France and the Saar,. 1680–1948 9780231882576

Table of contents :
Preface
Table of Contents
I. The Saar and the Saarlanders
II. The Revolution and the First Empire in the Saar
III. The Saar in the Foreign Policy of France 1815–1870
IV. The Saar Settlement at Versailles
V. France and the International Regime
VI. France Returns to the Saar
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

France and the Saar, 1680-1948

BY

LAING GRAY COWAN, Ph.D.

NEW

YORK

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 1950

PRESS

COPYRIGHT, 1 9 5 0 BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINTED I N THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Published in Great Britain, Canada, and India by GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS London, Toronto, and Bombay

STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW Edited by the FACULTY O F POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Number 561 F R A N C E A N D T H E SAAR, 1680-1948 BY

LAING GRAY COWAN

For

G. C. and

R. C.

PREFACE THE conflicting claims of France and Germany to the tiny but nevertheless vitally important area of the Saar Basin have given rise to an enormous amount of literature on both sides, each seeking to provide a sound historical basis for its respective claim. French and German scholars have delved assiduously into the oldest available records, some of which go back as far as the tenth century and each has found these same records to be a substantiation of his own national claim. Over the heads of the people of the Saar the controversy has raged for centuries and, as must all peoples of a long disputed border, they have philosophically accepted the domination of whichever power could make its will prevail. Only rarely have the Saarlanders been asked to whom they would belong, were free choice given and even from the rare opportunity for self expression, little can be learned of the true feeling of the people for only too often the vote has been calculated to please that power which at the time promised the best prospect of peace and security. The present study is not an attempt to substantiate either the French or the German historic claim but rather to sort out from the mass of conflicting propaganda, which has been produced on both sides, the facts of the case. If the historic claim is weighed objectively, the evidence would undoubtedly force the outsider to the conclusion that the German case far outweighs that of France. However, even the most neutral observers must at the same time recognize that, in the light of past events, the French claim to influence in the Saar has some validity. Nor can the fact of a legitimate French interest in the Saar for economic and security reasons be denied. Like most questions of international politics, the Saar problem has no answer in black and white; the solution must inevitably be found somewhere between the two absolutes. Europe hoped that a workable compromise had been found in the arrangement 7

δ

PREFACE

established by the Treaty of Versailles, yet it provided no lasting answer. Perhaps the new plan of economic unification combined with limited political sovereignty which has been devised by France since the end of the second World W a r will be a compromise more capable of withstanding external political pressures than was the international regime of 1920. For the original suggestion for this study I am indebted to my colleague, Dr. Robert W . Binkley, Jr. I am particularly indebted to Professor Michael T. Florinsky, of Columbia University, who made available to me his private collection of documents on the work of the Governing Commission of the Saar and, as any student of the Saar problem must be, to the thorough research of the American member of the Saar Plebiscite Commission, Miss Sarah Wambaugh. For helpful suggestions and criticisms I owe thanks to Professors Franz Neumann and John Wuorinen, of Columbia. M y thanks are also due to Mrs. Margaret Chalmers and Miss Rebecca Held for their help in the preparation of the manuscript. The securing of material for the final chapter was greatly facilitated by the kindness of French officials in the Saar, who confirmed in personal conversations impressions I had already gained through research in published materials. I am particularly grateful to the Director General of the Mining Administration, who placed certain much needed statistical materials at my disposal and who permitted me to visit coal mines and industrial plants in the Saar. Finally, I should like to express my deepest gratitude to Provost Grayson L. Kirk, of Columbia, to whom I owe my first interest in international relations and without whose constant guidance and help over a period of years this study would never have been undertaken. Needless to say, the opinions and interpretations expressed are solely mine. All translations from the French and German, unless otherwise specifically noted, are my own. Since the spelling of names of people and places in the Saar varies with

PREFACE

9

the origin of individual books and documents, I have adopted, for the sake of uniformity, the German spelling throughout, except where reference is to a French-created political organ or unit which does not appear in German form. Where there is a commonly used English equivalent for the German it has been substituted. COLUMBIA U N I V E R S I T Y , N E W Y O R K C I T Y JANUARY, 1950

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

CHAPTER I The Saar and the Saarlanders

13

C H A P T E R II The Revolution and the First Empire in the Saar

25

C H A P T E R III The Saar in the Foreign Policy of France 1815-1870

57

C H A P T E R IV The Saar Settlement at Versailles

98

CHAPTER V France and the International Regime

121

CHAPTER VI France Returns to the Saar

171

CONCLUSION

233

BIBLIOGRAPHY

239

INDEX

245

II

CHAPTER I THE SAAR AND THE SAARLANDERS THE tiny strip of territory forming the basin of the Saar river has been, for centuries, a focal point for the conflict between the two great neighbors on either side. Long before the modern national states of France and Germany came into existence, the Saar was the route of invading armies seeking to conquer the plains of Lorraine or the hills westward toward the Rhine. The heights bordering the eastern bank of the river have echoed to the marching feet of Roman legions, the shouts of invading tribes from Germany and the clang of the medieval armor of the knights of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The importance of the role of the Saar in European history comes not from its size (up until 1945, its total area was about seven hundred square miles) but from its strategic location and the natural mineral wealth to be found within its borders. Long before the coal of the Saar gave the territory new value in the eyes of France and Germany, its strategic position covering the road to the heart of France made it the object of an unceasing struggle between the kings of France and the princes beyond the Rhine. The territory extends along both banks of the Saar river which flows quietly through the south west corner. The river enters the territory at Saargemünd, runs through both the chief cities, Saarbrücken and Saarlouis 1 and finally, below Merzig, takes a magnificent curve to flow northward to the Moselle. The greater part of the territory, as well as the large majority of the population are to be found on the western side of the river. The east bank, which in some places is only two or three miles from the French border, is less closely settled, being re1 The name of the city has undergone several variations depending on the possessor of the land at different times ; the one here used appears generally on modern maps. 13

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stricted by the heavy forests of the Warndt, a small but very rich coal area jutting into Lorraine, which, until very recent times has been kept untouched as a reserve by the Prussian state mining administration. The edge of the Lorraine plateau, marked by low hills entering the Territory west of the W a r n d t and passing a few miles from Saarlouis, continues west to Merzig where it is lost in the deep river gorge. O n the west bank rolling hills rise to the heights of the Hunsriick, famous in many military campaigns in the Saar. The most important industrial sections of the territory are located in the central and southwestern parts; the north and north east, part of which was previously a section of the Bavarian Pfalz, is largely agricultural. T h e coal seams begin not far from Homburg and extend across the valley into the Warndt and Lorraine. The chief deposits practicable for exploitation lie along the river valley at a moderate depth of 300 to 600 metres but unfortunately the seams are in no place very thick so that a relatively large amount of labor is required in production. Moreover the coal is of an inferior grade and cannot compare in quality with that of the nearby Ruhr. T h e total resources of Saar coal have been estimated at over thirty billion tons, 2 so that, even if present annual extraction rates are maintained, the supply is assured for several centuries. It is to be expected that the cost of exploitation will, of course, rise as operations are carried on in seams at greater and greater depth. The mining of coal in the Saar has been from earliest times a state enterprise, as it remains today. The Saar's second industry, iron and steel production, w a s based originally on the combination of local iron ore deposits and native coal and grew up in close proximity to the coal districts. Today, however, the steel plants of the Saar are more than eighty per cent dependent on the minette ore of Lorraine, so that, whatever may be the political status of the Saar, the 2 Estimate of the Geological Congress meeting at Toronto, Canada in

1913·

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future of the steel industry rests on the existence of an arrangement which will keep this source of raw materials available. The industry is concentrated in four main centres, Dillingen, Völklingen, Burbach and Brebach, in the southwest along the river, with important works also at St. Ingbert, and Neunkirchen. Several smaller industries have grown up making use of the natural resources to be found in the territory, particularly ceramics and glassware. Both are ancient Saar industries, having been in existence before the advent of the French Revolution but neither has grown as quickly in importance as have coal and steel, due partly to lack of sufficient quantities of raw materials and partly to restricted markets. The industrial development of the Saar in the past century and a half has not been of unmixed benefit to the Saarlanders. T h e discovery of the industrial uses of coal undoubtedly meant new prosperity with the rise in wage levels and the employment of greater numbers of men in the mines and factories. But on the other hand, like the treasure of the Nibelungen,

industrialization

brought with it misfortune, for the growing realization of the value of the Saar as a potential raw material source as well as a strategic outpost made the contest for its possession by the neighbors of both sides even keener. In the case of the Saarlanders, the tragedy of the borderland people between two rival nations was made all the more pointed through the discovery of the natural wealth of the soil beneath their feet. The Saar basin enjoys the somewhat unenviable distinction of being the most thickly populated area in Europe, with a density of 433 persons per square kilometre in 1933. The population of the territory has grown enormously since the beginning of the industrial era from a figure of 159,000 or 35 per square kilometre in 1816 to 512,000 or over 100 per square kilometre at the turn of the century. In 1939 the total population reached 842,000, a peak from which it has been declining since the end

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3

of the second world war. Despite the high population concentration, there is only one large city, the capital, Saarbrücken with a population in 1934 of 132,000. Neunkirchen with 42,000 is next in size while there are only four other centers of over 10,000, St. Ingbert, Saarlouis, Homburg and Merzig.4 The reason for the low urban figures is that the Saar miner prefers to live in a smaller community where he can own his own house and small plot of land. The main highway and railroad lines between the industrial towns are almost one continuous village, so that, if all these suburbs were taken into account the figure for the cities of the southwest would rise considerably. To the north and east, the population becomes more sparse as the towns begin to change to the farm and market villages of the agricultural area. One of the remarkable features of the Saar people is their close attachment to their native soil. With the exception of some infiltration of Swiss and Italians after the Thirty Years War, the only source of immigration to the Saar has been the Prussian labor which came to satisfy the industrial demands of the nineteenth century. There has been scarcely any heavy emigration. A survey conducted by the French military authorities in 1946 revealed that over 8 3 % of the inhabitants were born in the Saar and that, of the 8 3 % , over 50% were descendants of grandparents who had themselves been native Saarlanders. Of the 16% of the population not born in the Saar a large majority was concentrated in commerce and the professions in the cities, only a very small number having entered the mines. The Saar is predominantly Roman Catholic in religion, almost three-quarters of the people belonging to that church; the area is under the supervision of the bishoprics of Trier and 3 Figures from L'Économie de la Sarre, Ministère de l'Economie Nationale, Paris, 1947, p. 21, and Kloevekorn, Das Saargebiet, Seine Struktur, seine Probleme, Saarbrücken, 1929, p. 40. 4 Figures from W . Cartellieri, in Grabowsky, Die Grundlagen des Saarkampfes, Berlin, 1934, p. 85. N o post war figures are available but French sources have indicated little change in urban population.

THE

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Speyer. The close ties of religion and means of livelihood (over one-third of the working population was employed in the mines in 1939) has made of the Saarlanders an extremely homogeneous group. It is generally agreed that the early Saar stock was of eastern Lorraine origin, although of German culture and language, and their descendants look upon themselves definitely as border people. However, the influx of labor from Germany in the early nineteenth century brought with it a certain amount of Prussian sentiment which is still felt today. The earliest inhabitants of the Saar basin were the Mediomatrici, a Gallic tribe, whose settlement centered around Metz. However, no concrete evidence of their existence remains today except in the names of brooks, mountains and rivers which are of Celtic origin. The name of the river itself, for example, comes from the Celtic Isar, meaning flowing water.® The era of Roman control in the Saar has left scarcely more trace than did that of the Gauls. The territory remained sparsely settled and there can be no question of an intensive Roman culture such as existed in the nearby Moselle region. The Saar was, in Roman times, as it is today, a centre of communications and the Roman outposts consisted mainly of detachments guarding the military routes. The present city of Saarbrücken itself is the outgrowth of a settlement around the bridge constructed here by the Romans. German settlement began in the fifth century. After the conquering of the Imperial City of Trier in 411, Germanic tribes, first the Alemanni and later the Franks, poured into the Saar valley to take the place of the native Gauls. The victory of Chlodowig over the Alemanni in 496 decisively gave control over the Saar to the Franks and traces of the long period of their rule can be found in the dialect of the Saarlanders even today. Thoughout the Carolingian period the Saar remained a 5 Cf. Babelon, Au Pays de la Sarre, Paris, 1918, p. 12 ff. and Kloevekorn, op. cit., pp. 69 ff.

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part of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia. W i t h the division of the kingdom by the Treaty of Metz in 843 the Saar went to the middle kingdom of Lothaire and the Treaty of Mersen in 870 made it part of the East Frankish kingdom. In the following two centuries the land was gradually parcelled out in fief by the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. T h e Grafschaft of Saarbrück, taking in a large part of the present Saar territory, the centre of which was the city of Saarbrücken, was given in fief to the bishop of Metz in the tenth century and later by the bishop to the Counts of Saarbrücken, who were to become one of the largest landholders of Lorraine. Although the lands of the House of Saarbrücken passed by marriage into the hands of a French family of Lorraine for more than a century from 1235 to 1381 the essentially German culture of the people seems to have been little affected by French influences. The German House of Nassau succeeded in 1381 to the possessions of the House of Saarbrücken but the Counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken saw service almost as frequently in the armies of France as under the banner of the Empire. N o real estimate can be made of the extent of the fidelity of the rulers of many of the smaller principalities in this period since it was the custom to play off one side against the other in order to be on the side which would grant them the greatest degree of independence in the autocratic control of their lands. However, the gradual emergence of France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a consolidated power unit and the rapidly rising star of Louis X I V forced the Counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken to look more and more toward Vienna for protection of their interests. T h e basis of the French legal claim to the lands of NassauSaarbrücken was a decree of the Emperor Otto III in 999 A . D . giving the territory in fief to the Bishop of Metz.® T h e claim β German historians have maintained that the original decree did not include the Nassau-Saarbrücken lands and that research has shown this to be a later interpolation. In any case, it is insisted that an antiquated claim such as this could have no legal validity. Cf. K l o e v e k o r n , op. cit., pp. 72-3.

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1Ç

w a s revived and reinforced by the recapture in 1552 of the Bishoprics of Metz, T o u l and V e r d u n by Henri III. T h e House of Nassau-Saarbrücken had become Protestant in 1575 and was, in consequence, involved in the religious quarrel of the T h i r t y Y e a r s W a r . A R o y a l Edict of 1662 tried to force the Counts of

Nassau-Saarbrücken

to swear allegiance to

the

French throne on pain of h a v i n g their fief withdrawn and in the face of this new French expansionist pressure the Count looked to the Diet of the Empire at Ravenna for protection. T h e feeble efforts of the Diet at arbitration of the claim failed and, with the outbreak of the w a r with Holland in French troops occupied the t o w n of Saarbrücken.

1672,

Imperial

troops were able to wrest control of the city f r o m the French for a brief period from 1 6 7 6 to 1678 but it was again retaken in the following year and occupied until after the signing of the T r e a t y of N i j m e g e n in 1679. B y this treaty the lands of Nassau-Saarbrücken were restored to the sovereignty of the ruling house but, since the Peace of Münster ( 1 6 4 8 ) w a s adopted as the basis of the new settlement, this in no w a y interfered with the French legal claim to the Count's allegiance. 7 T h e Peace of N i j m e g e n left Louis X I V in a dominating position over all the principalities surrounding the Saar Basin including the territory of the Duke of Lorraine, so that their independence w a s entirely dependent on the sufferance of France. H o w e v e r , instead of forcing submission through immediate military operations, L o u i s took the advice of his ministers, C r o i s s y and L o u v o i s and succeeded by means of exploiting the legal loopholes of the Peace of Münster in securing the coveted territory by peaceful but no less powerful means. T h e entire policy of the Chambres

de Réunion,

the body set

up by L o u i s X I V to validate the French legal claim after the peace of N i j m e g e n , w a s based on the obscurity of the terms 7 For the text of the Treaty, see Koch, Abrégé des Traités, vol. I, 2nd edition, Brussels, 1857, pp. 152 ff.

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used in Articles 69 and 70 of the Peace of Münster. By these articles the Emperor ceded to France sovereignty over the Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun with their surrounding districts ; 8 but at no point does the treaty explain exactly what was meant by the word. There is reason to believe that it was purposely left vague because no final decision could be reached and it has been said that, " There is no disposal of territory in the treaties of Westphalia less clear than that establishing this particular cession." 8 Croissy immediately saw here a method of recovering for the French Crown many principalities which had in the remote past depended on these three bishoprics and urged, as early as 1663 that steps be taken to press the French legal claim. Scarcely was the ink dry on the Peace of Nijmegen when an edict was published setting up the Chambres de Réunion of Alsace, Breisach and Metz, ostensibly in the interests of the Church since the Bishops had requested the King to redefine their feudal rights. The task of the Chambers was to judge as a court of final appeal all cases arising out of complaint by the Bishops of usurpation of their lands. The Chamber of Metz set to work at once and after a cursory examination of the complaints had by the spring of 1680 formally reunited to the French Crown the principalities of Bitsche, Homburg and Veldentz which surrounded the lands of the Count of NassauSaarbrücken. Finally after a vain appeal to the Emperor, Countess Eleanora Klara of Nassau-Saarbrücken was forced to appear before the Chamber and make public recognition of the sovereignty of France over her territory. It shortly became evident to all of Europe basis of truth the legal claims might have, it overshadowed by the purely political question ritorial expansion since there was no apparent cession of claims. The efforts of the Diet of

that, whatever was completely of French terend to the sucthe Empire to

8 In French, the word is variously district or finage. 9 Koch, op. cit., p. 102. For the text of the articles, cf. ibid., pp. 102 ff.

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obtain redress availed nothing and finally the Truce of Ravenna, signed in 1684, permitted France to retain the disputed territories for twenty years. But the storm provoked by the policy of the Chambers of Reunion was shortly to gain such intensity that France was forced to relinquish her gains a scant fifteen years later. French historians have defended the policy of Reunion on the ground that it was not an innovation since countless examples can be found of feudal princes demanding before tribunals the execution of misunderstood feudal rights. 10 However, the weight of evidence would seem to prove beyond a doubt that the legal base for the claims was merely an attempt thinly to disguise a pure policy of power. Louvois provoked the rights of the Bishops largely as a cloak for French military ambition. German historians on the other hand dispute both the legal and political basis of the claims advanced by Louis X I V , refusing to allow any justification for a title based on long forgotten feudal rights. French policy in their eyes was merely the first step in the oft-repeated manoeuvre of seizing the Saar territory by force or stealth. 11 German commentators on the Reunion period make special point of refuting the French ethnic claim to the Saar. The fact that the area west of the Rhine was once settled by Celts and Romans makes, in their eyes, no case for a later French claim, since, were this justified, the French might equally well have claimed large parts of Germany and England too. 12 It must be admitted that in the tangle of feudal dependencies it was well nigh impossible to distinguish an accurate French border for the region and so far as the people were concerned it made little difference to their own existence whether the prince on whose lands they had settled owed homage to the Emperor or 10 Cf. Babelon, op. cit., pp. 88-9. 11 Cf. Kloevekorn, op. cit., p. 26. 12 Cf. Α . Meister, Frankreich schichte, Munich, 1922, p. 7 ff.

und das Saargebiet

im Spiegel

der

Ge-

22

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to the K i n g of France. But at the same time it must be noted that, had not the Empire been powerless to resist the might of French armies, the forcible reunion of these

principalities

would have been impossible for, when matched by the concentrated power of Europe a few years later, France was forced to surrender them. From 1680 on resistance gradually arose to the limitless claims of the Chambers. T h e unfortunate attempt to annex the Duchy of Zweibrücken, legally the property of Charles X I of Sweden, sparked the formation of the League of Augsburg and led to the outbreak of war in 1688. Hostilities were opened in September of that year with the invasion of the lands of the Empire by French forces, on the pretext that the Emperor was planning to invade France. Sporadic fighting continued until 1697, when Louis, wearied of the campaign, finally pressed for peace negotiations which resulted in the Treaty of Ryswick, signed October 30, 1697. This document reaffirmed the validity of the Treaty of Westphalia and the Treaty of Nijmegen and provided for the restitution of all lands secured by the reunion policy with the proviso that the Catholic

religion

should remain undisturbed in these areas. One foothold on the Saar was retained by France, the fortress of Saarlouis with one-half mile of surrounding territory. This single possession, isolated though it was from the mother country for more than fifty years afterward, was destined to provide a French claim to the Saar territory which has been reiterated down to the present day. T h e Treaty of Ryswick marked an important point in the history of the Saar. It meant the release of the territory from French occupation although not from French influence. A t the same time it meant a reduction of French military pressure on the Saar, for, " it marked a turning point in the frontier policy of the Old Regime. N o w efforts were directed toward consolidating and regularizing the frontier rather than toward ex-

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tending it." The treaty was Europe's first decision over the Saar and for a century following the Saar question retired completely into the shadows. 13

Louis X I V had meanwhile lost no time in integrating the lands secured for France by the Chambers of Reunion into the overall border defense plans set up by his military engineer, Vauban. One of the line of fortresses which included Phalsburg, Mont-Royal and Landau was to be established in the Saar. T h e site chosen was that of the present city of Saarlouis, near the ancient village of Wallerfangen (Vaudrevanges) which had been almost totally destroyed by the Thirty Years W a r . T h e city was rapidly built in the three years after 1680 and its inhabitants were drawn from the surrounding countryside. French municipal government organs were set up in 1683 and the city prospered as a centre of local economic activities. Even after its isolation from France by the Treaty of Ryswick, large sums were spent on its fortifications and it was used as a base for French troops during the Seven Years W a r . It was finally reunited to France on the death of the Duke of Lorraine in 1766. French influence was also felt in the administrative and economic fields. Efforts were made to encourage various local industries and to bring in technically trained settlers. However, the inducements offered these settlers caused an unjust burden of taxation to fall on those already established so that the native Saarlanders remained generally hostile to French rule. The attempt on the part of French authorities to introduce Catholicism into generally Protestant areas aroused a deep resentment and the religious persecution in the years after 1680 created a bitterness toward the French administration which was still evident a century later. 13 P . V . de la Blache, " La Frontière de la Saare " in Comité 45 2 *n the cities) for the normal consumer to 3,925 for the underground miner, as compared to a prewar average of over 3,000.®® More than half the fat rations were imports from France. Even in the crop year 1948-1949, it is estimated that almost two-thirds of the caloric intake of the population will have to be imported. Undoubtedly economic union with France will improve the food situation to a certain extent but complete return to prewar food levels in the Saar is entirely dependent on the building up of food stocks within continental Europe itself. Ill Since the end of the war the French government has made no secret of its plans and aims for the Saar. While it was frankly admitted that agreement to complete political annexation would not be sought from the other Allied powers, it was fully expected that no opposition would be put in the way of gradual economic integration of the Saar into the French economy. The activities of the Military Government were in large part aimed at this objective both in the reconstruction of Saar industry and the direction of public opinion toward its favorable reception. The two most definite steps in this direction, 58 Ibid.. p. 439.

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taken late in 1946 and early 1947, were the inclusion of the S a a r in the French customs union and the introduction of the franc as the legal tender. T h e y were foreshadowed by many official pronouncements. In January, 1946, F o r e i g n Minister Bidault speaking before the Constituent Assembly declared, The Saar mines, the ownership of which was given to France by the Treaty of Versailles, must again become French property with, as corollary, the inclusion of the Territory into the French monetary and customs union, since the two economies are complementary. French forces should be stationed there permanently,... as for a definitive regime for the Saar, that will be the subject of a later decision in agreement with our allies. 59 In a speech at Lille on April 7, 1946, Bidault again repeated these conditions and went even further to say that, The Saar must be released from the control of the Allied Control Council in B e r l i n . . . France must be assured of permanent control over the administration of the Territory and she will take all measures necessary to detach the public services fully from those of the Reich. 60 T h e general aims for the Saar expressed by Bidault gained the assent of all the m a j o r political parties in France. A manifesto of the Socialist P a r t y Congress agreed to on M a r c h 31, 1946, in Paris stated, " A l t h o u g h opposed to dismemberment of Germany and to all forms of annexation . . . the party demands . . . the exploitation of the Saar mines by France as a just form of reparation."

61

O n taking power with an all-Socialist

government on December 17, 1946, L é o n Blum reiterated, " W e shall continue the negotiations already begun for the economic 59 Journal Officiel, 1946, Débats de L'Assemblée Nationale, January 17, 1946, p. 80. 60 Le Statut de la Sarre, p. 12. 61 Ibid., p. 12.

FRANCE

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TO T H E

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20I

attachment of the Saar territory." 6 2 Even the Communist party leadership approved of French Saar policy. The 26th Congress of the Confédération Général de Travail ( C G T ) on April 19, 1946, roundly applauded a speaker who demanded economic integration of the Saar. 63 Maurice Thorez voiced his agreement with this policy in several addresses during the course of the year and in February, 1947, in a speech at Toulon, it was reported that he, "reiterated the French demand for economic union with the Saar but denied that there was any wish to annex Saar territory since the people of the Saar must not be made to become French against their will." M A few days later, Bidault speaking before the Assembly made a similar denial of any annexationist aims but pointed out that, It is important from the point of view of disarmament that the Saar be taken from German domination. It is important, too, that France be able to integrate the Saar in its economic and monetary union. That implies that Saar territory be separated from German sovereignty. It implies also economic ties between France and the Saar concerning wages and price levels, as well as a mines administration through which France will be in a position to make her own interests prevail with both equity and firmness.65 In view of the widespread public support for economic integration, it is not surprising, then, that the French authorities boldly undertook to bring it about in the shortest possible time. In a surprise move on December 22, 1946, a small army of twelve hundred French customs inspectors entered the Saar to set up a customs barrier between the Territory and the RhenoPalatinate state, effectually cutting off the Saar from the rest 62 Journal Officiel, 1946, Débats de l'Assemblée, December 17, 1946, p. 104. 63 Le Statut de La Sarre, p. 12. Cf. also General de Gaulle's speech at Bar-le-Duc, July, 1946, ibid., p. 12. 64 London Times, February 24, 1947. Journal Officiel, Débats de L'Assemblée Nationale, February 27, 1947, Ρ· 538.

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of the French occupation zone. The action was taken in consequence of two edicts issued by General Koenig on December 18. The first of these required the securing of a permit from French border authorities for all persons travelling between the Saar and the Rheno-Palatinate state, Württemberg and Baden. 66 A further decree forbade any movement of merchandise from the Saar to any of these areas, without permission of French authorities and further prohibited the transfer of capital in any form between the Saar and other parts of the French zone. These new regulations were to be enforced by French customs agents stationed at designated points through which all traffic was forced to pass. 67 Official French explanations for the new policy were that it was intended to prevent an inrush of marks from the Reich in view of the expected monetary changes, since a large volume of weak currency in the Saar would make any such change more difficult. It was also designed to prevent black market operations in food between the Saar and Germany from the special food supplies imported into the Saar from France itself. These explanations were accepted with a good deal of skepticism by the outside world. Legally, of course, the customs barriers made no change whatever in the international status of the Saar since it was still considered as part of the French occupation zone. From this point of view, the measures were merely administrative changes within the zone. Moreover, the French foreign office emphasized that there was still a strong border guard kept between France and the Saar. This was, in fact, the case at the time and continued to be so until the Saar was fully reincorporated in the French customs union on April 1, 1948. Formal protests were raised against the French action by all German political parties and it was reported from Germany that, " I n so far as the German public is still capable of being shocked, . . . 66 Ordinance No. 75, of December 18, 1946, JOCCFA, 20, 1946, p. 510. 67 Ordinance

No. 19, December

No. 76, of December 18, 1946, ibid., pp. 510-11.

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the news of the French move has been read with much misgiving as foreshadowing a new truncation of the Reich." 68 No official British reaction was immediately forthcoming but the London Times commented editorially, The reasons for setting up this new customs barrier were local, immediate, and no doubt acceptable to the other Allies . . . but there is clearly a sense in which the French action advises the world, that, while still faithful to the policy of the Four Power Agreement on major issues, France is not unready to assert her own essential interests in the settlement of Europe.69 The next few months were to prove that the sealing off of the Saar from the rest of Germany was only the first stage of a long program which would bind the Territory to France with what, it was hoped, would this time be unbreakable bonds. The second step was the change of currency. This was done in two stages, first by the introduction of the Saar mark to replace the Reichsmark and followed a few months later by the French franc which became the sole legal currency. By ordinance of June 7, 1947, all German marks or currency issued by Allied authorities was to cease to have legal circulation on a date later to be fixed. All notes held by residents of the Saar were to be exchanged, mark for mark, for the new currency, which would be issued by the occupying authorities. Exchange offices were set up to which all currency was to be taken. However, only a certain amount of the currency turned in was to be returned in cash, the remainder being given in the form of a credit note which had to be deposited at a bank, to the account of the depositor. If the depositor had an account there already, the amount in the account (including the credit note) exceeding the amount in the account on December 31, 1945, was temporarily blocked. If the account were newly opened by the 68 London

Times,

December 27, 1946.

69 Ibid., December 28, 1946.

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credit note, the whole account was similarly blocked.70 B y this means the possibility of profiting from currency illegally introduced into the Saar for speculative purposes was avoided. A later decree set the date of exchange as the period of one week from June 1 6 to June 23. The amount of cash given to each head of a family was 300 marks, with an additional 100 for his wife and each child. Special exceptions were made in the blocking arrangement for commercial firms.71 When the period of exchange was over, it was possible to control and examine closely personal credit throughout the whole area and in cases of extraordinary increase of capital, to demand explanations of its source. Were these explanations not satisfactory, the funds were considered to be of non-Saar origin and were kept blocked or returned to Germany. The isolating of Saar currency from that of Germany made possible the second stage of the planned monetary reform, the introduction of the franc. The chief difficulty here lay in the choice of rate of conversion between the Saar mark and the franc. It was necessary to take into account the economic considerations of bringing the amount of liquid reserves in the Saar to approximately the same level as those in France; to avoid placing too heavy a burden on the French treasury and to avoid inflationary pressure on Saar prices by setting too high an exchange rate. Moreover, the psychological factor of not giving offense to the French citizens of the neighboring Departments by appearing to favor the Saar in the exchange rate also played a part. Finally, after months of deliberation, a rate of twenty francs to the mark was set. On November 14, 1947, the National Assembly passed by a vote of 4 1 6 to 184 (over the violent opposition of the Communist party) a bill legalizing the use of the franc in the Saar. The date for conversion was later set for November 20. The 70 Ordinance, No. 94 of June 7, 1947, JOCCFA, PP. 781-3·

71 Arrêté No. 217 of June 7, 1947. ibid., pp. 787-9.

No. 78, June 13, 1947,

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bill provided also for the setting up of a new publicly owned bank, the Saar Rediscount Bank, which would act as a correspondent of the Banque

de France.

Special subsidies w e r e

granted by the state to banks, insurance companies and other industries w h o would lose money by the transaction. Bank deposits converted into francs were to be blocked to 40 per cent of the amount exceeding 8000 francs, except in the case of commercial enterprises and industries. 72 T h e reason for the blockage of bank accounts was, in this case, entirely different f r o m that in June. It w a s considered essential until the Saar economy recovered its normal activity, in order to neutralize to a certain extent the immediate inflationary pressure on prices which would surely result from long unused savings being too rapidly put into circulation. H o w e v e r , even with this blockage, the sudden influx of scarce items from France caused a sharp rise in Saar prices. It w a s estimated that the monetary changeover would cost the French treasury over nine billion francs but it w a s generally felt in French economic circles that the advantages gained by having the Saar within the French monetary union would far outweigh this original loss. 78 T h e introduction of the franc was followed by a series of financial and economic reforms which applied French w a g e and price ceilings and the regulations governing French social security measures to the Saar. 7 1 W i t h these final steps, economic integration of the S a a r w a s practically complete and there remained only the question of guiding future development of Saar industry into paths which would most closely harmonize with the needs and interests of the French state. T h e process of economic integration has also affected the structure of Saar trade since the end of the war. Because of the 72 Loi No. 47-2i58, of November 15, 1947, Journal Officiel, 1947, p. 11294; Décret No. 47-2170, ibid., p. 11333, and Arrêté No. 19, ibid., p. 11441. 73 C). Report by Lansing Warren, New York Times, November 15, 1947. 74 Arrêtés

Nos. 121, 123, 125, 128 of November

No. 120, November 17, 1947, pp. 1224-27.

16, 1947,

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absence of trade statistics it has been very difficult to gain any general idea of the volume or direction of post war Saar trade. From the beginning of 1946 to the middle of 1947, Saar imports have been estimated at roughly 130 million francs and exports at 140 million, thus making the Territory one of the few European areas with a favorable balance. For 1946, about three-quarters of this trade was with the rest of Germany, particularly the French zone and the other quarter went almost exclusively to France. This balance has gradually shifted since, however, and exports to Germany have been decreasing to the advantage of France and other countries.75 With the economic integration of the Saar into France, it is expected that this trend will continue. On the other hand, this also means that fewer of the imports essential to the Saar economy will come from Germany. This is particularly true of the much-needed mining machinery which was obtained before the war from the Ruhr but which now will have to come from the United States, an area to which the Saar exports nothing. U p to April ι, 1948, all coal mined in the Saar was considered part of the German coal pool and was distributed by the European Coal Organization. But in consequence of an agreement signed between Britain, France and the United States on February 20, 1948, Saar coal was to be gradually withdrawn from the German coal pool until all shipments were to cease at the end of the first quarter of 1949. From then on France will determine the amount of coal available for export from the combined Saar and French production. From April 1, 1948, on, Saar trade with the French zone of Germany is to be considered as foreign trade and commercial accounts are to be settled in dollars as is that with the bizonal area, except for the agreed coal shipments. It is expected, however, that at least 500,000 tons of steel will be shipped from the Saar to the United StatesUnited Kingdom zones of Germany in return for the Ruhr coal necessary to Saar steel production. Although the prospects for 75 Documents

and State Papers, loc. cit., p. 440.

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Saar trade at the moment look bright since most of the Saar exports are those needed in reconstruction, its long range development is overshadowed by the absence of international agreement on the Territory's future political status and by the lack of the private capital needed to expand and modernize the iron and steel industry. International reaction to the policy of France in the Saar has, on the whole, been one of acquiescence, if not entire approval. Beginning immediately after the end of hostilities, France carried her demand for economic integration of the Saar to almost all of the important international conferences. Time and again the subject was brought up for discussion in the meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers. A t the meeting in May, 1946, Bidault insisted on at least agreement in principle to French control of the Saar. The British countered this request by refusing to make any direct commitment until the whole problem of Germany could be studied. Secretary Byrnes, of the United States, infuriated the French by his statement that agreement to the demands for the Saar should be dependent on French acceptance of centralized control agencies for Germany as a whole.78 However, both Britain and the United States within the next few months agreed in principle to French administration of the area. A t the meeting in July in Paris, Secretary Byrnes declared, " The Government of the United States is ready to admit that the Saar should be removed from the authority of the central administration to be created and that it be administered by the French government until the western frontiers of Germany are decided." 77 In his speech at Stuttgart on September 7, Byrnes reiterated, "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 whose economy has long been closely linked with France. Of course, if the Saar territory is integrated with France she 76 New York Times, May 17, 1946. 77 Le Statut de La Sarre, p. 16.

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should readjust her reparations claims." 78 T h e British view was expressed by Foreign Minister Bevin, speaking before the House of Commons on October 22, 194Ó: His Majesty's Government are prepared to accept the French proposals about the Saar, subject to the necessary readjustment of the French reparations balance and the delimitations of the exact area. W e feel that this has been too long delayed and that in the interests of both the miners and the other workers in the Sadr and of the French government it is right the matter should be settled quickly. 79 The Russians, on the other hand, took the view that the question of the Saar could not be discussed separately from the overall settlement for Germany and consistently refused to take any stand whatever on the matter. French action to erect a customs barrier between the Saar and Germany evoked no great objection from either of the Western Allies. In Berlin, General Clay claimed that the French move was, " entirely unilateral and was not presented to the Allied Control Council." 80 He was, however, forced to accept the jait accompli when, at a press conference on December 27, in Washington, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson indicated that no issue would be made over the matter. 81 T h e British government made no comment and the Times remarked that the French could hardly be considered to have " grabbed " the Saar, since the French representative, M. Couve de Murville, had informally discussed the question with the British and Americans at the Foreign Minister's Conference in N e w Y o r k earlier in the month. 82 Moscow raised strong objections on 78 Pollock and Meisel, Germany under Occupation, p. 256.

Ann Arbor, 1947,

79House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 1945-46, vol. 427, October 22, 1946, column 1517. 80 Quoted in the London Times, December 24, 1946. 81 Ibid., December 27, 1946. 82 Ibid., December 24, 1946.

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the ground that the action was unilateral and therefore illegal, while the Russian controlled Nacht Express in Berlin demanded a popular vote to determine whether the Saarlanders were in favor of the new regulations.8® The Saar again became a subject of discussion at the April, 1947, meeting of the Ministers in Moscow. Before the meeting began, an appeal was sent to the Ministers by all political parties in the Saar (the Communist excepted) urging integration of the Saar into the French economy as quickly as possible.84 A memorandum was presented to the Council by Bidault outlining the French proposals for the new status of the Saar. These proposals included : Removal of the Saar from the authority of the Allied Control Council and the setting up of the Territory as a semi-autonomous state, not under German sovereignty. The Saarlanders would have their own citizenship and government but foreign relations would be in the hands of France. The powers of government would be limited by the veto of the French High Commissioner who would issue the regulations required to give effect to complete monetary and customs union of the Territory with France. With these exceptions the elected government would have full administrative authority. 85 The French representative also sought to secure Foreign Minister Molotov's consent to the setting up of a special committee to study the incorporation of the Saar into France but Molotov refused to agree unless the others would agree to discuss fourpower control of the Ruhr. However, the French and British representatives again reassured Bidault that they were prepared to accept French customs and financial control of the Saar. 86 Piqued at the continued refusal of the Russians even to discuss 83 New York Herald Tribune, December 25, 1946. 84 Trois Ans de Présence Française en Sarre, p. 7. 85 New York Herald Tribune, April 11, 1947. A s will be seen below, the project outlined here is exactly that carried out unilaterally by the French in the Saar between June, 1947, and January, 1948. 86 London Times, April 11 and 12, 1947.

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the matter, Bidault forecast future French action by declaring in M a y that France would shortly take independent steps with or without the approval of Moscow. 8 7 O n M a y 15, the question of the Saar came up in the British H o u s e of C o m m o n s when A n t h o n y Eden questioned the advisability of acceding to French proposals to extend the boundaries of the Saar permanently as had been already done under the provisional arrangement of July, 1946. 88 In his reply Bevin stated, His Majesty's government have always given their support, I may say firm support, to the French claim to the area known as the " Old Saar "—that is to say, the Saar within the 1919 boundaries but I share his [Eden's] doubts about the wisdom of an extension of the French claim to cover an agricultural area with a fairly dense German population... I sincerely hope the French government will not insist on claiming a permanent enlargement of the Saar to the extent foreshadowed by the provisional arrangements they have lately put into force. If they do, I am perfectly certain that it will delay a quick settlement of the problem. 89 A month later, B e v i n w a s able to report to the House that, The French government proposed to the Council of Foreign Ministers (at the April meeting) that the Saar should be economically integrated with France. They have not proposed political incorporation and they have made it clear that the Saar would have separate institutions from France. The French government have recently put forward new proposals for the boundaries of the Saar. These proposals involve considerable withdrawal from the present administrative frontier in the area between the old Saar and Luxembourg 9 0 . . . In 87 New York Times, May 17, 1947. 88 Cf. supra, p. 181.

89House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 1946-7, vol. 437, May 15,

col. 1746 and May 16, col. 1956. 90 The readjustment of June 1, 1947, cf. supra, p. 182.

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these circumstances I have informed the French government t h a t . . . His Majesty's government would have no objection to the boundaries of the Saar as now proposed nor to the French intention to proceed with their new plan to issue a new currency within the boundaries of the Saar as now defined in place of German marks.91 It was later reported that the United States had also given official reassurances that no opposition would be offered to French monetary plans.92 Once again France sought Four-Power agreement to her scheme for a semi-autonomous Saar state at the London meeting of the Foreign Ministers in November, 1947. For the United States, Secretary Marshall issued an official statement, declaring, With regard to the Saar, the United States supports the claim of France to the economic integration of the Saar Territory. The political status of the Saar should be based, we think, on the principle of political autonomy and local self-government. I urge that at this session we approve the French proposal of economic integration of the Saar territory into that of France. After this, the details, including territorial limits, can be worked out.9* The Russian attitude, however, remained adamant. Marshall Sokolovsky had vigorously protested French action a few days before in the Allied Control Council, condemning her for separating the Saar from Germany, and, " thus presenting the Control Council with the accomplished fact." 94 A t the Foreign Ministers' meeting, Molotov gave no indication of any change of attitude and blandly ignored Marshall's proposals, so that the question was left, so far as Russia was concerned, in exactly 91 House of Commons Debates ( H a n s a r d ) , 1946-47, vol. 438, J u n e 1947, col. 1046. 92 New

York

Times,

93 Quoted in New

October 4, 1947.

York

Times,

November 28, 1947.

94 London Times, November 24, 1947.

11,

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the same position as it had been a year before. The Soviet position was, of course, purely a bargaining one on the Saar question, since it was hoped that France would the more readily accede to Russian claims on the Eastern frontier of Germany were she assured of Soviet support for the French Saar claim. Were France to take independent action on the Saar the bargaining point would be completely lost. Formal agreement between the Western Allies on the Saar question was reached in the Tripartite Agreement signed February 20, 1948. This agreement dealt primarily with the economic union, purposely leaving the way clear for final settlement of the political status if and when a German peace treaty should be signed. In addition to specifying removal of Saar coal from the German coal pool and gradual reduction of shipments of Saar coal to Germany, the agreement stated that existing trade agreements between the Saar and the bizonal area were to be revised to bring the Saar more in line with its new position in the French economy. In return, France was to reduce her claims to heavy German capital equipment as reparations and to accept payment in marks for the progressively smaller amounts of Saar coal now going to Germany. 95 T h e economy of the Saar has now been recognized by the West as an integral part of the French economy ; politically the Territory operates under the partial autonomy granted by the Constitution of November, 1947 but its final status awaits, as do so many other questions, the bridging of the ever widening gulf between East and West. IV Because of the particular status expected of the Saar in its close economic relationship to France much more elaborate preparations were taken for the drawing up of the constitution than was the case in the other Länder of the French zone. The project was launched by a letter from the Minister of 95 New York Times, Feb. 21, 1948.

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Foreign Affairs to the Governor on February 13, 1947, instructing him to set up a preparatory Commission to study the question. This Commission was to reflect the standing of the political parties as shown in the municipal election of September, 1946. After lengthy negotiations between the Governor, the Administrative Commission ( C A T S ) and the party leaders concerned, an ordinance was finally published in May outlining the duties and appointing the personnel of the Commission. It was to consist of twenty members, ten of the Christian Peoples' Party, five Social Democrats, two Communists and two Democrats. In addition, there was to be one non-political member of recognized competence in the legal field. The request of the Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre to be represented on the Commission was denied, on the ground that it did not fall within the definition of an authorized political party. The presidency and vice presidency of the Commission were assigned to Hoffmann and Kirn, leaders respectively of the Christian Party and the Social Democrats. The appointed representatives began their labors on May 27, and worked until September 16, when the text of a draft constitution was delivered to the President of the Administrative Commission to be released in time for public discussion before the October elections. Meanwhile, an ordinance of August 25 had ordered the holding of general elections on October 5. The purpose of these elections was to choose a Saar Legislative Assembly to which the Constitution would be submitted before becoming law. The Assembly was to be composed of fifty members, elected by direct, universal suffrage, by the scrutin de liste system, with proportional representation. Within a week after the election, the Assembly would meet to approve the Constitution and would thereafter continue its functions as prescribed by that document.9® The voters were those who had already been in96 Ordinance No. 107 of August 25, 1947, JOCCFA, 25, 1947. p. 1012.

No. 101, August

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scribed on the lists set up the month before. In making up these lists, eligible voters were to be all those over 21, regardless of sex, who had lived in the same commune for at least six months before January 1, 1947. T h e y must be either born in the Saar, be children of at least one parent born in the Saar or have had residence in the Territory between June, 1919 and January, 1935 for a period of at least ten years. Foreigners or those convicted of Nazi party affiliation were excluded from the vote. 97 T h e election took place in an atmosphere of complete calm and was particularly remarkable for the high percentage of eligible voters who came to the polls. It resulted in a sweeping victory for the three parties which favored union with France. Of the 520,855 voters registered, 449,567 or over 95 per cent cast their ballots. The Christian Party received 230,082 votes or 44.2 per cent; the Social Democrats, 147,292 or 28.3 per cent; the Saar Democratic Party 34,255 or 6.5 per cent and the Communist Party, 37,936 or 7.3 per cent; the remainder, 55,435, being divided among various independent candidates. T h e final distribution of the fifty seats in the Assembly was 28 for the Christian Party, 17 for the Social Democrats, two for the Democrats and two for the Communists. 98 It cannot be said that the popular opinion expressed by the elections directly represented the decision of the Saar people on the new constitution, but since the parties receiving the vast majority of the popular vote were those in favor of it, it would seem to have been a clear mandate for acceptance of the document as it stood. However, one commentator notes, " T o treat the elections as a plebiscite on this one (the constitutional) issue is a distortion of the facts. The Landtag is free to modify the draft 97 Ordinance No. 104 of July 12, 1947, JOCCFA, No. 88, July 15, 1947, pp. 875-8. 9 8 F i g u r e s f r o m Trots Ans de Présence

Française

en Sarre, p. 8. S l i g h t l y

different figures are given in News from France (French Information Service, New York), No. 32, October, 1947. Many of the elected candidates were also members of the MRS.

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constitution in any way it chooses. It can even reject the draft completely in favor of ultimate reabsorption into Germany. In that case it would be automatically dissolved." M The general conclusion seemed to be that the election results clearly signified acceptance by the people of the program of economic integration. The London Times commented editorially, The elections register the approval of most of the people for the economic integration. But the draft constitution necessarily proceeds beyond ratification of the economic fusion to its political corollary, finally detaches the Saar from Germany and erects it into a state enjoying domestic autonomy with its defense and foreign relations controlled by France.... With the Saar France comes nearer to the balanced economy on which the status of a great power can be founded. By their votes in the elections the Saarlanders have taken a line no less necessary for the vigor and completeness of their own economic life.100 The New York Times came to the same conclusion but pointed out that the form of the elections could not accurately reflect dissenting opinion, since those who disliked the proposals for economic union and political autonomy had only the alternatives of staying away from the polls or voting for Communist party candidates. It was suggested editorially that, The election was not a model of democratic procedure, since the French have already cut off the Saar from the rest of Germany economically, politically and intellectually.... Nevertheless the fact that 95 per cent of the eligible voters did cast their ballots and that 91.6 per cent of those voted for parties endorsing union may be taken as evidence that the great majority of the population which voted for a return to Germany in 1935 is now willing to accept the new situation.101 99 London Times, October 7, 1947. 100 Ibid. 101 New York Times, November 8, 1947.

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The newly elected Assembly was solemnly installed in office on October, 14, in a ceremony attended by several high French officials. For its temporary role as a constituent body, Herr Hoffmann of the Christian Party was elected President, Herr Zimmer of the Social Democrats first Vice President, Herr Radziewski of the Democrats second Vice President; first secretary was Doctor Schutz of the Christian Party and second secretary Herr Hoppe of the Communist Party. Three Commissions were immediately appointed, one on the verification of the members' credentials, one on the rules of order for the Assembly and a third, the Constitutional Commission. The latter Commission, many of whose members had been on the Preparatory Commission, worked over the text of the Constitution until November 6, when it was submitted to a plenary session of the Assembly for the final vote. The chapters were voted on separately, most being adopted practically unanimously (except for the two Communist votes) although two, one on the church and the other on education were accepted by votes of 31 to 17 and 28 to 20 respectively. The last vote taken on the text as a whole showed 48 for and one (Communist) against with one abstention coming from a member of the Democratic Party who disagreed with the preamble.102 The Constitution was then turned over to General Koenig for approval which was given on December 15, and on December 17 it was put into effect. Having acquired full legislative powers, the Assembly proceeded to elect a new President, Herr Zimmer of the Christian Party and chose Herr Hoffmann as head of the new government. On December 22, Hoffmann presented a cabinet consisting of himself as Minister of the Interior and Reconstruction, Dr. Franz Singer (Christian Party) for Economy, Food, Agriculture and Forests ; Dr. Heinz Braun (Social Democrat) as Minister of Justice; Richard Kirn (Social Democrat) for Labor and Social Insurance; Dr. Strauss (Christian Party) for Education and as Finance 102 Trots Ans de Présence

Française

en Sarre, p. 9.

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Minister, Christian Grommes (Independent). The new government then, was a coalition in which the two chief parties of the Assembly were almost equally represented. The Saar Constitution adopted by the Assembly is divided into a preamble and two parts, the first an extensive bill of rights entitled " fundamental rights and duties ", the second, " the organization and functions of governmental institutions." 103 The bill of rights, modelled on that of the 1919 Weimar Constitution, includes sections on individual rights, marriage and family rights, education and cultural life, religious and church rights and social organization. Considerable leeway is given in the granting of rights, since many are left to be more closely defined by statute and all are given, " within limits established by law." The usual democratic freedoms of speech, conscience and belief, liberty of person, liberty to associate for peaceful purposes, right of legal trial, the right to property, and inviolability of the home are included. No citizen may be expelled from the Territory, nor given up to a foreign power except by extradition. Every individual is considered equal before the law regardless of sex, race, political conviction or religious creed. The recital of individual rights is concluded with the statement that, " these fundamental rights are of themselves inviolable. They bind the legislator, the judge and the administration." 104 It is of interest that the Constitution is silent on the question of what constitutes Saar citizenship. Article 66 merely states, "All Saar nationals who are over 20 years of age and who have their residence in the Saar shall have the right to vote rëgardless of sex, provided they have not been barred from the right to vote. Acquisition and loss of Saar citizenship will be regulated by statute." Marriage and 103 T h e text is printed in La Documentation Française, N o t e s Documentaires et Etudes, N o . 73, December 6, 1947. T h e German text of the D r a f t Constitution w a s printed on September 25, 1947, by the Saarbrücker Zeitung Press, Saarbrücken. T h e quotations given in the following pages are the author's translation of the official French text. 104 Saar Constitution,

Articles 1-21.

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the family are protected and encouraged by the state ; it is the duty of the government to protect youth against " physical, moral or intellectual exploitation." 105 The churches are recognized as educational and cultural agencies. Primary schooling is to be carried on by religious denominations under the supervision of the state and the pupils are to be taught by instructors of their own religion. W h e r e a confessional school cannot be established because of the small number of children of a particular religion in one district, provision is made for them to attend a school conducted by another religious organization but instruction in their own confession must be provided for them. All secondary and superior schools, although " écoles simultanées ", must also give religious instruction. 108 It is prescribed that all schools will teach, " within the framework of Christian and European culture," German culture and, " will contribute to the development of cultural relations between France and the Saar " by the teaching of the French language. 107 T h e Churches are granted complete independence and acquire juridical personality as defined in the common law. They may establish theological training schools according to the dictates of their creeds. Church property rights are guaranteed and the social welfare services carried on by any religious community are recognized as being in the public interest. They are also given the right to carry on their work in any publicly owned hospitals or penal institutions." 108 T h e articles dealing with social and economic organization provide for state protection of labor by guaranteeing the conditions of work, the right of organization and liberty of contract. A labor code will be enacted which will regulate the settlement of industrial disputes. A further statute will set up an autonomous " Caisse d' Assurances " which will provide 105 Ibid., A r t i c l e s 22 a n d 25. 106 Ibid., A r t i c l e s 27, 28 and 29. 107 Ibid., A r t i c l e 30. 108 Ibid., A r t i c l e s 35-42.

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a complete program of social insurance. It is incumbent on the state to provide plans for social and economic development and allowance is made for the nationalization of key industries, including the mines, transport and communication and power facilities. However, expropriation cannot be made without indemnity " unless the law decides otherwise." The state may also, instead of nationalization, take steps to regulate any excessive concentration of industrial power, while still leaving it in private hands. Special attention is given to the encouragement of an independent peasantry, since " agriculture is the basis of the national existence." Employers are given the right to organize into professional associations in defense of their interests and to have their views heard by the government on all important social and economic questions.109 Not only are labor and the employer protected but a separate article is given over to the protection of the middle class which states, " The independent middle classes shall be protected in industry, in the professions and in commerce and their development encouraged. Cooperatives shall be encouraged in the same way." 110 The second part of the Constitution describes the organs of government and lays down the regulations which govern their various functions. The Saar is described as organized in an " autonomous, democratic and social manner, economically attached to France," with a flag and arms of its own. Supreme power rests with the people and the constitutional separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers is inviolable (intangible).111 The Assembly, which must meet at least twice a year in ordinary session, possesses the supreme legislative power which it cannot delegate. It may dissolve itself on a vote 109 Ibid., Articles 43-53· 110 Ibid., Article 54. This article was inserted by the Constitutional Commission and does not appear in the Draft Constitution published in September. 111 Ibid., Articles 60-64.

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of two-thirds of the members and may be dissolved by its President, if, after withdrawing its confidence from a government, it is unable to form a government which receives its confidence within the four weeks following. Power is provided to the Assembly to set up several types of investigating Commissions to which the administrative authorities are obliged to furnish any information in their possession. T h e term of office of the present Assembly runs for five years but thereafter each of three Saar electoral districts will elect members every two years for a six year term. This means that any change in ptiblic opinion will not for a considerable period of time be reflected in the composition of the Assembly. The first new elections will be held in 1952 but all three districts will not have expressed an opinion before 1956. The power to interpret the terms of the Constitution is vested solely in the hands of the Constitutional Committee elected at the beginning of each new legislature. A n y modification of the Constitution must be made by a vote of at least three-quarters of the members but no change may be made which is contrary to the fundamental principles contained in the Constitution or which modifies the present relationship to France. The right of referendum on a proposed law is granted, if it is demanded by more than one-third of the members but laws modifying the Constitution may not be the subject of such a referendum. 112 Executive power is vested in the cabinet which is directly responsible to the Assembly. T h e prime minister (Président du Conseil) is elected by a simple majority vote of the members and names and dismisses his cabinet members with the approval of the Assembly. A vote of want of confidence in a government may not take place sooner than two days after the close of debate nor later than seven days. The Assembly may impeach the head of the government or a minister for violation of the Constitution or the law but only on petition of one-third of the members and on an affirmative vote by 112 Ibid., Articles 67-87, 08-106.

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three-quarters of them. The government has the right to appoint judges or administrative officials without the consent of the Assembly but cannot dismiss them except as provided by statute. 118 Local government is given completely autonomous rights of administration and control by the state is limited to seeing that local administration conforms to the laws and the public interest. 114 A final article stipulates that the rights and privileges granted by the Constitution may not be invoked against any decisions aimed at the elimination of militarism and National Socialist doctrines nor against reparation for wrongs committed by them. 115 The actual relationship to France is defined in the preamble to the Constitution. This preamble states that the people of the Saar, convinced that their existence and development can be assured by organic integration of the Territory into the economic sphere of France, base their future on a monetary and customs union of the Saar with the French Republic. The implications of this principle are spelled out to mean: i ) the political independence of the Saar from German sovereignty; 2) the taking over by France of defense and external relations of the area ; 3 ) the application in the Saar of French monetary and customs legislation; 4) the granting of the right to a representative of the French government to issue decrees safeguarding the economic union and to supervise the execution of the monetary and customs regulations; 5) a judicial organization established so as to ensure uniformity of judicial proceedings within the framework of the laws. Since the Constitution came into effect in December several decrees of the French government have modified existing French powers over the Saar and redefined others but there is no doubt that, as the situation now stands, Saar autonomy is qualified in so many areas that it cannot yet be defined as a self-governing state. 113 Ibid., Articles 88-97. 114 Ibid., Articles 122-28. 115 Ibid., Article 129.

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Legally the Saar remains a part of the French zone of occupation and the powers of the chief French representative are still derived from the French commander in chief in Germany, although the former has full power to carry out his duties. 118 Recent French laws have tended to clarify some of the legal ambiguities which have arisen out of the new position of the Saar but it yet remains to be seen whether the Territory will eventually be incorporated into metropolitan France or become part of the French Union. The breakdown of the operations of the Allied Control Council in Berlin during 1948 leaves France a freer hand since there is no longer any obligation to conform to Four Power policy decisions in former German territory. W i t h the coming into force of the Constitution, the French government proceeded with the organization of the office of High Commissioner mentioned in the preamble. T h i s official was intended to take the place of the Military Governor and with his assumption of office on January i, 1948, the period of actual administration by the Military Government came to an end. The High Commissioner appointed was Colonel Gilbert Grandval, who succeeded himself as the former Military Governor. His powers were defined in a decree of December 31, 1947, in which it was laid down that he is to represent the interests of France in the Saar, to supervise the execution of international agreements and safeguard the principles of the Saar Constitution. He is to assure the publication and application of French legislation applicable to the Saar and can issue ordinances and decrees necessary for the operation of the monetary and customs union. H e is authorized, in case of danger to the fundamental principles of the preamble, " to take any measures necessary to maintain public order." 117 It 116 Cf. Decree regarding Military Government in the Saar, January 10, JOCCFA, Nos. 1 2 7 - 8 , p. 1 3 4 0 .

1948,

117 Decree No. 47-2436 of December 31, 1947, Journal Officiel, January 4, 1948, p .

131.

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22ß

is evident from the powers given the French representative by this decree that in no respect are the powers of decision left to the elected Saar government in any way final. A further decree of the same date set forth the organization of the High Commissioner's administration. Under the Commissioner's authority, French civil servants employed in the Saar are headed by a Délégué Secrétaire-Général, who replaces the Commissioner in the latter's absence and has authority over all questions of a political, religious and cultural nature and, more particularly, public information and education. He directs all personnel in the administration and the Commissioner may delegate to him some of his powers. Assisting the Secretary-General are a financial, an economic and a judicial counsellor, each with authority over his own particular field and finally, a Director of Control Services who directs the French police in the Saar and with the Commissioner's authority, the Saar police services also.118 Authorization has since been given for a total of 360 French employees for the administration as a whole.119 Two Conventions have been signed by the French and Saar governments implementing the principles of economic union and judicial coordination. A fiscal and budgetary Convention signed in January, 1948, introduces in the Saar all present and future French legislation on foreign trade, tariffs, taxes and the French state trading monopolies on tobacco and matches. French customs officers collect all revenue at Saar frontiers and the Saar shares, in proportion to population, in the receipts. The detailed regulations applying the Convention are to be set up by a Mixed Commission of three French citizens and three Saarlanders.120 A judicial Convention brings about the 118 Decree No. 47-2447 of December 31, 1947, Journal Officiel, January 18, 1948, p. S66. 119 Decree No. 48-1230 of June 30, 1948, Journal Officiel, July 27, 1948, p. 7367. 120 Decree No. 48-105 of January 13, 1948, Journal Officiel, January 18, 1948, pp. 567-70.

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necessary coordination between the French and Saar judicial systems in view of the application of French law to economic and monetary questions. All trace of the former military courts and of extraterritorial jurisdiction are eliminated and no attempt is made to set up an exclusively French court of appeal or customs tribunal. Instead, a mixed chamber of five judges, two French and two from the Saar, with a French president, is established within the Saar Supreme Court of Appeal, at Saarbrücken. This chamber hears cases upon which French law bears directly, in consequence of a complaint arising from any field of French legislation, in the Saar. French law is to be used generally in cases involving French citizens and in deciding tax cases. The public prosecutor before the Court must be a French citizen, although French is not required as the legal language. It is as yet too soon to know whether this experiment in mixed jurisdiction will be successful but it is sure to bring about closer contact and understanding between jurists of both sides." 1 These two Conventions have been made an integral part of the Constitution and since, by Article 63 any agreement affecting economic union takes precedence over domestic legislation, the terms laid down by them will necessarily play an important part in the Saar's future development. Other French decrees have rounded out the plan of integration. The Saar has been included in the postal, telegraph and telephone systems of France for the purposes of rates and becomes a part of the membership of Metropolitan France in the Universal Postal Union and the International Telecommunications Union. 122 Following the introduction of the franc, salaries, prices and means of payment were fixed in the Saar 121 T h e Convention was signed January 3, 1948, ratified by Law No. 48459 of March 20, 1948, and published by Decree No. 48-629 on April 5, 1948, Journal Officiel, pp. 3356-58. 122 Decree No. 47-2194 of November 15, 1947, Journal Officiel, November 19, 1947, p. 11406.

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in accordance with the legislation then in force in France. 123 O n April i , 1948, the Saar was formally assimilated to the French customs union and all future French tariff conventions were to include the Saar automatically.124 The Saar has been made a part of the French garrison system and troops stationed there are no longer assigned to the Commander of the French Zone of Occupation but to the Sixth Army Region. However, the High Commissioner has authority to make use of any forces in the Saar at his own discretion, in case of need, for the maintenance of public order.128 From November 1, 1948, military personnel stationed in the Saar no longer receive the special indemnity provided for service in the Occupied Zone of Germany but revert to the normal pay scale of those stationed in the home territory.12® The new status of the Saar which followed the promulgation of the Constitution forced a redefinition of the control measures governing the operation of the coal mines. The entire regime was reorganized with the cessation of military control at the first of the year. Under the new system, the mines and annexed industries are to be managed by a special Mission directly under the French Minister of Mines. The Mission consists of a Director, named by Ministerial decree, a Conseil Supérieur and a Committee. The Council, whose duties are generally of a supervisory nature meets twice a year to discuss the general results of the operations, personnel and long range exploitation policies. It consists of thirty members and is headed, ex officio, by the Minister of Mines and the Director. It includes six representatives of the Minister, three of the 123 Decree No. 47-2389 of December 22, 1947, p. 12581. 124 Decree No. 48-576 of March 30, 1948,

ibid., December 30, 1947,

ibid., 1948, p. 3158.

125 Decree No. 48-639 of March 25, 1948, ibid., April 8, 1948, pp. 3468-9 and Decree No. 47-2447, of December 31, 1947, supra, p. 223. 126 Decree No. 48-1667 of October 26, 1948, ibid., October 29, 1948, p. 10501.

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Ministry of Economic Affairs, three of the Ministry of Finance, two of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and one each of the Department of Public Works and the Department of Labor. From the Saar itself there are two representatives of the High Commissioner, two of the Government, two of the French employees and mine workers and five representing the Saar miners. The Committee, which must meet at least ten times a year at the call of the Director, is assigned to more direct executive functions and deals with questions of expansion, finances, personnel and markets. It consists of twelve members, all nominated by the various ministries of the French Government and by the High Commissioner. 127 It will be seen from the composition of these bodies that, although the Saarlanders are represented on them, in any decision to which they may be opposed, they may be easily outvoted by the weight of the French members. V The program of integration of the Saar economy into that of the French Union is now complete. Almost every field of economic activity in the area is now either directly or indirectly affected by one or another French regulation. Of the two major industries, one, the mines, is now under French state control; the other, the steel industry, is very largely in the hands of French or at least non-German owners. The Bürbach works have been turned over to Arbed, a Luxemburg concern ; Völklingen and other plants have been sequestered and are being temporarily leased and run by combined German and French capital. Control of the product of all Saar industry is secured by the customs and monetary union and in consequence the Saar is made almost entirely dependent on France for development of her markets. It is perhaps surprising that, in view of the degree of control now exercised, the French government should have stopped 127 Decree No. 47-2437 of December 31, 1947, Journal Officiel, January 4, 1948, pp. 131-3·

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short of political annexation. However, several obstacles have stood in the way of such a move. It is doubtful if the French public would have been prevailed upon so soon to favor the granting of full citizenship rights to the people of an area which had so recently been the enemy of France. T h e German culture and background of the Saarlanders would make immediate incorporation difficult but a long transitional period of economic integration will go far toward bringing about a closer understanding between the two peoples. It must be remembered also that even the French scheme of economic union lacked, until February, 1948 official standing with any of the other occupying powers of Germany. It is true, that, with the exception of the Soviet Union, little opposition came to the de facto

exist-

ence of union. But so long as there seemed the possibility of Four Power Agreement on the terms of a German

Peace

Treaty, France could not proceed with any final changes in Germany's Western borders. A s the prospect of settlement grew more dim, long range French policy grew clearer and the bonds between her and the Saar were strengthened. There was no question from the beginning of the direction and aim of the French program and she has carried it out boldly, to her own and the Saar's advantage. A s one foreign observer puts it, In the Territory of the Saar, the German problem comes to seem understandable and even soluble. Here on a small scale, one sees the economy of Germany integrated into the economy of Europe; the reconciliation of its culture with that of the West (and) the moral rehabilitation of its people.... The indecision, hesitancies and confusions which have plagued the occupying powers of the Western Zones have not bothered the French in this area. They have known what they wanted to do. They have realized that it was in their interest to get the Saar on its feet, to make the population reasonably contented and prosperous and they have employed for these ends all the administrative skill and cultural prestige which are traditionally theirs.128 128August Hecksher, "French Policy in the Saar," New Tribune, April 14, 1948.

York

Herald

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French official statements have repeatedly denied any intention of political annexation and for the present time at least, such a step, which might well exacerbate feelings both at home and in the Saar, would seem to have little point. T o all intents and purposes, with the controls exercised by the present administration over Saar autonomy, France has secured her main goal, an effective and permanent system of control over Saar economic life. It may well be that French denials of annexationist aims should be taken at face value, for, even if the short run obstacles could be overcome, it is possible that political annexation of the Saar at any time in the future might present real disadvantages to France. With the present situation she has all the advantages of economic union with none of the responsibilities of political union. The addition of 800,000 potential voters, the majority of them Catholic, might have a serious effect on the structure of party strength in the French legislature, since it would mean a contest on the part of existing groups to secure the support of the new voters and, were the vote to be concentrated behind one or two parties, it might result in serious party upsets. Moreover, under the present arrangement the French are spared the costs of administration of the area which would inevitably arise if complete political annexation were carried through. It is reasonable to expect that, while the Saar needs financial assistance for reconstruction from France at the present time, it will in the not too distant future be entirely self supporting. From the point of view of the French industrialist economic attachment is preferable to the Saar becoming a part of the home country, for, should competition between French and Saar products become too keen in future, it would be much easier to eliminate Saar industry were the territory bound to France by economic ties without political integration. T o one familiar with the history of the Saar, the most striking feature of the past three years of French military control is the apparent uncomplaining acquiescence of the Saarlanders to their separation from the German fatherland. Gone are the days of violent opposition to French control of the mines ; no longer is

FRANCE

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22Ç

the teaching of French resisted in the schools and the charge of treachery is not thrown at those who cooperate with the French authorities. Does this mean that German nationalism and the belief in a German heritage is dying in the Saarland ? Or does it merely go to prove the French thesis of twenty-five years ago that, given an opportunity, they could make the French tradition live here again? The long-run answer to these questions may be in the affirmative but for the present at least the answer must be sought in much more practical considerations. In three years of occupation the French have been able to give the Saarlanders advantages far beyond those to be found anywhere else in Germany. Normal daily life has come closer to revival in the Saar than in any occupied area; the people are better fed, better clothed and have more money to spend (and the consumers goods to buy with it) than do Germans living anywhere else. The Saar has been constantly favored in the allocation of rationed foods; greater efforts have been made to restore housing accommodations and more people are at work today in the Saar than ever before. It is no wonder then, that the Saarlanders have had little objection to the sound, if authoritarian, administration of the Military Government. With the collapse of the Third Reich, the people of the Saar saw no hope for the future in a divided and helpless Germany ; in France they saw the prospect of peace and a bright economic future. A neutral commentator has well stated their case, For generations they have seen war from Germany. They have now decided on attachment to France. Naturally this decision to collaborate with France is facilitated by the influence and effects of numerous intellectual and social ties. Now that the influence of decades of unilateral propaganda is eliminated, reason and sentiment seem to coincide for the first time for the people gathered about the banners of the Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre... the fact of belonging to France offers a better perspective for the future

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than remaining with Germany who has shown her frontier peoples nothing but disillusionment.128 The French moves toward economic union were generally approved by the population as the election results have shown even though dissident elements were given little chance to voice their opinion. Whether or not the present attitude of the Saarlanders means a turning away from Germany toward permanent alignment to France cannot yet be seen. However, the element of opportunism in the situation at the moment must not be ignored. Attachment to France meant temporary advantages of a very concrete nature but, It's anybody's guess whether the average Saarlander is fundamentally a Frenchman or a German at heart. Generally speaking it depends on to whom he is talking. To French officials he says he loves France and tells French poll takers he is 71 per cent in favor of Anschluss with France. . . . He tells Germans from the American zone he is German and confesses that his support for the " rattachement " is conditioned by his hunger which now is less than most Germans.130 The French are fully aware that public opinion in the Saar is conditioned by the situation of today and are under no delusions about the strength of the Saarlander's apparent conversion. But they firmly believe that, given a period of time to prove to the people that the present economic improvements have a solid foundation and a prospect of lasting, they will be able, aided by an intensive cultural and educational campaign, to make of the Saarlanders, if not real Frenchmen, then a very reasonable facsimile. One official French source states, 129 Die Tat, Zurich, April 22, 1946, quoted in La Sarre et la Sécurité Française, La Documentation Française, Notes Documentaires et Etudes, No. 324, Sér. Intle. CI, June 15, 1946, p. 16. 130 Christian Science Monitor report, October 31, 1947.

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Although the circumstances are far from being the same as in the period following the first World War, it is France's duty to see to it that the tasks she has accomplished and will accomplish in this territory be not at the mercy of a new nationalist agitation from beyond the Rhine. The lesson of 1935 must not be forgotten. Already at that time France had laid a solid foundation; she had brought prosperity to the Saar and the world knows how she was thanked for it But this would certainly not be the time for France to engage in a loud propaganda campaign in which she would never succeed ; she must constantly and patiently endeavor to make ever better known to the people of the Saar her civilization, her institutions and her accomplishments both in metropolitan France and in the Union. Less than ever is it the moment to believe that it will be enough for France to show the people of the Saar the way to prosperity ; the economic ties between the Saar and France will only be solid and durable when the Saarlanders are aware of all the moral and cultural benefits they will draw from such a union.181 The incorporation of the Saar into the French economy cannot be accomplished without some considerable sacrifices on both sides. The same problems still present themselves today as in 1935. The argument still rages regarding competition between the French and Saar steel and coal industries. During the present abnormal conditions of inflated demand for these products, there is, of course, no question of disposing of the entire output of Saar industry on the world market. But with the return of normal world trading levels, the place of the Saar in French export markets is open to serious problems, particularly if the rehabilitated industry of France has by that time seized upon all available avenues for sale of its product. French critics of the present Saar policy are aware that the Saar was only able to recover from the effects of the depression of 1929 by the fact of its position between two great markets. After 131 Trois Ans de Présence Française en Sarre, p. 79.

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1936, a return to pre-depression industrial levels was only possible through the abnormal demands of war. The problem of providing a secure future for Saar industry is incumbent on France, not only as a justification for her present Saar policy in the eyes of the world but because, in the absence of economic prosperity for the Saarlanders, the whole program of cultural and political orientation of the Saar toward France is placed in jeopardy. Just as hunger proved strong enough to snuff out the spark of German nationalism, so too can hunger provide the fuel to recall it to a roaring flame.

CONCLUSION THE story of the Saarland is the story of a border area and the fate of the Saarlanders the fate of a border people. The struggle for the Saar begins almost with the development of the modern national state in Western Europe. In the centuries of absolute monarchy, to possess the Saar was the ambition of many princes, some petty, some great. All sought it either to secure the power they already had or to add to the greatness of their stature. Although the value of the natural resources of the Saar was neither known nor appreciated, the tiny territory played a vital role in the contest for dominion between the Kings of France and the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Long before the creation of a unified German national state the Saar lay on the dividing line between the French and Germanic cultures and the swinging pendulum of history has lent to the Saarlanders an element of both. Few except the extreme nationalist writers on the French side have denied that the culture of the Saar is basically German. Of the more than one thousand years of recorded Saar history, scarcely fifty can be said to have been passed under direct French influence. Moreover, the periods of contact with French culture have been, except for the twentieth century, separated by intervals of almost two generations so that the French tradition had little opportunity to take permanent root in the lives of the people. Yet the periods of French control have left not a little trace on the Saar, externally in the architecture of areas such as Saarlouis; internally, in the French sympathies of small groups of the population which centuries of Prussianization could not efface. With the development of the modern industrial state the struggle for the Saarland took on new and sharper aspects. No longer was the Territory prized only as an element in the strategic defenses of Prussia and France; the immense underground wealth of the Saar meant rich new sources of indus233

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trial raw materials to its possessor. And as the pace of industrial competition grew during the twentieth century, regaining the Territory of which she felt she had been unjustly deprived by the Second Treaty of Paris became one of the major aims of French foreign policy. The goals of Napoleon III in Europe were based not only on the assumption of the glorious mantle of his namesake but also on the much more practical aspects of wresting from an expanding Prussia the war potential to be found in the steel and coal of the Saar. Although the Territory plays no great role in the surface events of the nineteenth century Europe, its place in the secret documents of the European Courts of the period shows that it was one of the valued prizes in the diplomatic game played between France and Prussia. But the people of the Saar had little part in the contest of high politics waged for their land. Their only hope was that a period of peace would permit at least one generation to live out its life without fear of invasion from across the border. The ravages of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic campaigns had brought to too many not the liberation of the Revolutionary slogans but misery and death. The replacing of the tyranny of the petty princes with the cold efficiency of Prussian bureaucracy meant no great change in their lives. A few perhaps regretted the disappearance of the democratic doctrines of the new France but for the majority of the Saarlanders, the fire of the Revolution had scorched but not penetrated deep. Essentially a German people, the Saar population shared much more strongly in the wave of nationalist feeling which heralded the formation of a united German Reich in 1871. The nationalism born of the late nineteenth century lived on to become the violent opposition to international control in the twentieth and, although snuffed out by the crushing defeat of Germany today, its embers are by no means dead. More than twenty years ago the people of the Saar benefitted from one of the great ideals of our own century—selfdetermination of nationality. Although, in the light of the his-

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torical arguments upon which it was based, there may have been little justification for the plebiscite, nevertheless an opportunity which was vouchsafed to few other border people was given to the Saarlanders of freely expressing their desire to belong to the country of their choice. There can be no doubt that the Saar was helped, in a material sense at least, by the period of international rule, but even economic prosperity could not overcome a century of Prussian nationalism. Had the Saar been able to continue under a modified League regime after 1935, without the defect of French control over its basic industry, it might, from an economic point of view, well have become an outstanding example of the possibilities of international rule. But, while in ideal and in theory, international government would be the best solution for a disputed area such as the Saar, the impersonality of such control inevitably ignores the human factor in the situation. The League was not only ruling over the two thousand square kilometers of land making up the Saar basin ; it was ruling, too, over the 800,000 people who lived on that land, who, while appreciative of the economic advantages of their situation, lacked the psychological security which comes from being a part of and sharing in the culture and mores of a larger national community. It was this feeling of security—perhaps only a state of mind, but to the individual an important state—that the League rule could not give, so that, when given the option of return to the state from which the Saarlanders felt their cultural roots to spring, they gladly took it, even though they knew that return would mean the loss of political and economic liberties they had enjoyed for the fifteen years past. Today, decision on their future no longer rests in the hands of the people of the Saar. Perhaps the nations of the world have taken a step backward in departing from the Wilsonian ideal of nationality being determined by majority vote. Over the past three years the great powers raised relatively little objection to the unilateral action of France in bringing about economic union with the Saar. A t the present moment, the Saar

236

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is more a part of France than at añy time during the League period. The reaction of the Saarlanders has, on the whole, been favorable. Faced with the prospect of economic ruin if the attachment to a defeated and truncated Germany were maintained, they have acquiesced in the French plan ; the practical necessity of survival has overcome the nationalism of twentyfive years ago. Germany offered no hope while France held out the prospect of peace and a normal economic life. The Saarlanders made the obvious choice. But a new factor has entered today into the future position of the Saar in Europe, a factor which may eliminate the Saar problem from all future European controversies. The concept of a union of the nations of Western Europe, first into a customs and economic unit and perhaps later into a single political body will, if it becomes a reality, radically alter the position of the Saar as the object of the ambition of surrounding national states. Were the rivalry between France and Germany as we have known it in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to be removed from the Western European scene, the Saar would be no longer a disputed border area but its natural resources would be shared to the advantage of all the nations of the union. Perhaps no group in Europe is more keenly aware of the advantages offered by European Union than are the political leaders of the Saar. They have made it clear in the public statements of their party platforms that they have accepted customs and monetary union with France as only the first step and one which they hope will lead the way to a similar union of all the national states of Western Europe. Typical of this view is Fritz Eberhard, a leader of the Social Democratic Party, who has declared, " W e will put our faith in a supranational European organization into which Germany will be integrated and in which it will be easy to live peacefully with our neighbors. The first stage of this organization must be a customs union of Western Europe which should be followed by

CONCLUSION

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a monetary union. If it comes to that, the Saar question of today will no longer play a role in the politics of Europe." 1 For the Saar, political and economic union of Western Europe affords the only real compromise between the desire to remain true to the German heritage on the one hand and the necessity of French economic assistance on the other. It would leave open a ready market for Saar products on both sides and in addition, would secure access for them to the wider markets of the entire Western European unit. The contribution of the Saar to the recovery of Western Europe since the end of the war has illustrated the importance of Saar industry to the economic life of the whole area and the disposal of Saar coal through the agency of the European Coal Organization has demonstrated the effectiveness of international agreement in allocating scarce supplies to the Western European countries. Although a normal market situation might modify certain aspects of international control, nevertheless the integration of the Saar economy into that not only of France but of the whole of Western Europe would appear to offer very definite advantages over the prewar highly competitive market system. Although economic and political necessity has forced the Saar into cooperation with France at the moment, there is no guarantee in the present situation against a revival of German nationalist feeling at some future time. The best assurance against such a revival would be a plan which removed the necessity of pressing the Saarlanders into any sort of national mould at all. A Western European Union which removed the rivalry between France and a revived Germany would seem to meet this requirement in every respect, since it would obviate the basic reason for the process under way today to tie the Saar not only economically but culturally as well to France. So long as the German heritage of the Saar provided no danger to future French security, France would undoubtedly be will1 Die Volksstimme, September 25, 1948, cited in La Documentation Française, Articles et Documents, No. 1384, October 11, 1948.

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ing to permit that heritage to live on undisturbed. Moreover, such a plan would permit a degree of Saar autonomy which would, in the long run, be much more advantageous to the population than the present somewhat anomalous situation. It is an undeniable fact that the Saarlanders are German— by language, custom and tradition. Three centuries of Saar history have seen the Territory the battle ground of the opposing national interests of two great states. Perhaps the new era in European history which dawned in 1945 will see the Saar become a bridge between these two ancient rivals and so form a part of the real foundation of a united Western Europe.

BIBLIOGRAPHY The following references are not intended to be a complete bibliography of the Saar problem but rather an indication of those sources which were found to be most useful in the preparation of this study. I.

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AND ORIGINAL

SOURCES

Hansen, J. (ed.), Rheinische Quellen aus dem Zeitalter der Fransösischen Revolution, 1780-1801, 3 vols., Bonn, Verlag P. Hanstein, 1931. Görres, J., Der Rheinische Merkur (Gesammelte Schriften, vols. IX, X, X I ) , ed. H. A. Münster, Gilde Verlag, Köln, 1928. Le Statut de la Sarre, Depuis le Traité de Versailles, La Documentation Française, Notes Documentaires et Etudes, No. 506, International Series, C X X X V , January, 1947, Paris, Présidence du Conseil. La Sarre et le Rattachement Française, La Documentation Française, Articles et Documents, Nouv. Sér., No. 903, April, 1947. La Sarre et la Sécurité Française, La Documentation Française, Notes Documentaires et Etudes, No. 326, Sér. Intle., CI, June 15, 1946. Trois Ans de Présence Française en Sarre, La Documentation Française, Notes Documentaires et Etudes, No. 999, Sér. Européenne, C X X V I I I , September, 1948. News From France, French Information Service, New York. News Reports from New York Times, London Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Journal Officiel du Commandement en Chef Francais en Allemagne. British Parliamentary Reports (Hansard). Journal Officiel (Lois et Débats). L'Economie de la Sarre, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, Paris, Les Presses Universitaires de France, 1947, pp. 147. League of Nations Official Journal. The periodic Reports of the Governing Commission are printed here. Amtsblatt des Saargebiets (Official Gazette of the Governing Commission). Papers Respecting Negotiations for an Anglo-French Pact, British Blue Book, Cmd. 2169, London, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1924. Foreign Relations of the United States, Paris Peace Conference, IÇIÇ, 13 vols., Washington, The Department of State, 1943-1946. Das Saargebiet unter der Herrschaft des Waffenstillstandsabkommens und des Vertrags von Versailles, Deutsches Weissbuch, Berlin, Georg Stilke, 1921, pp. 362. Bericht des Statistischen Amtes des Saargebiets, II Heft, Saarbrücken, 1933. British and Foreign State Papers, vol. I, London. Les Origines Diplomatiques de la Guerre, 1870-1, Paris, 29 vols., Imprimerie Nationale, 1910-1932. Pollock, J. and Meisel, J., Germany Under Occupation, Ann Arbor, Geo. Wahr Co., 1947, pp. 312. 239

240

BIBLIOGRAPHY II.

PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Aulard, Α., " Landau et Sarrelouis, Villes Françaises," Revue de Paris, Ann. 26, No. 2, March-April, 1919, pp. 295-314. Babelon, E., " Les Francais de Sarrelouis en Prusse Rhénane," Revue des Deux Mondes, 6ème Période, No. 41, Sept.-Oct., 1917, pp. 278-308. , " Sarrebriick et la Diplomatic Prussienne en 1815," Revue des Deux Mondes, 6ème Période, No. 45, May-June, 1918, pp. 841-63. Chicago Tribune, European Edition, Special Saar Supplement, No. 1, May 13. 1934. and No. 2, J u n e 18, 1934. Les Cahiers de la Ligue des Droits de L'Homme, " Le Problème de la S a r r e , " No. 24, Sept. 20, 1929, pp. 555-578. and N o . 32, Dec., 1929, PP·

755-757-

Eccard, F., " Le Probleme Sarrois," Revue des deux Mondes, 8ème Période, No. 17, September 15, 1933, pp. 281-302. H e r l y , R., " Le Pays de la S a r r e Moyenne de la fin de L'Ancien Régime à 1787," Bulletin des Amis des Pays de la Sarre, No. 6, Nancy, 1929, pp. 63-204. National Sozialistische Monatshefte, vol. I V , No. 45, December, 1933, Special Saar Issue. Pange, J . de, " L'Avenir de la Sarre," Revue de Paris, Ann. 40, N o . 4, July-Aug., 1933. PP- 621-38. Policing the Saar, N e w Commonwealth Association Pamphlets, Series A, N o . 8, Aprii, 1936. Price, Α., " T h e Present Status of the Saar," Documents and State Papers, United States Department of State, vol. I, No. 7, October, 1948, pp. 435-450. Revire, J., " Les Modalités du Plébiscite Sarrois," Revue Hebdomadaire, vol. X L I I I , N o . 19, May, 1934, pp. 139-155· Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, Information Papers, N o . η , August, 1934. Röchling, H., " S a a r f r a g e und Europäische Verständigung," Europäische Revue, vol. X, April, 1934, pp. 216-220. Staley, E., " Private Investments and International Politics in the Saar, 1919-20," Journal of Political Economy, vol. X L I , No. 5, October, 1933, pp. 577-601. Sainte-Claire Deville, P., " Etudes Historiques sur les Mines et Les Usines de la Sarre, 1792-1815," Annales des Mines, vol. X I I I , 1923, pp. 416-50. V o n Kühlmann, R., " T h e Future of the Saar," Foreign Affairs, vol. X I I , N o . 3, April, 1734, PP· 426-435·

Waellbroeck, P., " Les Relations Industrielles dans les Mines Domínales Françaises," Revue Internationale du Travail, vol. X X I , No. 6, and vol. X X I I , No. I, J u n e and July, 1930. Reprinted as pamphlet, Geneva, 1930, p. 64. Galtier-Boissière, J . and Sérurier, Α., " La Vérité sur la Sarre," Crapouillot, N u m . Spécial, April, 1934.

BIBLIOGRAPHY III.

24I

BOOKS

Alfassa, M., Le Fer et le Charbon Lorraine, Paris, Bélin, 1916, p. 79. Allot, Α., Le Bassin de ia Sarre, Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1924, p. 372. Babelon, E., Le Rhin dans l'Histoire, Paris, Leroux, 1917, pp. X X 526. , Sarrelouis et Sarrebrïtck, Paris, Leroux, 1918, p. 337. Bartz, K., Weltgeschichte an der Saar, Neustadt an der Haardt, Südwestdeutsche Verlag, 193s, p. 254. Bruns, V., Die Volksabstimmung im Saargebiet, Berlin, Heymann's Verlag, 1934, p. 183. Busemann, K., Die Rückgliederung der Saar, Frankfurt am Main, Societäts Verlag, 1934, p. 50. Capot-Rey, R., Quand la Sarre était Française, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1928. P· 334· , La Région Industrielle Sarroise, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1934, p. 637. Cartellieri, W., Wirtschajtskunde des Saargebiets, Saarlouis, Hansen Verlagsgesellschaft, 1934, p. 56. De la Blache, P., La France de L'est, Paris, Colin, 1917, p. 280. Donnadieu, J., La Liquidation de la Victoire, vol. I, La Sarre, Paris, Tallandier, 1930, p. 254. Droz, J., Le Libéralisme Rhénan 1815-1848, Paris, Sorlot, 1940, pp. X X V I I I + 463. Ecker, F., Der Widerstand der Saarlander gegen die Fremdherrschaft der Franzosen, 1792-1815, Saarbrücken, Saarbrücker-Druckerei, 1934, p. 312. Engels, F., Po und Rhein, ed. by E. Bernstein, Stuttgart, Dietz, 1915, pp. X I I + 52. Engerand, F., Les Frontières Lorraines et la Force Allemande, 3rd ed., Paris, Perrin, 1916, p. 307. Fisher, H., Studies in Napoleonic Statesmanship, Germany, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1903, p. 392. Florinsky, M., The Saar Struggle. New York, Macmillan, 1934, pp. X I V -f191. Funck-Brentano, F., La France sur le Rhin, Paris, Recueil Sirey, 1919, P- 499· Gooch, G. P., Germany and the French Revolution, London, Longmans Green, 1920, p. 543. Grabowsky, A . and Sante, G., ed., Die Grundlagen des Saarkampfes, Berlin, Heymanns Verlag, 1934, p. 394. Grimm, F., Frankreich an der Saar, Hamburg, Hanseatische Verlaganstalt, 1934, p. 135· Groten, C , Die Enstehungsgeschichte des Saarstatuts, Saarlouis, Hansen, 1934, P· 35Guillaume, M., L'Exploitation Technique des Mines de la Sarre sous la Gestion Française, Saarlouis, 1934, p. 23. , La Politique Commerciale des Mines de la Sarre, Saarlouis, 1934, p. 22.

242

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Haskins, C , and Lord, R., Some Problems of the Peace Conference, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1940, pp. X I I + 307. Heitjan, F., Die Saarzeitung und die Entwicklung des Politischen Katholizismus an der Saar von 1872 bis 1888, Dissertation, Cologne, 1931, p. 160. Hellwig, F., Der Kampf um die Saar, 1860-1870, Leipzig, Universitäts Verlag, and Robert Noske, 1934, pp. X X I V + 277. Herly, R., L'Introduction du franc dans la Sarre, Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1925, pp. V i l i + 240. House, E. and Seymour, C., What Really Happened at Paris, New York, Scribners, 1921, pp. X I I I + 528. Keynes, J. M., The Economic Consequences of the Peace, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1920, p. 298. Kloevekorn, F. (ed), Das Saargebiet, Seine Struktur, Seine Probleme, Saarbrücken, Gebrüder Hofer A G , 1929, p. 584. Koch, Abrégé des Traités de Paix, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Brussels, 1857. Lambert, M., The Saar, London, Faber and Faber, 1934, pp. V I I + 322. Lannoy, F., de, Histoire diplomatique de VIndependence Belge, Brussels, Librairie DeWitt, 1930, p. 395. Lavallée, T., Les Frontières de la France, n t h ed., Paris, Hetzel, n. d., p· 371· Lavisse, E., Histoire de France, Paris, Hachette, 1906. Limiers, H. P . de, Histoire du Régne de Louis XIV, s vols., Amsterdam, 1718. Martin, H., Histoire de France, 4th ed., Paris, i860. Mclnnis, E., The War, Fifth Year, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1945. Ρ· 401. Meinecke, F., Geschichte der Linksrheinischen Gebietsfragen, Official Memorandum for Versailles Conference, 1919. Meister, Α., Frankreich und das Saargebiet im Spiegel der Geschichte, Munich, Südwestdeutscher Verlag, 1922, p. 122. Miller, D. H., My Diary at the Peace Conference, 21 vols., New York, Privately Printed, 1924. Ollivier, E., L'Empire Liberal, 18 vols., Paris, 1895-1916. Oncken, H., Napoleon III und der Rhein, 3 vols., Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig, 1926. (English translation of Oncken's Darstellung by F. Schevill, New York, Knopf, 1928, pp. X X I I I + 209.) Osborne, S., The Saar Question, London, Allen and Unwin, 1923, p. 384. Pange, J. de, Les Libertés Rhénanes, Paris, Perrin, 1922, p. 369. , Ce qu'il faut savoir de la Sarre, Editions des Portiques, Paris, 1934, p. 126. Perthes, C., Politische Zustände und Personen in Deutschland zur Zeit der Französischen Herrschaft, 2 vols., Gotha, Perthes Verlag, 1862-69. Pinot, R., Le Comité des Forges de France, Paris, Colin, 1919, p. 347. Priou, J., L'Organisation politique et économique du territoire de la Sarre, Paris, Sirey, 1921, pp. X I + 256.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

243

Rehanek, R. and König, J., Sieg an der Saar, Saarbrücken, Saarbriicker Druckerei, 1935, p. 120. Revire, J., La Sarre, Lyon, Imprimerie Vitte, 1928, p. 31. Rixecker, O., Die Bevölkerungsverteilung im Saargebiet, Dissertation, Berlin, 1930, p. 79. Röchling, H., Wir Halten die Saar, Berlin, V o l k und Reich Verlag, 1934, p· 139· Rousset, C , Histoire de Louvois, 4 vols., 6th ed., Paris, Didier, 1879. Rovere, J., Les Survivances Françaises dans l'Allemagne Napoléonienne, 1815-1914, Paris, Alean, 1918, pp. V I I + 413. Ruppersberg, Α., Geschichte des Saargebietes, Saarbrücken, Saarbrück Druckerei, 1923, p. 566. Russell, F., The International Government of the Saar, University of California Publications in International Relations, vol. I, No. 2, pp. 113-249, Berkeley, 1926. Sagnac, P., Le Rhin Francais, Paris, Alean, 1917, p. 384. Savelkouls, H., Der Franc im Saargebiet, 2nd ed., Stuttgart, Cotta, 1922, pp. V I I I + 139. Schnabel, F., Deutsche Geschichte im Neunsehnten Jahrhundert, 4 vols., Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2nd ed., 1937. Steinbach, H., Geschichte der Französischen Saarpolitik, Bonn, 1934, Rohrscheid Verlag, p. 103. Stresemann, G., Vermächtniss, 3 vols., Berlin, Ullstein, 1932. Tardieu, Α., The Truth About the Treaty, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1921, p. 473· Temperley, H. W . V . (ed.), A History of the Peace Conference of Paris, vol. II, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1920, p. 488. Wambaugh, S., The Saar Plebiscite, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1940, p. 489. Webster, C. K., The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh, 1812-1815, London, G. Bell, 1931. P· S89. , British Diplomacy, 1813-1815, London, G. Bell, 1921, p. 410. Zimmerman, Α., La Réadaptation économique de la Sarre, 1935-1936, Paris, Les Presses Modernes, 1937, p. 226.

INDEX A

D

Allied Control Council, 180, 191, 200, 222 Andlauer, General, 100 Association Française de la Sarre, 153-S. 179-80

Danton, 31 De Lhuys, Drouyn, 85, 87, 90, 91, 92 Denazification, 190-1, 197 Deutsche Front, 162, 163, 164, 165 Dillingen, 15, 27, 102 Directory, 34, 35 Droste-Vischering, Archbishop von, 65

Austro-Prussian W a r , 87, 89 Β Bale, Treaty of, 33, 34 Barthélémy, M., 33 Barthou, M., 171, 172 Belgium, 74, 75, 77 Benedetti, Count, 90, 91 Beust, Baron, 94 Bevin, Ernest, 208, 210 Bismarck, 66, 88, 89, 91 Blieskastel, 27 von Boch, Alfred, 121, 134, 124 Böcking, Heinrich, 45, 48, 54, 58, 68 Bornewasser, Bishop Rudolf, 18990 Boundary of 1814, 47, 48, 105, 107 Boundary of 1815, 50, 51, 57 Briand, Aristide, 103, 152, 153 Byrnes, James F., 207 C Caclamanos Report, 121, 140, 141 Campo-Formio, Treaty of, 33, 34 Carnot, M., 29 Chambres de Réunion, 19, 20, 21, 22 Chateaubriand, M., 73 Clay, General Lucius D., 208 Clemenceau, 101, 105, 108, h i Coal Canal, 67, 87 Deposits, 14 Markets for, 145, 206-7 Mines, 43, 55, 87, 98, 112η., 14345, 146, 148, 167, 172, 191-2, 200, 225, 228 Seams, 14 Supplies of (German), 103 Code Napoleon, 41, 61-2 Consuls, 40 Council of Foreign Ministers, 207, 208, 209, 211 Council of Four, 106, 108, 109, n o , 116 Crimean War, 79 Customs Regime, Franco-Saar, 114, 148, 174, 200, 201-2, 225

Dumouriez, M., 31, 32 E von Ehrenrooth, M., 143 Engels, Friedrich, 84 European Coal Organization, 237 F

206,

Franco-Austrian Alliance (projected), 83 Frankfort, Treaty of, 97 Frederick William II, of Prussia, 32, 58, 62, 64, 65 French Language, teaching of, 100 French Schools, establishment of, 136 ff. G Geislautern, Mining School of, 43-4 Goltz, Count, 85, 86, 92, 93 Görres, Josef, 56, 60 Governing Commission Appointment of, 121 Composition of, 120, 122 Evaluation of work of, 167-70 Form and rights of, 113-114 Proposals for, n o , h i Grandval, Colonel Gilbert, 181, 222 Griiner, Justus, 44, 46 H Hector, Doctor, 101, 123, 132, 164 Hermès, George, 63-4 Hoche, General, 34-5 Hoffmann, Johannes, 184, 213, 216 Holy Roman Empire, 18, 19, 47, 55, 233 I Iron and steel production, 14 (See also, Saar Territory, industries) 245

246

INDEX κ

Knox, President, 161, 163 Kossmann, Bartholomäus, 132 Kulturkampf, 66 L Lambert, Major, 121, 123, 124 Landesrat (Advisory Council), 128, 157,

162

League of Nations Council, 113, 114, 120, 121, 130, 137, 138, 141. 1 5 1 , 165, 169, 1 7 1 - 2

143,

Le Petit Rhin, 80 Ligue des Droits de l'Homme, 154-5 London, Conference of, 75 Louis X I V , 18, 19, 23, 46, 79, 97 Lunéville, Treaty of, 32, 34 Luxemburg Crisis, 94 M Marshall, George C , 211 Mediomatrici, 17 Miller, David Hunter, n o Mining Administration, French, 1792-1815, 5 4 ; 1920-1935, 134, 138, 139, 1 4 6 ; 1945, 193, 225-6. ( S e e

also Saar Territory, Industries and Coal, Mines) von Moltke, General, 96 Moltke-Huitveld, Count de, 121, 123, 124, 143

Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre, 185, 213 Münster, Peace of, 19, 20 Ν Napoleon I, 40, 41, 48, 52, 55 Napoleon III, 48, 67, 78, 79, 82, 89, 90, 96, 234

Nassau-Saarbrücken, Counts of, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 42

National Convention, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31. 32 National Socialist Party in the Saar, 158, 160, 163

Nijmegen, Peace of, 19, 20, 22 O Occupation Policy, French, 99 Ollivier, E., 96 Ρ Palmerston, Lord, 76 Paris, Conference of, 105 Paris, Treaties of, First, 46 Second, 44, 48, 49, 234

Plebiscite Commission, 165 French interest in, 151 ff. Provision for, 114-5, 165 Supreme Plebiscite Tribunal, 165 Vote, 166 Prague, Treaty of, 95 Prussia, Administration of the Saar by, 60 ff. Armies of, 44 Policy toward French Saar aims, 1860-70, 80 ff.

Reception of in the Saar, 59 ff. R Rastadt, Congress of, 33-4 Rault, M. Victor, 121, 122, 124, 126, 131, 132, 140, 141, 143. 169 Ravenna, Truce of, 21 Republican Clubs, 29, 30 Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, 68, 75 Rhinelanders, 59, 60, 66, 71, 77 Rhine Frontier, 31, 33, 50 Rhine River, 46, 57, 73, 97 Roberjot, M., 34, 39 Röchling Family, 42 Röchling, Hermann, 98, 102, 157, 163, 196

Roman

Catholic

Religion,

16, 23,

53, 54. 62-66, 160-1, 189-90, 228

Rudier, M., 35, 36 Ryswick, Treaty of, 22 S

Saarbrücken, City of, 13, 23, 30, 31, 42, 45, 46, 48, 49, 58, 61, 66, 69, 79, 86, 87, 95, ιοί, 124, 132, 144, 163, 165, 167, 176, 179, 182, 183, 197

Saargemünd, 13, 67 Saarlautern, see Saarlouis Saarlouis, City of, 13, 14, 16, 22, 23, 28, 34, 36, 48, 50, 55, 6 1 , 69, 72, 98, 99, ΙΟΙ, Ιθ6, 122

Saar Broadcasting Office, 197 Saar Constitution, 212, 217 ff., 225 Saar Railways Board, 132 Saar Statute (Saar A n n e x ) , i n ff., M7ff., 125, 127 Saar Territory Administrative Organization of, after 1935, 175 American Military Government in, 179

Area, 13 Boundaries of, 181-2

INDEX Economic union with France, 195, 205-6, 207 ff., 223-4, 231-2 Effect of World War II in, 178-9 Elections in, 186-7, 214-15 Franco-Saar Judicial Convention, 123-4 Frankish Control of, 17-18 French Influence in, 151 ff. French Military Government in, 100, 180, 183, 190-1, 196, 199, 229 Food Supply of, 149-50, 176, 198-9 German Propaganda in, 157 Industries, 14-15. 42, 5'. 54, 67, 175-8, 191-6. 231 International Policing of, 165-6 Interests abroad of, 133 Military Occupation of, (1793) 36, (1946) 198 Political Annexation of, by France, 228 Political Parties of, 183-5, 18890, 209 Population of, 15, 16, 182 Retention of French troops in, 140 ff. Roman Control of, 17 Russian attitude to, 211-12 Trade of, 149-51, 176-7, 191, 205-6 Unemployment in, 148 Use of franc in, 134 ff., 172, 203-5 Saar Zeitung, 81 Sarre Departments, 35, 40, 52 Petitions sent from, 37 Population of, 44 Voting procedure in, 38

247

Sarrelibre, see Saarlouis Schleswig-Holstein question, 85-6 Shée, Colonel, 35 Sokolovsky, Marshall, 211 Stephens, George W., 132, 143, 168 Strikes, miners', 129; public officials', 130 Supreme Court of the Saar, 125 Supreme Plebiscite Court, 174 Talleyrand, 74, 75, 76, 116 Tardieu, Andre, 108, 152, 153 Trier and Speyer, Bishoprics of, 16 Vauban, M., 23, 46 Vienna, Congress of, 47, 72 Völkingen, 15, 196, 226 W Warndt region, 14, 147-8, Waugh, R. D., 121, 123, 143, 168 Western European Union, Wilson, President, 103, i n , 116, 235 Wilton, Sir Ernest, 143

172-3 124, 133, 236-8 108, 109,

" Y e a r of F e a r " (1793). 28 Youth Organizations, 197 Zweibrücken, 22, 150, 164, 179