emergency passports were not provided, but can be obtained only from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the Consulate General in Frankfurt or Munich.

[8]: 91, 92 In 1862, U.S. Representative Henry Winter Davis reported that Isaac R. Diller, who had served as consul from 1857 to 1861, had incurred expenses "for fuel, lights, clerk-hire, travel, and for the relief of destitute American citizens and seamen".

[14] Martin J. Hillenbrand, who served as consul from 1946–50,[15] described how the Joint Chiefs of Staff Directive 1067 stipulated that post-war Germany was "a defeated enemy nation" which was to be industrially disarmed and demilitarized, and that a program of restitution and reparations was to be enforced.

Moreover, the plight of the civil population in the midst of destroyed buildings, food and fuel shortage, and economic collapse so obviously called for help that further punishment seemed irrelevant in what had become a battle for survival...the emphasis inevitably shifted to the provision of minimal supplies to avoid mass starvation.

[16]: 50 Hillenbrand described living well as part of the "occupation establishment", and stated that the consulate had "its own club staffed by expert German cooks and waiters who were glad to be so near good food".

[16] During the 1960s, American buildings in West Germany became locations for anti-Vietnam War rallies, and in 1967, tomatoes and eggs were thrown at the Bremen consulate.