Saarland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Flag | |
|---|---|
| Image:Flag de-saarland 300px.png | |
| Statistics | |
| Capital: | Saarbrücken |
| Area: | 2,568.69 km² |
| Inhabitants: | 1,056,000 (31/12/2004) |
| pop. density: | 411 people/km² |
| Website: | http://www.saarland.de/ |
| ISO 3166-2: | DE-SL |
| Politics | |
| Minister-president: | Peter Müller (CDU) |
| Ruling party: | CDU |
| Map | |
| Image:Deutschland Lage des Saarlandes.svg | |
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. In both area and population it is the smallest of the German Flächenländer ("area states"), i.e., those that are not City States (Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg).
Contents |
[edit] Geography
The state borders France (département of the Moselle) in the south and west, Luxembourg in the west and Rheinland-Pfalz in the north and the east.
It is named after the Saar River, which is a tributary of the Moselle River (a Rhine tributary) 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:
[edit] History After World War I
In 1920 the Saargebiet was created 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 represented by the following Chairmen of the Commission of Government:
- 26 February 1920 - 18 March 1926 Victor Rault (France) (b. 1858 - d. 19..)
- 18 March 1926 - 8 June 1927 George Washington Stephens (Canada) (b. 1866 - d. 1942)
- 8 June 1927 - 1 April 1932 Sir Ernest Colville Collins Wilton (UK) (b. 1870 - d. 1952)
- 1 April 1932 - 1 March 1935 Geoffrey George Knox (from 1935, Sir Geoffrey George Knox) (UK) (b. 1884 - d. 1958)
It was in practice administered by France for 15 years.
In 1933, a considerable number of anti-Nazi Germans fled to the Saar, as it was the only remaining part of Germany that was neither annexed by foreign countries (Memelland) nor under the political control of the Third Reich.
As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under French control as long as Adolf Hitler ruled Germany, but only a small number of people favored that condition.
When the original 15-year-term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935: 90.3% of those voting favored joining Germany.
The Nazis appointed Josef Bürckel (b. 1895 – d. 1944) on 1 March 1935 as Reichskommissar für die Rückgliederung des Saarlandes. When the reincorporation was considered accomplished, his title was changed (afer 17 June 1936) to Reichskommissar für das Saarland. A further change was made after 8 April 1940 to Reichskommissar für die Saarpfalz; finally, after 11 March 1941, he was made Reichsstatthalter in der "Westmark" (the region's new name, meaning "Western March or Border"), till 28 September 1944, when he was succeeded by Willi Stöhr (b. 1903, also NSDAP), until 21 March 1945.
[edit] History After World War II
After World War II the Saarland came under French administration again, as the Saar Protectorate.
An official reason for that was given by the United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes in a speech [1] in 1946 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".
The Morgenthau Plan of 1944, which became heavily entrenched in parts of the U.S. government, might also have influenced the U.S. decision to transfer the Saar to France, as it spelled out the need to cripple Germany industrially in order to preclude future wars. To achieve this goal, Germany would, amongst other things, have to surrender the areas richest in industry or the minerals necessary for industrial production (coal and iron). These areas included Silesia, the Ruhr area and the Saarland.
The Saar Protectorate was headed by a military governor from 30 August 1945: Gilbert Yves Édmond Grandval (b. 1904 - d. 1981), who remained on 1 January 1948 as High Commissioner, and January 1952 - June 1955 as the first of two French ambassadors, his successor being Eric de Carbonnel (b. 1910 - d. 1965) until 1956. Saarland, however, was allowed a regional administration very soon, consecutively headed by:
- a President of the Government:
- 31 July 1945 - 8 June 1946: Hans Neureuther, Non-party
- a Chairman of the (until 15 December 1947, Provisional) Administration Commission:
- 8 June 1946 - 20 December 1947: Erwin Müller (b. 1906 - d. 1968), Non-party
- Minister-presidents (as in any Bundesland):
- 20 December 1947 - 29 October 1955 Johannes Hoffmann (b. 1890 - d. 1967), CVP
- 29 October 1955 - 10 January 1956 Heinrich Welsch (b. 1888 - d. 1976), Non-party
- 10 January 1956 - 4 June 1957 Hubert Ney (b. 1892 - d. 1984), CDU
In 1954, France and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) developed a detailed plan called the Saarstatut to establish an independent Saarland, but a plebiscite rejected it by 67.7%. On October 27, 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join the Federal Republic of Germany, which it did on January 1, 1957.
The Saarland's reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany was sometimes referred to as the kleine Wiedervereinigung ("small reunification", in contrast with the post-Cold War reabsorption of the GDR). Even after reunification, the Saar franc remained as the territory's currency, until West Germany's Deutsche Mark replaced it on July 7, 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 is still largely followed today, although no longer binding.
[edit] Other
The Saar competed in the qualifying section of the 1954 football World Cup, but failed after coming second to West Germany but ahead of Norway. It also competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics (see Saar at the 1952 Summer Olympics).
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.
In 1954, the Paris mint coined 10, 20, and 50 "franken" pieces. The following year a 100 franken was also minted. After reunification Saarland switched to the West German mark.
Between 1950 and 1956, Saarland was a member of the Council of Europe.
[edit] Rulers in the Saarland
- 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)
[edit] September 5, 2004 state election
See also: Saarland state election, 2004
| Party | Party List votes | Vote percentage | Total Seats | Seat percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 209,690 | 47.5% (+2.0) | 27 (+1) | 52.9% |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 136,224 | 30.8% (-13.6) | 18 (-7) | 35.3% |
| Alliance '90/The Greens (Grüne) | 24,830 | 5.6% (+2.4) | 3 (+3) | 5.9% |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 22,842 | 5.2% (+2.6) | 3 (+3) | 5.9% |
| National Democratic Party (NPD) | 17,590 | 4.0% (+4.0) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| Family Party | 13,106 | 3.0% (+2.0) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | 10,240 | 2.3% (+1.5) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| The Grays | 6,285 | 1.4% (+1.4) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| All Others | 821 | 0.2% (-2.3) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| Totals | 441,628 | 100.0% | 51 | 100.0% |
[edit] Language
People in the Saarland speak Rhine Franconian (in the southwest, very similar to that dialect spoken in the western part of the Palatinate) and Moselle Franconian (in the northeast, very similar to that dialect spoken along the river Mosel and the cities of Trier or even in Luxembourg), dialects of German. Outside of the Saarland, specifically the Rhine Franconian variant spoken in the Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken is generally considered to be the Saarland dialect. In general, both dialects are an integral part of the “Saarlandish” identity and thus a strong source of local patriotism.
Both dialects, even more so in their respective Saarland flavour, share many characteristic features, some of which will be explained below.
Women and girls are often referred to using the neuter grammatical gender. Es hat mir's gesaat (it told me so, instead of she told me so; vs. High German: Sie hat es mir gesagt). This stems from the word Mädchen (girl) being neuter in German (es is correct in German when referring to words like Mädchen but would not be used by itself in reference to a woman).
The conjunctive is normally composed with the words dääd (“would do”) or gäng (“would go”) as auxiliary verbs: Isch dääd saan, dass... (“I would say that...”) instead of the High German Ich würde sagen, dass....
Declension is rather different:
- The genitive case does not exist at all and is entirely replaced by constructs with the dative case.
- In most instances, a word is not altered when cast into the dative case. Exceptions are mostly pronouns.
- The same holds for the accusative case. Even more so, it is accepted practice to use the nominative case instead of the accusative.
Diphthongs are almost non-existent. The Saarlandish variant of a High-German word that contains a diphthong usually will have a long vowel in its place. Moreover, the vowel ü does not exist in the dialect. It is mostly replaced by i.
French has had a considerable influence on the vocabulary, although the pronunciation of imported French words usually is quite different from their original. Popular examples comprise Trottwaa (from trottoir), Fissääl (from ficelle), and the imperative or greeting aalleh! (from allez!).
The English phrase My house is green is pronounced almost the same (in the Rhine Franconian variant): Mei Haus is grien. The main difference lies in the pronunciation of the r sound.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources and External links
- Official governmental portal
- Statistics office
- WorldStatesmen - Germany
- France, Germany and the Struggle for the War-making Natural Resources of the Rhineland Describes the contest for the Saar over the centuries.
Baden-Württemberg · Bavaria · Berlin · Brandenburg · Bremen · Hamburg · Hesse · Lower Saxony · Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania · North Rhine-Westphalia · Rhineland-Palatinate · Saarland · Saxony · Saxony-Anhalt · Schleswig-Holstein · Thuringia
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