Saarland

    The Saarland possessed little unity before the 20th cent. Until the late 18th cent. it was divided among France (which held the city Saarlouis and the adjacent territory), the county of Saarbrücken (a dependency of Nassau), and the palatine duchy of Zweibrücken. In 1797 it was ceded to France by the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Treaty of Paris of 1815 divided the territory between Bavaria (i.e., the Bavarian or Rhenish Palatinate) and Prussia. Industrial development in the area occurred after 1871, when Alsace-Lorraine became a part of the German empire. With Lorraine's iron ore deposits, the Saarland was able to take advantage of its extensive coal fields.

    The Saar Territory came into existence as a political unit when the Treaty of Versailles (1919) made it an autonomous territory, administered by France under League of Nations supervision, pending a plebiscite to be held in 1935 to determine its final status. France also received the right to exploit its coal fields until that time. When more than 90% of the votes cast in the plebiscite favored its reunion with Germany, the Saar was restored (Mar., 1935) to German control and constituted the Saarland prov.

    During World War II, Hitler incorporated it (1940) with Lorraine (annexed from France) into the province of Westmark. The scene of heavy fighting at the close of the war (1944-45), the Saarland was placed under French military occupation in 1945 and in 1947 was given an autonomous government. In a referendum (1947) the population voted for economic union with France, and in 1948 a customs union went into effect. Strong West German claims to the Saar, however, were a serious cause of friction in postwar Franco-German relations.

    An agreement between France and West Germany in 1954 provided for an autonomous Saar under a neutral commissioner to be named by the Western European Union; the economic union with France was to be maintained for 50 years. However, the agreement was rejected (Oct., 1955) by the Saarlanders in a popular referendum, and, in accordance with subsequent Franco-German agreements (1956), the Saar Territory became (Jan. 1, 1957) a state (as Saarland) of the Federal Republic of Germany. The agreements permitted France to extract coal from the Warndt deposit until 1981, but the customs union with France was dissolved in July, 1959, whereupon the Saarland became economically integrated with West Germany (now Germany).

After Christianization, the land on the Saar belonged to the diocese Metz and the arch diocese Trier. Starting in the late middle ages, territories formed that are still represented in the coat of arms of Saarland; in the center was the earldom Nassau-Saarbrücken. From different directions, the electorate Trier, the duchy Palatinate-Zweibrücken and the duchy Lorraine reached into what we now know as Saarland. In between were other small territories. In the 16^th century, the Reformation took place in Nassau-Saarbrücken and in Palatinate-Zweibrücken. From 1680 to 1697, France built a Saar province out of the smaller territories.

Following the French Revolution, the local rulers were expelled in 1793 and the entire left bank of the Rhine was made part of France. After the Congress of Vienna, Saarland was obtained by the Kingdoms of Prussia and Bavaria, and other smaller states of the German federation. The achievements of the French Revolution remained in the law of the Rhine area. In the 19^th century, coal mining and the iron and steel industries continued their development. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and the battle of Spichern before the gates of Saarbrücken, the foundation of the German Empire and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine lead to the formation of a common economic area up to the French border. On the Saar, the center of the third-largest heavy industrial area in the German Empire emerged.

After the German defeat in the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles separated the Saar area from Germany and assigned it to a governing commission of the League of Nations. For the first time, the Saar area formed its own administrative entity. France tried for an annexation; although it only obtained ownership of the coal mines, this gave it a strong economic influence. In the plebiscite of January 13^th 1935, over 90% of the electorate voted for a return to the German Reich, despite the leadership of the Nazis. The Second World War lead to a new annexation of the Mosel Department within the Westmark district, which also included the Palatinate.

Following the war, France put through autonomy rule with an economic relationship for Saarland, which was laid down in the Saarland Constitution of December 15^th 1947, as approved by the people in the state parliament elections of October 5^th 1947. After long disagreement, France and the newly-formed Federal Republic of Germany agreed to a European statute for Saarland which was rejected by the people in the plebiscite October 23^rd 1955. This cleared the way for the Luxembourg Treaty of October 27^th 1956, in which France and the Federal Republic of Germany agreed to the return of Saarland as a German federal state as of January 1^st 1957. The economic reintegration, with a currency exchange from the franc to the deutschmark, followed on July 6^th 1959.

In the years afterwards, the law, economy, society and politics of Saarland adjusted to fit the Federal Republic of Germany, and the infrastructure of Saarland was expanded. For 20 years, from 1959 to 1979, Dr. Franz-Josef Röder (CDU) steered the politics of Saarland as Minister President. In 1975/76, Saarland reached agreement with the CDU- and CSU-governed states on the social security contracts with Poland, thereby ending a blockade of German policy toward the Eastern block by the Social-Liberal federal government. In the 1960's, the coal industry crisis began; the iron and steel industry crisis followed in the 1970's and with it came radical structural change in Saarland's economy. In the state parliament elections of March 10^th 1985, the SPD won the absolute majority and Oskar Lafontaine became Minister President. The decline of the iron and steel industry was slowed in the 1990's but the number of workers in coal mining continued to fall. The use of new technology was promoted. In the state parliament elections of September 5^th 1999, the CDU won the absolute majority and Peter Müller was elected Minister President.