Before World War I The region of the Saarland was settled by the
Celtic tribes of
Treveri and
Mediomatrici. The most impressive relic of their time is the remains of a fortress of refuge at
Otzenhausen in the north of the Saarland. In the 1st century BC, the
Roman Empire made the region part of its province of
Belgica, 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 the
Franks conquered the territory. For the next 1,300 years the region shared the history of the
Kingdom of the Franks, the
Carolingian Empire and the
Holy 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 the
counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken. Within the Holy Roman Empire these territories gained a wide range of independence, threatened, however, by the
French kings, who sought from the 17th century onwards to incorporate all the territories on the western side of the river
Rhine. They invaded the area in 1635, 1676, 1679, and 1734, extending their realm to the river
Saar and establishing the city and stronghold of
Saarlouis in 1680. It was not the king of France but the armies of the
French 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 the
French Republic. While a strip in the west belonged to the
Moselle department, the centre in 1798 became part of the
Sarre department, and the east became part of the
Mont-Tonnerre department. After the defeat of
Napoleon in 1815, the region was divided again. Most of it became part of the Prussian
Rhine Province. Another part in the east, corresponding to the present Saarpfalz district, was allocated to the
Kingdom of Bavaria. A small part in the northeast was ruled by the
Duke of Oldenburg. On 31 July 1870, the French Emperor
Napoleon III ordered an invasion across the River Saar to seize Saarbrücken. The first shots of the
Franco-Prussian War of 187071 were fired on the heights of
Spichern during the
Battle of Spicheren, south of
Saarbrücken. The Saar region became part of the
German Empire which came into existence on 18 January 1871, during the course of the war.
Interwar history In 1921, the
Saargebiet was occupied by Britain and France under the provisions of the
Treaty of Versailles. The occupied area included portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Bavarian
Rhenish Palatinate. In practice the region was administered by France. In 1920, this was formalized by a 15-year mandate by the
League of Nations. In 1933, a considerable number of communists and other political opponents of
Nazism 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, a
plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935 in which 90.8 percent of those voting favoured rejoining Germany.
Nazi period Following the referendum
Josef Bürckel was appointed on 1 March 1935 as the
German Reich's commissioner for reintegration (). Once the reincorporation was accomplished, on 17 June 1936 his title was changed to (Reich Commissioner for the Saarland). In September 1939, in response to the German
invasion of Poland, French forces
invaded 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 to (Reich Commissioner for the Saar Palatinate); finally, after 11 March 1941, Bürckel was made (Reich Governor of the Western Borderland). He died on 28 September 1944 and was succeeded by
Willi Stöhr, who remained in office until the region fell to advancing American forces in March 1945.
History after World War II After
World War II, the Saarland came under French occupation again and became the
Saar 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 State James 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, 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. The
Treaty of Paris (1951) established the
European Coal and Steel Community, which led to the termination of the
International 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. In 1948, the French government established
Saarland University under the auspices of the
University of Nancy. It is the principal university in the state, the other being (HTW Saar). The Saarland was headed by a military governor from 30 August 1945:
Gilbert Yves Edmond Grandval (1904–1981), who remained, on 1 January 1948, as
High 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 • Minister-presidents (as in any state): • 20 December 1947 – 29 October 1955:
Johannes Hoffmann (1890–1967),
CVP • 29 October 1955 – 10 January 1956:
Heinrich Welsch (1888–1976), non-partisan • 10 January 1956 – 4 June 1957:
Hubert Ney (1892–1984),
CDU In 1954, France and the
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) developed a detailed plan called the (Saar Statute) to establish an independent Saarland. It was signed as an agreement between the two countries on 23 October 1954 as one of the
Paris Pacts, but a
plebiscite held on 23 October 1955 rejected it by 67.7%. On 27 October 1956, the
Saar 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 the
fall of Communism over 30 years later. The Saarland's unification with West Germany was sometimes referred to as the ('little reunification', in contrast with the post-Cold War
reunification with the GDR). After unification, the
Saar franc remained as the territory's currency until West Germany's
Deutsche 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. Since 1971, Saarland has been a member of
SaarLorLux, a
euroregion created from Saarland,
Lorraine,
Luxembourg,
Rhineland Palatinate, and
Wallonia. == Geography ==