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Saarland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947–1956 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
| Anthem: Saarlandlied[1] | |||||||||
 Saar Protectorate (red) in 1947 | |||||||||
| Status | Protectorate ofFrance[a]claimed byGermany | ||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Saarbrücken 49°14′N7°0′E / 49.233°N 7.000°E /49.233; 7.000 | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Secular state | ||||||||
| Demonym | Saarlander or Saar | ||||||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic | ||||||||
| French Representative | |||||||||
• 1947–1955 | Gilbert Grandval[b] | ||||||||
• 1955–1956 | Charles de Carbonnel[c] | ||||||||
| Minister-President | |||||||||
• 1947–1955 | Johannes Hoffmann | ||||||||
• 1955–1956 | Heinrich Welsch | ||||||||
• 1956 | Hubert Ney | ||||||||
| Legislature | Landtag | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Establishment | 17 December 1947 | ||||||||
| 23 October 1954 | |||||||||
| 23 October 1955 | |||||||||
| 27 October 1956 | |||||||||
• Integration intoWest Germany | 1 January 1957 | ||||||||
| Currency |
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| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
TheSaar Protectorate (German:Saarprotektorat[ˈzaːɐ̯pʁotɛktoˌʁaːt];French:Protectorat de la Sarre), officially and commonly known asTheSaarland (French:Sarre), was a Frenchprotectorate and adisputed territory separated fromGermany. On joiningWest Germany in 1957, it became the smallest "federal state" (Bundesland), theSaarland, not counting the "city states" (Stadtstaaten) ofBerlin,Hamburg, andBremen. It is named after theSaar River.
The region around the Saar River and itstributary valleys is a geologically folded, mineral-rich, ethnically German, economically important, and heavily industrialized area. It has well-developedtransportation infrastructure, and was one of the centres of theIndustrial Revolution in Germany. Around 1900, the region formed the third-largest area of coal, iron, and steel industry in Germany (after theRuhr Area and theUpper Silesian Coal Basin). From 1920 to 1935, as a result ofWorld War I, the region was under the control of theLeague of Nations as theTerritory of the Saar Basin. In 1935,Nazi Germany established its full sovereignty over the territory.
Geographically, the post-World War II protectorate corresponded to the current German state of Saarland (established after its incorporation into West Germany as a state on 1 January 1957). A policy of industrial disarmament and dispersal of industrial workers was officially pursued by theAllies after the war until 1951. The region was made aprotectorate fromFrench military occupation zone in Germany under French control in 1946. In 1947, Saarland promulgated a separate constitution.Cold War pressures for a stronger Germany allowed renewed industrialization, and the French returned control of the region to the government of West Germany founded on the American–British–French occupation zones. Historically, it was adisputed territory of West Germany as it was always opposed by the Soviet Union, one of the countries occupying Germany and a member of theAllied Control Council (ACC).
The region of the Saar had been previously annexed by France (as theBailiwick of Sarrelouis (fr), 1685) and occupied during the French Revolution (1790–1798) and theNapoleonic Wars, when it had been included in theFirst French Empire as theSarre department between 1798 and 1814.[citation needed]
Under theTreaty of Versailles, the Saar was initially occupied by combat units from the United Kingdom andFrance. In 1920, Britain and France established a nominally independent occupation government for theLeague of Nations mandate of the Saar: the greater part of the area under its control was carved out of thePrussianRhine Province and was supplemented by twoBavarian districts (Homburg and St. Ingbert) taken from theRhenish Palatinate. This was sanctioned by a 15-yearLeague of Nations mandate which stationed League of Nations troops from Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in the Saar until 1935. The Saar's coal industry, the dominant industry in the region at the time, was nationalized and directly administered by France, in compensation for the destruction of French mines by the retreating Germans in 1918.[citation needed]
On 13 January 1935, aplebiscite held in the territory at the end of the 15-year term, resulted in 90.7% of voters casting their ballot in favour of a return to Germany, and 0.4% voting for union with France. Others (8.9%) favoured the third option of a continued British–French occupation government. After political agitation and manoeuvring by ChancellorAdolf Hitler for the re-union of the Saarland with theGerman Reich (Rückgliederung des Saarlandes) it was reincorporated in 1935. Its area was not redivided among the PrussianRhine Province and the Bavarian Palatinate, but united with the latter as theGau ofSaar-Palatinate (Saarpfalz). In 1942 it was renamedWestmark (WesternMarch), as it was planned to be expanded to incorporate parts of German-occupied FrenchLorraine which, however, did not materialise.[citation needed]
In July 1945, two months after World War II had ended in Europe, the Allied forces were redeploying from the areas they had conquered into their respective zones of occupation. On 10 July 1945, US forces left the Saar, and French troops established their occupational administration. On 16 February 1946, France disentangled the Saar from the Allied zones of occupation and established the separate Saar Protectorate, which wasde facto no longer under the joint Allied jurisdiction by theAllied Control Council for Germany.[citation needed]
French officials deported a total of 1,820 people from the Saar in 1946 and 1947, most of whom ultimately were allowed to return.[2] However, France had not agreed to the expulsions approved (without input from France) in the Potsdam agreement by the Allies, so France refused to accept war refugees or expellees from the eastern annexed territories in the Saar protectorate or the French zone.[3] However, native Sarrois returning from Nazi-imposed removals (e.g. political and Jewish refugees) and war-related relocations (e.g. evacuation from air raids) were allowed to return to the areas under French control. France aimed at winning over the Saar population for a future annexation.[citation needed]
With effect from 20 July 1946, 109 municipalities of the PrussianRhine Province within the French zone were added to the Saar Protectorate. By 18 December 1946 customs controls were established between the Saar and allied occupied Germany. By further territorial redeployments between the Saar Protectorate, constituted in early 1947, and neighbouringRhineland-Palatinate (a new state established on 30 August 1946 in the French zone), 61 municipalities returned to Germany, while 13 other municipalities were ceded to the Saar Protectorate between 8 June 1947 and 1949, followed by one further Palatine municipality incorporated into the Saar in the latter year.[4]
In the speechRestatement of Policy on Germany, given inStuttgart on 6 September 1946, the US Secretary of StateJames F. Byrnes stated the US's motive in detaching the Saar from Germany as "The United States does not feel that it can deny to France, which has been invaded three times by Germany in 70 years, its claim to the Saar territory".[citation needed]
On 16 July 1947 theSaar mark replaced theReichsmark as legal tender in the Saar Protectorate, followed by the integration of the Saar into the French currency area on 15 November the same year. While onlyFrench franc banknotes circulated from 1954 on,Saar franc coins, designed similar to French coins, were issued too. On 15 December 1947 the Saar was constituted by its constitution as the Saarland (took effect two days later), with an elected government under the control of the French high commissionerGilbert Grandval. December 1947 had severe flooding along the Saar river, water higher than in the past 150 years, with extensive relief efforts undertaken. On 23 March 1948 the customs union with France was confirmed, taking effect on 1 April.[citation needed]
Initially, a policy of industrial disarmament was pursued in Germany by the Allied powers (seeindustrial plans for Germany). As part of this policy, limits were placed on permitted production levels, and industries in the Saar were dismantled as they had been in the Ruhr, although mostly in the period before the detachment (see alsoThe 1949 letter from the UK Foreign ministerErnest Bevin to the French Foreign ministerRobert Schuman, urging a reconsideration of dismantling policy). This policy was quickly reversed in mid-1946 or early 1947.[citation needed]
France's attempts to internationalize the Ruhr (seeInternational Authority for the Ruhr) were abandoned in 1950 when, in the face ofCold War pressures in Europe, the French government took an historic step in deciding that the only viable political model for the future lay in European integration. This resulted in theSchuman Declaration,[5] a plan drafted for the most part byJean Monnet. The plan put forward a rapprochement between France, Germany, and other European countries wanting to participate. As a first step, France and Germany were to agree to pool their markets for coal and steel, following the establishment of theEuropean Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).[6] With the participation ofWest Germany in the ECSC, agreement on termination of the International Authority for the Ruhr came into force on 25 June 1952.[7] However, France delayed the return of the Saar.[citation needed]
Under French rule, pro-German parties[8] were initially banned from contesting the elections. Much support was given to theMouvement pour le rattachement de la Sarre à la France, a Francophile movement founded by Saar exiles in Paris in early 1945, with many of the exiles having returned after the war. However, in the general election of December 1952, 24% of the voters cast blank ballots in support of banned pro-German parties (while the majority still voted for one of the legal parties who wanted the Saar to remain autonomous).[citation needed]
In theParis Agreements of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of theWestern European Union (WEU), but areferendum held on 23 October 1955 rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite the public support of West German ChancellorKonrad Adenauer for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Sarrois was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany.[9]
On 27 October 1956 theSaar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to become a state ofWest Germany, as provided by article 23 of itsGrundgesetz (constitution), and so Saarland did on 1 January 1957. West Germany agreed to thechannelization of theMoselle, which reduced freight costs for the French steel industry inLorraine. West Germany also agreed to the teaching ofFrench as the first foreign language in schools in the Saarland; although no longer binding, the agreement is still generally followed.
The treaty also stated that economic union with West Germany was to be completed by 1960, with the exact date of the replacement of the Saar and French franc by theDeutsche Mark being kept a secret called "Day X" (Tag X). Although the Saar became a state of West Germany (asSaarland) on 1 January 1957, the franc remained legal tender in Saarland until 6 July 1959.[clarification needed] Thus on that date theKleine Wiedervereinigung (little reunification) was completed, after more than 13 years of separation.
As a footnote to the creation of theEuropean Union, the territorial dispute over control of the Saarland was one of the last between member states and led to theEuropean flag being given a politically neutral ring of twelve stars rather than the originally proposed 15 (one of which was to represent a nominally independent Saar as a member of theCouncil of Europe).[10]
The first elections for the parliament of the Saar protectorate were held on 5 October 1947, with four parties being allowed, theChristian People's Party of Saarland (CVP), theSocial Democratic Party of Saarland (SPS), theDemocratic Party of Saarland (DPS) and theCommunist Party of Saarland (KPS). The firstLandtag passed the law establishing the constitution of the Saarland on 15 December 1947. The most successful party, the CVP underJohannes Hoffmann formed the first government with the SPS.
TheSaar competed in the1952 Summer Olympics inHelsinki, and theSaarland national football team participated in thequalifying section of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, but failed to qualify after coming second to theWest German team, but ahead ofNorway.[11]Helmut Schön, later World and European champion with West Germany, was the manager of the Saarland team from 1952 until Saarland became a part of West Germany in 1957.[12]
TheAmateurliga Saarland was the local league within theGerman Football League System except 1948–1951 period when it was under independentSaarland Football Association control.1. FC Saarbrücken took part in the first everEuropean Cup in1955.
Postage stamps were issued specially for the territory from 1920 to 1935, and from 1947 to 1959 (seepostage stamps and postal history of the Saar).
Media related toSaar Protectorate at Wikimedia CommonsAuthority control databases: National |
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