Geography

The state borders France (département of the Moselle) in the south and west, Luxembourg in the west and Rheinland-Pfalz in the north and the east.

It is named after the Saar River, which is an affluent of the Moselle River (a Rhine tributary) and runs through the state from the south to the northwest. Most inhabitants live in a city agglomeration on the French border, surrounding the capital of Saarbrücken.

Saarland is divided into six districts:

Merzig-Wadern ;Neunkirchen ;Saarbrücken ;Saarlouis ;Saarpfalz ;Sankt Wendel .

History

The territory was established in 1920 in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. It comprised portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate. The area was put under the control of the League of Nations.

It was in practice administered by France for 15 years, very much against the wishes of almost all Germans both inside and outside the territory.

In 1933, a considerable number of anti-Nazi Germans fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany left outside the Third Reich's control. As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under French control as long as Adolf Hitler ruled Germany. However, long-held sentiments against France remained entrenched with only a small number sympathizing openly with France. When the original 15-year-term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on January 13, 1935: 90.3% of those voting wished to join Germany rather than follow Alsace and join France. The Nazis appointed Josef Bürckel (b. 1895 - d. 1944) on 1 March 1935 as Reichskommissar für die Rückgliederung des Saarlandes, then changed his style from 17 June 1936 to Reichskommissar für das Saarland, and from 8 April 1940 to Reichskommissar für die Saarpfalz; finally from 11 March 1941, he was made Reichsstatthalter in der "Westmark" (the region's new name, meaning "Western March or Border"), till 28 September 1944 when he was succeeded by Willi Stöhr (b. 1903, also NSDAP), until 21 March 1945.

After World War II the Saarland came under French administration again, as the Saar Protectorate. The official reason, as given by the United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes in a speech[1] in 1946, was that it was in order to compensate France for the last three German invasions. This was a somewhat misleading statement as the War of 1870-71 was started by France. The Morgenthau Plan of 1944, which became heavily entrenched in parts of the U.S. government, might also have influenced the U.S. decision to transfer the Saar to France, as it spelled out the need to cripple Germany industrialy in order to preclude future wars. In order to achieve this Germany would, amongst other things, have to surrender the areas richest in industry or the minerals necessary for industrial production (coal and iron). These areas included Silesia, the Ruhr area and the Saarland.

The Saar Protectorate was headed by a Military governor from 30 August 1945: Gilbert Yves Édmond Grandval (b. 1904 - d. 1981), who remained on 1 January 1948 as High Commissioner, and January 1952 - June 1955 as the first of two French 'Ambassadors', his successor being Eric de Carbonnel (b. 1910 - d. 1965) till 1956. However Saarland was allowed a regional administration very soon.

In 1954, France and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) developed a very detailed plan, called the Saarstatut, to establish an independent Saarland, but a second plebiscite rejected this plan by 67.7%. French attempts to limit campaigning against this plan using undemocratic means did not sit well with the inhabitants, and made the plebiscite's result more decisive than had been expected. On October 27, 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to rejoin the Federal Republic of Germany, which it did on January 1, 1957.

The Saarland's reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany was sometimes referred to as the kleine Wiedervereinigung ('minor reunification', as opposed to the post-cold war reabsorption of the DDR). The French Franc remained for another year as the territory's currency, until West Germany's Deutsche Mark replaced it in 1958. The Saar Treaty established that French, not English as in the rest of West Germany, should remain the first foreign language taught in Saarland schools; this provision is largely followed until today, although no longer binding.