Saarland
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| Flag | |
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| Missing image Flag_de-saarland_300px.png Flag of Saarland | |
| Statistics | |
| Capital: | Saarbrücken |
| Area: | 2570 km² |
| Inhabitants: | 1,080,000 (2000) |
| pop. density: | 420 people/km² |
| Homepage: | http://www.saarland.de/ |
| ISO 3166-2: | DE-SL |
| Politics | |
| Minister-president: | Peter Müller (CDU) |
| Ruling party: | CDU |
| Map | |
| Missing image Germany_Laender_Saarland.png | |
Saarland is one of the 16 States of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1.08 million inhabitants.
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Geography
The state borders France in the south and west, Luxembourg in the west and Rhineland-Palatinate in the north and the east.
It is named after the Saar River, which is an affluent of the Moselle River and runs through the state from the south to the northwest. Most inhabitants live in a city agglomeration on the French border, surrounding the capital of Saarbrücken.
See also List of places in Saarland.
Saarland is divided into six districts:
Missing image
Saarland_map.png
image:saarland_map.png
History
The territory was established in 1920 in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. It comprised portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate. The area was put under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years. After this period a plebiscite was held on January 13, 1935: 90.3% of those voting wished to join Germany rather than follow Alsace and join France. The Nazis called the area "Westmark".
After World War II the Saarland came under French administration. In 1954, France and Germany offered to establish an independent Saarland, but a second plebiscite rejected this plan by 67.7%. On October 27, 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to rejoin Germany, which it did on January 1, 1957.
The Saar competed in the qualifying section of the 1954 football World Cup, but failed after coming second to (ironically) West Germany but ahead of Norway.
From 1920 to 1935, and then from 1947 to 1959, the inhabitants used postage stamps issued specially for the territory; see postage stamps and postal history of the Saar for details.
List of heads of government of the Saarland
1920-1935: chairmen of the Commission of Government of the League of Nations; 1935-1945: federal commissioners; 1945-1946: administrative president; 1946-1947: chairman on the Administrative Commission; from 1947 on: minister presidents.
- 1920 - 1926: Victor Rault (France)
- 1926 - 1927: George Washington Stephens (Canada)
- 1927 - 1932: Sir Ernest Colville Collins Wilton (United Kingdom)
- 1932 - 1935: Geoffrey George Knox (United Kingdom)
- 1935 - 1944: Josef Bürckel (NSDAP)
- 1944 - 1945: Willi Stöhr (NSDAP)
- 1945 - 1946: Hans Neureuther
- 1946 - 1947: Erwin Müller
- 1947 - 1955: Johannes Hoffmann (CVP)
- 1955 - 1956: Heinrich Welsch (no party)
- 1956 - 1957: Hubert Ney (CDU)
- 1957 - 1959: Egon Reinert (CDU)
- 1959 - 1979: Franz Josef Röder (CDU)
- 1979 - 1985: Werner Zeyer (CDU)
- 1985 - 1998: Oskar Lafontaine (SPD)
- 1998 - 1999: Reinhard Klimmt (SPD)
- since 1999: Peter Müller (CDU)
External links
- Official governmental portal (http://www.saarland.de/)
- Statistics office (http://www.statistik.saarland.de/)
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