Saarland (German:[ˈzaːʁ̞lant]ⓘ,Luxembourgish:[ˈzaːlɑnt];French:Sarre[saʁ]) is astate ofGermany in the southwest of the country. With an area of 2,570 km2 (990 sq mi) and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states ofBerlin,Bremen, andHamburg, and the smallest in population apart from Bremen.[3]Saarbrücken is the state capital and largest city; other cities includeNeunkirchen andSaarlouis. Saarland is mainly surrounded by thedepartment ofMoselle (Grand Est) inFrance to the west and south and the neighboringstate ofRhineland-Palatinate inGermany to the north and east; it also shares a small border about 8 kilometres (5 miles) long with thecanton ofRemich inLuxembourg to the northwest.
Having long been a relatively small part of the long-contested territories along the Franco-German linguistic border, Saarland first gained specific economic and strategic importance in the nineteenth century due to the wealth of its coal deposits and the heavy industrialization that grew as a result. Saarland was first established as a distinct political entity in 1920 afterWorld War I as theTerritory of the Saar Basin, which was occupied and governed byFrance under aLeague of Nations mandate.
The region of the Saarland was settled by theCeltic tribes ofTreveri andMediomatrici. The most impressive relic of their time is the remains of a fortress of refuge atOtzenhausen in the north of the Saarland. In the 1st century BC, theRoman Empire made the region part of its province ofBelgica, and the Celtic population mixed with the Roman conquerors. The region became wealthy, which can still be seen in the remains of Roman villas and villages.
Roman rule ended in the 5th century, when theFranks conquered the territory. For the next 1,300 years the region shared the history of theKingdom of the Franks, theCarolingian Empire and theHoly Roman Empire. The region of the Saarland was divided into several small territories, some of which were ruled by sovereigns of adjoining regions. Most important of the local rulers were thecounts of Nassau-Saarbrücken. Within the Holy Roman Empire these territories gained a wide range of independence, threatened, however, by theFrench kings, who sought from the 17th century onwards to incorporate all the territories on the western side of the riverRhine. They invaded the area in 1635, 1676, 1679, and 1734, extending their realm to the riverSaar and establishing the city and stronghold ofSaarlouis in 1680.
It was not the king of France but the armies of theFrench Revolution who terminated the independence of the states in the region of the Saarland. After 1792 they conquered the region and made it part of theFrench Republic. While a strip in the west belonged to theMoselle department, the centre in 1798 became part of theSarre department, and the east became part of theMont-Tonnerre department. After the defeat ofNapoleon in 1815, the region was divided again. Most of it became part of the PrussianRhine Province. Another part in the east, corresponding to the present Saarpfalz district, was allocated to theKingdom of Bavaria. A small part in the northeast was ruled by theDuke of Oldenburg.
On 31 July 1870, the French EmperorNapoleon III ordered an invasion across the River Saar to seize Saarbrücken. The first shots of theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–71 were fired on the heights ofSpichern during theBattle of Spicheren, south ofSaarbrücken. The Saar region became part of theGerman Empire which came into existence on 18 January 1871, during the course of the war.
In 1921, theSaargebiet was occupied by Britain and France under the provisions of theTreaty of Versailles. The occupied area included portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the BavarianRhenish Palatinate. In practice the region was administered by France. In 1920, this was formalized by a 15-year mandate by theLeague of Nations.
In 1933, a considerable number of communists and other political opponents ofNazism fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany that remained outside national administration following the First World War. As a result, anti-Nazi groups agitated for the Saarland to remain under French administration. However, with most of the population being ethnically German, such views were considered suspect or even treasonous, and therefore found little support.
When the original 15-year term was over, aplebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935 in which 90.8 percent of those voting favoured rejoining Germany.
Following the referendumJosef Bürckel was appointed on 1 March 1935 as theGerman Reich's commissioner for reintegration (Reichskommissar für die Rückgliederung des Saarlandes). Once the reincorporation was accomplished, on 17 June 1936 his title was changed toReichskommissar für das Saarland (Reich Commissioner for the Saarland). In September 1939, in response to the Germaninvasion of Poland, French forcesinvaded the Saarland in a half-hearted offensive, occupying some villages and meeting little resistance, before withdrawing. After 8 April 1940 Bürckel's title was changed again toReichskommissar für die Saarpfalz (Reich Commissioner for the Saar Palatinate); finally, after 11 March 1941, Bürckel was madeReichsstatthalter in derWestmark (Reich Governor of the Western Borderland). He died on 28 September 1944 and was succeeded byWilli Stöhr, who remained in office until the region fell to advancing American forces in March 1945.
AfterWorld War II, the Saarland came under French occupation again and became theSaar Protectorate. France did not annex the Saar or expel the local German population, in contrast to the fate of the territories which were merged by Poland and the USSR. In his speech "Restatement of Policy on Germany", made in Stuttgart on 6 September 1946,United States Secretary of StateJames F. Byrnes stated the U.S. position on detaching the Saar from Germany: "The United States does not feel that it can deny to France, which has been invaded three times by Germany in 70 years,[Note 1] its claim to the Saar territory".
The Saar and Ruhr areas were historically a central location for coal mining. This attracted the steel industry, which is essential for the production of munitions.[4]: 346 TheTreaty of Paris (1951) established theEuropean Coal and Steel Community, which led to the termination of theInternational Authority for the Ruhr (whose purpose was to regulate Ruhr coal and steel production and distribution). However, the Treaty sidestepped the issue of the Saar protectorate: an attached protocol stated Germany and France agreed the Treaty would have no bearing on their views of the status of the Saar.[5]
The Saarland was headed by a military governor from 30 August 1945:Gilbert Yves Edmond Grandval (1904–1981), who remained, on 1 January 1948, asHigh Commissioner, and from January 1952 – June 1955 as the first of two French ambassadors, his successor being Éric de Carbonnel (1910–1965) until 1956.Saarland, however, was allowed a regional administration very early, consecutively headed by:
a president of the Government:
31 July 1945 – 8 June 1946: Hans Neureuther, non-partisan
a chairman of the (until 15 December 1947, Provisional) Administration Commission:
8 June 1946 – 20 December 1947: Erwin Müller (1906–1968), non-partisan
29 October 1955 – 10 January 1956Heinrich Welsch (1888–1976), non-partisan
10 January 1956 – 4 June 1957:Hubert Ney (1892–1984),CDU
In 1954, France and theFederal Republic of Germany (West Germany) developed a detailed plan called theSaarstatut (Saar Statute) to establish an independent Saarland. It was signed as an agreement between the two countries on 23 October 1954 as one of theParis Pacts, but aplebiscite held on 23 October 1955 rejected it by 67.7%.
On 27 October 1956, theSaar Treaty declared that Saarland should be allowed to join West Germany, which it did on 1 January 1957. This was the last significant international border change in Europe until thefall of Communism over 30 years later.
The Saarland's unification with West Germany was sometimes referred to as theKleine Wiedervereinigung ('little reunification', in contrast with the post-Cold Warreunification with the GDR). After unification, theSaar franc remained as the territory's currency until West Germany'sDeutsche Mark replaced it on 7 July 1959. 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 was still largely followed after it was no longer binding.
The state borders France (department ofMoselle, which forms part of the region ofGrand Est) to the south and west, Luxembourg (Grevenmacher District) to the west andRhineland-Palatinate to the north and the east. It is named after the riverSaar, atributary of theMoselle (itself a tributary of theRhine), which runs through the state from the south to the northwest.
Saarland is about the same size as neighboring Luxembourg with Luxembourg being 2,586sq km (998 sq mi) and Saarland at 2,570sq km (990sq mi). Within Germany, it is slightly larger than the combined area of the three city-states (Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg) but is by far the smallest of theFlächenländer ("area-states"). It is less than one sixth the size ofSchleswig-Holstein, the next smallest German state. One third of the land area of the Saarland is covered by forest, one of the highest percentages in Germany. The state is generally hilly; the highest mountain is the Dollberg with a height of 695.4 m (2,281 ft).
Districts of Saarland (towns dark-coloured, position of number in the capital)
Most inhabitants live in a city agglomeration on the French border, surrounding the capital of Saarbrücken.
Saarland is the most religious state in Germany. The adherents of theCatholic Church comprise 56.8% of the population, organised in the two dioceses ofTrier (comprising the formerly Prussian part of Saarland) andSpeyer (for the smaller eastern formerly Palatine part). 17.5% of the Saarlandic population adhere to theProtestant Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, EKD), organised in the twoLandeskirchen namedEvangelical Church in the Rhineland andEvangelical Church of the Palatinate, both following the same former territorial partition. 25.7% are not affiliated with one of these churches.[11]
Saarland has the highest concentration ofRoman Catholics of any German state, and is the only state in which Catholics form an absolute majority (over 50%).
Except for the periods between 1985 and 1999, as well as since 2022 – when the centre-leftSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) has held a majority of seats in theLandtag (state diet) – the centre-rightChristian Democratic Union (CDU) has governed the Saarland, either alone or incoalition, since the accession of the state to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957.
Afterthe 2022 state elections the previous Grand Coalition between the CDU and SPD, the two largest parties in the Landtag, was replaced by an SPD majority government, the only single-party majority government of any German state, led byminister-presidentAnke Rehlinger.
Thegross domestic product (GDP) of the state was €35.4 billion in 2018, accounting for 1.1% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €32,800 or 109% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 93% of the EU average. The GDP per capita was the second lowest of all states in West Germany.[12]
Important income sources are the automobile industry, steel industry, ceramic industry and computer science and information systems industry. In the past, coal mining was an important branch of industry. However, the last coal mine in Saarland closed in 2012, ending 250 years of coal mining history in the region.[13] The decision to close the mines was motivated by safety concerns about earthquakes in the region.[14]
The unemployment rate stood at 5.8% in October 2018 and was higher than the national average but below the EU28 average.[15]
People in the Saarland speakRhine Franconian (in the southeast, very similar to that dialect spoken in the western part of the Palatinate) andMoselle Franconian (in the northwest, very similar to that dialect spoken along the riverMoselle and the cities ofTrier or even in Luxembourg).[17] Outside of the Saarland, specifically the Rhine-Franconian variant spoken in the state capitalSaarbrücken is generally considered to bethe Saarland dialect. The two dialect regions are mainly separated by thedas /dat isogloss; in the northwestern portion of the state, including cities such as Saarlouis, standard Germandas is pronounced with a final[t] instead of an[s].
In general, both dialects are an integral part of Saarland identity.
Both dialects, particularly in their respective Saarland flavour, share many characteristic features, some of which will be explained below.
Women and girls are often referred to using the neuter pronounes, with the pronunciation being something likeÄhs:Ähs hat mir's gesaat ('it told me so', instead of'she told me so'; vs. High German:Sie hat es mir gesagt). This stems from the wordMädchen (girl) being neuter (es is correct when referring to words likeMädchen but would not be used by itself in reference to a woman).
Thesubjunctive in Rhine Franconian is normally composed with the wordsdääd (High Germantäte = "would do") orgänge ("would go") as auxiliary verbs:Isch dääd saan, dass... ("I would say that...") instead of the High GermanIch würde sagen, dass....
Thegenitive case does not exist at all and is entirely replaced by constructs with thedative case.
In most instances, words are not altered when in the dative case. Exceptions are mostlypronouns.
The same holds for theaccusative case. It is accepted practice to use thenominative case instead of the accusative.
Diphthongs are less common than in Standard German. This is because the Standard German diphthongsei andau are each the result of amerger of twoMiddle High German vowels – however, these mergers did not take place in the Saarland, and only one of the two merged vowels is pronounced as a diphthong. Thefront rounded vowelsö,ü, andeu are replaced bye,i, andei respectively.
Both the Rhine Franconian and Moselle Franconian dialects (andLuxembourgish) have merged thepalatal fricative sound as inich with thepost-alveolar fricative as infrisch 'fresh', causing High German minimal pairs such asKirche 'church' andKirsche 'cherry' to be pronounced in the same way.[18]
French has had a considerable influence on the vocabulary, although the pronunciation of imported French words is usually quite different from their originals. Popular examples includeTrottwaa (fromtrottoir),Fissääl (fromficelle), and the imperative or greetingaalleh! (fromallez!).
The English sentence "My house is green" is pronounced almost the same in the Rhine Franconian variant:Mei Haus is grien. The main difference lies in the pronunciation of the⟨r⟩ sound.
Regional beer brewerKarlsberg has taken advantage of the Saarlandish dialect to create clever advertising for its staple product, UrPils. Examples include a trio of men enjoying a beer, flanked by baby carriages, the slogan reading"Mutter schafft" (meaning "Mum's at work" in Saarlandish, but plays on the High German wordMutterschaft 'motherhood'); another depicts a trio of men at a bar, with one realizing his beer has been drunk by one of the others, the slogan reading"Kenner war's" (meaning "It was no one" [Keiner war es] in Saarlandish, but playing on the High German wordKenner 'connoisseur', translating to "It was a connoisseur"); a third shows an empty beer crate in outer space, the text reading"All" (meaning "empty" in Saarlandish, but playing on the same High German word meaning "outer space").
TheFrench language has a special standing in Saarland due to its geographical proximity to France. Today, a part of the population is able to speak French, and it is compulsory at many schools.[19] Saarbrücken is also home to a bilingual"Deutsch-FranzösischesGymnasium" (German-French high school). In January 2014 the Saarland state government announced its aim of making the region fully bilingual in German and French by 2043.[20]
TheSaar competed in the qualifying section of the1954 FIFA World Cup, but failed after coming second toWest Germany but ahead ofNorway. It also competed asSaar in the1952 Summer Olympics and the field handball world championships in the beginning of the 1950s.
