Saar (protectorate)

The Saarland was from the end of World War II until the end of 1956 a French protectorate, the economic attachment was until mid- 1959. Throughout the history of the Saarland it was before, under Louis XIV, Napoleon I and 1920-1935 (as Saar ), come to a separation of Germany.

The 1947 established a protectorate territory corresponded, except for a small border correction in 1949, now Saarland. Politically, however, the protectorate of the Fourth French Republic was not incorporated.

Basic democratic rights such as the fundamental right to freedom of expression were the Saar countries, however, far from being granted. Political parties that advocated a reunion with the German heartland within the international borders of the German Empire from 1937 were not approved, in particular, no branch of the Parties of the Federal Republic, where the supporters of the Protectorate or the Francophile supporters of a connection to France ( Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre à la France ) were considered separatists. In the state elections in 1952 so were about a quarter of the electorate in protest from invalid votes.

Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who had the problem Saarland largely ignored in favor of his favorite ties to the West and the reconciliation with France, then took on even contact with the separatist Saar government. This led to the signing of the so-called " second Saar statute " (Agreement between the Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the Statute for the Saar ) on 23 October 1954 in Paris as part of the Paris Agreements. In the Federal Republic, Adenauer was so fiercely attacked, the SPD and FDP feared a de facto assignment of the Saarland to France. However, the statute initially looked before a referendum on 23 October 1955. Adenauer and the federal CDU campaigned here for the adoption of the Statute, the Saar- CDU however, refused. With a participation rate of 96.6 percent ( 620,000 participants ) voted 67.7 per cent of the voting Saarland citizens against the Saar Statute. This vote was seen as an expression of the will to an accession to the Federal Republic.

Subsequent international negotiations resulted in the Treaty of Luxembourg of 27 October 1956 in the France of the reintegration of the Saarland under German sovereignty agreed on 1 January 1957. On December 14, 1956, the Saarland parliament declared the formal accession to the scope of the German Basic Law. The law on the integration of the Saarland of 23 December 1956, the Saarland was incorporated politically on 1 January 1957 as an additional state in the federal territory of the former Federal Republic.

Economically, the Saarland was still coupled to France.

The official currency was the French Franc, the 1954/55 through its own coins ( " Saar franc " ) has been added; There was a customs boundary to the western zones or the later Federal Republic, but not to France. This contributed to an early recovery of the economy. An accession to the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949 was not possible. The limited autonomy of the Saarland was symbolized by its own nationality, own flag and anthem, as well as by its own National Olympic Committee of the Saarland ( with the participation of its own Olympic team at the Games in 1952 ), a Saarland national football team ( with participation in the knockouts for the World Cup 1954) and the Grand Prize of the Saarland, a round of the MotoGP World Championship underlined. The date for the economic integration of the Federal Republic by the introduction of the Deutschmark was kept secret from the population long. The hopeful awaited " Day X" was 6 Juli 1959. Was not until the economic connection the "little reunification" in the Saar was complete. The accession process in 1990 as a model for the constitutional design of the German reunification.