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Revision as of 21:58, 23 June 2004

Flag
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
File:Bundeslaender germany sl.png

With an area of 2570 km² and 1.08 million inhabitants, Saarland is one of the 16 Bundesländer (federal states) in Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken.

Geography

The state borders France in the south, 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:

  1. Merzig-Wadern
  2. Neunkirchen
  3. Saarbrücken
  4. Saarlouis
  5. Saarpfalz
  6. Sankt Wendel

History

The territory was established in 1920 in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. It comprised portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Rhine 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 . The Nazis called the area "Westmark".

After World War II the Saarland came under French administration. France and Germany decided in 1954 to establish an independent Saarland, but these plans were refused in a plebiscite. In new French-German consultations there was an agreement, that Saarland should be allowed to rejoin Germany (Saar Treaty, October 27, 1956). On January 1, 1957, Saarland became a part of Germany again.

The Saar competed in football's 1954 FIFA World Cup qualifying, failling after coming second to 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 Minister-Presidents of the Saarland

(or equivalent position)

  1. 1945 - 1946: Hans Neureuther
  2. 1946 - 1947: Erwin Müller
  3. 1947 - 1955: Johannes Hoffmann
  4. 1955 - 1956: Heinrich Welsch
  5. 1956 - 1957: Hubert Ney
  6. 1957 - 1959: Egon Reinert
  7. 1959 - 1979: Franz Josef Röder
  8. 1979: Werner Klumpp
  9. 1979 - 1985: Werner Zeyer
  10. 1985 - 1998: Oskar Lafontaine (SPD)
  11. 1998 - 1999: Reinhard Klimmt (SPD)
  12. since 1999: Peter Müller (CDU)

External links

States of the Federal Republic of Germany
States States of Germany
City-states
Former states
Category: