{{short description|League of Nations Mandate in Weimar Republic (1920–35)}} {{About|the League of Nations protectorate established after World War I|the French protectorate established after World War II|Saar Protectorate}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox country | conventional_long_name = Territory of the Saar Basin | native_name = {{native name|de|Saargebiet, Saarterritorium}}<br>{{native name|fr|Territoire du bassin de la Sarre}} | common_name = Saar | image_flag = Flag of Saar 1920-1935.svg | flag = Flag of Saarland | image_coat = Blason Sarre 1920 - 1935.svg | image_map = {{Switcher|upright=1.15|frameless|The Saar Basin within the Weimar Republic (Germany)|upright=1.15|frameless|Close up image of Territory of the Saar Basin|default=1}} | image_map_caption = Maps of the Territory of the Saar Basin <br> -The Saar Basin (red) -The Saar Basin (purple) | status = Special territory | status_text = Territory under League of Nations protection | empire = League of Nations | era = Interwar period | common_languages = French<br>German<br>Rhine Franconian<br>Moselle Franconian | p1 = Free State of Prussia | flag_p1 = Flag of Prussia (1918–1933).svg | p2 = Rhine Province | flag_p2 = Flagge Preußen - Provinz Rheinland.svg | p3 = Kingdom of Bavaria | flag_p3 = Flag of Bavaria (striped).svg | p4 = Circle of the Rhine | image_p4 = x22px|link= | s1 = Gau Westmark | flag_s1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg | event_start = Treaty of Versailles took effect | date_start = 10 January | year_start = 1920 | event1 = Plebiscite | date_event1 = 13 January 1935 | date_end = 1 March | year_end = 1935 | capital = Saarbrücken | currency = Saar franc | title_leader = Commission Chairman | leader1 = {{ill|Victor Rault|de|}} | year_leader1 = 1920–1926 | leader2 = G. W. Stephens | year_leader2 = 1926–1927 | leader3 = Ernest Wilton | year_leader3 = 1927–1932 | leader4 = Geoffrey Knox | year_leader4 = 1932–1935 | title_deputy = President of the Landesrat | deputy1 = {{ill|Bartholomäus Koßmann|de|lt=B. Koßmann}} | year_deputy1 = 1922–1924 | deputy2 = {{ill|Peter Scheuer (politician)|de|Peter Scheuer (Politiker)|lt=Peter Scheuer}} | year_deputy2 = 1924–1935 | stat_year1 = 1933 | stat_pop1 = 812,000 | today = Germany | demonym = | area_km2 = | area_rank = | GDP_PPP = | GDP_PPP_year = | HDI = | HDI_year = }}
The '''Territory of the Saar Basin''' ({{langx|de|Saarbeckengebiet}}, {{lang|de|Saarterritorium}};<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzXpBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA553|title=1952|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-4867-1832-4|language=de}}</ref> {{langx|fr|Territoire du bassin de la Sarre}}) was a region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate. It had its own flag (adopted on 28 July 1920): a blue, white, and black horizontal tricolour. The blue and white stood for Bavaria, and white and black for Prussia, out of whose lands the Saar Territory was formed. Initially, the occupation was under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles.<ref>Article 45-50 with Annex, Treaty of Versailles</ref> Its population in 1933 was 812,000, and its capital was Saarbrücken.<ref name="archontology">{{cite web|url=http://www.archontology.org/nations/german/saarland/00_1920_35_s.php|title=Saarland: Heads of Administration: 1920–1935|work=Archontology.org|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-date=13 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013013723/http://www.archontology.org/nations/german/saarland/00_1920_35_s.php|url-status=live}}</ref> The territory closely corresponds with the modern German state of Saarland, but was slightly smaller in area.<ref>The extent of the territory is specified in Article 48, Treaty of Versailles</ref> After a plebiscite was held in 1935, it was returned to Germany.<ref name="stahn08">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511585937 |title=The Law and Practice of International Territorial Administration |date=2008 |last1=Stahn |first1=Carsten |isbn=978-0-521-87800-5 }}</ref>
==Governing Commission== Under the Treaty of Versailles, the highly industrialized Saar Basin, including the Saar Coal District ({{langx|de|link=no|Saarrevier}}), was to be occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France under a League of Nations mandate for a period of fifteen years. Its coalfields were also to be ceded to France. During this time, the Saar Territory was governed by the five-person ''Governing Commission''<ref name="Versailles 23">Cf. Paragraph 23, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45–50, Treaty of Versailles.</ref> ({{langx|de|link=no|Regierungskommission}}; abbreviated ''Reko'') made up of representatives of the occupation forces. Under the terms of the mandate, the Commission had to include at least one French person and one German resident of the Saar.<ref>Paragraph 16-17, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45-50, Treaty of Versailles.</ref> After the fifteen years, a plebiscite would be implemented to determine the Saar's future status.
The Territory comprised the portions of the Prussian Rhenish Trier Region and the Bavarian district of the Palatinate, whose populations included a significant number of the miners who worked in the Saar coal mines. The Territory issued its own postage stamps and currency (the Saar franc).
===Chairman of the Governing Commission=== The Saar region was governed by the following Chairmen of the Commission of Government: {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! rowspan=2| {{Abbr|No.|Number}} ! rowspan=2| Portrait ! rowspan=2| Name<br />{{small|(birth–death)}} ! colspan=3| Term of office ! rowspan=2| Country |- ! Took office ! Left office ! Time in office |- | 1 | 60px | '''{{ill|Victor Rault|de|}}'''<br>{{small|(1858–1930)}} | 26 February 1920 | 31 March 1926 | {{ayd|1920|02|26|1926|03|31}} | France |- | 2 | 60px | '''George Washington Stephens'''<br>{{small|(1866–1942)}} | 1 April 1926 | 9 June 1927 | {{ayd|1926|04|01|1927|06|09}} | Canada |- | 3 | | '''Sir Ernest Wilton'''<br>{{small|(1870–1952)}} | 9 June 1927 | 31 March 1932 | {{ayd|1927|06|09|1932|03|31}} | United Kingdom |- | 4 | | '''Sir Geoffrey George Knox'''<br>{{small|(1884–1958)}} | 1 April 1932 | 28 February 1935 | {{ayd|1932|04|01|1935|02|28}} | United Kingdom |}
==Regional Council of the Saar Territory== The Saar Territory had no home rule; instead, the Governing Commission (known in German as the ''Regierungskommission'' or "Reko" for short) decided on all legislation alone.<ref name="Versailles 26">Cf. Paragraph 26, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45–50, Treaty of Versailles.</ref> According to paragraph 23 of the Versailles Treaty the Governing Commission had to establish an assembly of elected representatives of the inhabitants of the Saar Territory in such a manner as the Governing Commission would determine itself.<ref name="Versailles 23"/><ref name="Versailles 26"/> So on 24 March 1922, after four years without any official representation of the people, the Reko decreed the formation of a Saar Territory assembly called the Regional Council ({{langx|de|link=no|Landesrat}}).<ref>Cf. ''Amtsblatt der Regierungskommission des Saargebiets'', 1922, p. 41.</ref> In June 1922 the Governing Commission held the first election of the Regional Council, and starting with the second election of the Regional Council in 1924, the legislation period was extended from three to four years, with elections in 1928, and in 1932.
The Regional Council counted 30 members, the Governing Commission deliberately determined one person as the chairperson, the president of the Regional Council (Landesratspräsident).<ref name="Sander">Michael Sander, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150321001656/http://www.spd-fraktion-saar.de/parlamentsarbeit/90-jahre-im-parlament.html "Die Anfänge der Sozialdemokratie an der Saar"], on: [http://www.spd-fraktion-saar.de/ ''Solidarisch und stark. SPD-Landtagsfraktion''], retrieved 20 February 2014.</ref> In the first legislative period the Reko did not even choose the president from amongst its members.<ref name="Sander"/> The assembly was not a parliament, but only a consultative body; the representatives could be heard, but had no say in the agenda to be debated, let alone in legislation.<ref name="Sander"/> The agenda of matters to be debated was exclusively set up by the Governing Commission.<ref name="Sander"/> The members of the Regional Council had neither the right of interpellation, nor the right to actively bring a subject to the agenda, nor the right to table a bill.<ref name="Sander"/> Its members did not enjoy immunity.<ref name="Sander"/> When the Governing Commission did not set an issue on the Regional Council's agenda, they could only send delegations to the League of Nations with pleas, and so they did.<ref name="Sander"/>
With this situation, all the representatives elected to the Regional Council, regardless of the party, opposed the system of autocratic rule in the Saar Territory. All parties demanded the return of the Saar Territory to Germany where the people could elect the parliament, and the latter again, the government in self-determination. Only after the Nazi takeover in Germany, outlawing all other parties except their own NSDAP, did the Bezirk Saar of the SPD and the Saar branch of the KPD leave the opposing block and support the status quo. For the 1935 status referendum, Social Democrats and Communists suggested, unsuccessfully, that the voters should decide in favour of a continued status quo.
===Government-appointed presidents of the Regional Council=== {{Main|List of Presidents of the Landtag of Saarland#Presidents of the Landesrat des Saargebiets|l1 = Presidents of the Regional Council}}
{| class=wikitable !Name !Period !Party |- |{{ill|Bartholomäus Koßmann|de}} |19 July 1922 – 23 March 1924 |Centre Party |- |{{ill|Peter Scheuer (politician)|de|Peter Scheuer (Politiker)|lt=Peter Scheuer}} |24 March 1924 – 28 February 1935 |Centre Party |}
==Plebiscite== {{Main|1935 Saar status referendum}}
In 1933, a considerable number of political opponents of National Socialism moved to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany that remained under foreign occupation following World War I. As a result, anti-Nazi groups agitated for the Saarland to remain under British and French occupation under a League of Nations mandate. However, as most of the region's population was German, the mandate was unpopular. A plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935.
With Adolf Hitler anxious for the propaganda advantages of the return of the Saar to Germany, Joseph Goebbels designed a concerted campaign to sway voters. The support of the local Catholic authorities for a return also helped, as did concerns about Bolshevism, against which Hitler was seen as a bulwark.<ref name=kershaw>Kershaw, Ian, ''Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris'' (1998) pp.546-547</ref> With a voter participation of 98%, the result of the plebiscite was that the overwhelming majority, 90.8%, voted to re-join the German Reich, with only 8.8% wanting to retain the status quo, primarily as they did not wish to be ruled by Nazis. A third option of joining France received 0.4% of the vote.
Following the vote, Hitler announced that Germany "had no further territorial demands to make of France."<ref name=kershaw/>
The Nansen International Office for Refugees was responsible for the successful settlement of the Saar refugees in Paraguay after 1935.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1938/nansen-history.html|title=Nansen International Office for Refugees|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-date=4 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180604003113/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1938/nansen-history.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
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==German rule== [[File:Reichsgaue.png|thumb|350px|Nazi Germany in 1941. The planned ''Reichsgau'' of Westmark, which would include the Saar region, is shown here in yellow.]]
On 17 January 1935, the territory's reunion with Germany was approved by the League Council. On 1 March, Germany re-integrated the region into the German Reich, appointing Josef Bürckel as ''Reichskommissar für die Rückgliederung des Saarlandes'', "Reich Commissioner for the reincorporation of the Saarland."
Many opponents of Nazism who had taken refuge in the territory and former politicians and office holders of the Saar who had collaborated with the occupation were imprisoned.
When re-incorporation was considered complete, the governor's title was changed again to ''Reichskommissar für das Saarland'', "Reich Commissioner for the Saarland," on 17 June 1936. As the new Gau was extended to the Rhine, including the Bavarian district of Palatinate, the region's name was changed again on 8 April 1940 to ''Saarpfalz'', "Saar-Palatinate."
After the Battle of France, the re-annexed territory of the CdZ-Gebiet Lothringen was incorporated in the Reichsgau. The region's name was finalized on 11 March 1941 as ''Westmark'', meaning "Western March" or "Western Boundary," with its governor styled as ''Reichsstatthalter in der Westmark'', "Reich Governor in the Western March." On 28 September 1944, Reich Commissioner Josef Bürckel died, and was succeeded by Willi Stöhr until 21 March 1945, when the region was conquered by troops of the United States Army, which handed over the occupation to French forces in July the same year.<ref>Cf. Rainer Freyer, "Die Entstehung der Parteien im Saarland nach dem 2. Weltkrieg", on: [http://www.saar-nostalgie.de/Parteien1.htm ''Die Parteien im Saarland 1945-59''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806195203/http://www.saar-nostalgie.de/Parteien1.htm |date=6 August 2020 }}, retrieved on 20 February 2014.</ref>
==French protectorate== {{Main|Saar Protectorate}}
After World War II, a French protectorate was established within borders similar to those of the Territory. A referendum was held on 23 October 1955 which ended French rule and influence. On 1 January 1957, the Saarland joined West Germany.
==See also== {{Portal|Germany}} * Saarland * Saar Protectorate, under French control (1947–1956). * Sarre, a department of France (1798–1814). * Saar River * Nazi Germany * German Empire * Free City of Danzig
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Germany.html#Saarland Saarland in the page about Germany on WorldStatesmen.org] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080511164237/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/text/versaillestreaty/ver031.html Part III - Political Clauses for Europe, Treaty of Versailles] {{Authority control}} {{coord|49|23|N|6|50|E|source:kolossus-nowiki|display=title}}
Category:1935 disestablishments in Europe Category:States and territories established in 1920 Category:States and territories disestablished in 1935 Category:Weimar Republic Category:History of Saarland Category:Treaty of Versailles Category:League of Nations mandates Category:1920 establishments in Europe Category:Former countries of the interwar period