View source for Saar Protectorate

{{About|the French Saar protectorate established after World War II|the League of Nations protectorate established after World War I|Territory of the Saar Basin}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Short description|French protectorate (1947–1956)}}
{{More fn|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Saarland
| common_name            = 
| native_name            = {{native name|de|Saarland}}<br>{{native name|fr|Sarre}}
| image_flag             = Flag of Saar (1947–1956).svg
| image_coat             = Wappen Saarland 1948.svg
| symbol_width           = 75px
| national_motto         = 
| englishmotto           =
| national_anthem        = ''[[Saarlandlied]]''<ref>{{Citation|last=Revilla|first=Angel David|title=Saar Protectorate Patriotic Song (1945–1957) – "Land der Saar"|date=2017-12-11|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyEX0I7Xs9w |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/qyEX0I7Xs9w |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|access-date=2021-02-07}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
| image_map              = Saar Protectorate Germany location map 8 Jun 1947 - 22 Apr 1949.png
| map_caption            = Saar Protectorate (red) in 1947
| era                    = Cold War
| life_span              = 1947–1956
| event_start            = Establishment
| date_start             = 17 December 1947
| event1                 = [[Saar statute]]
| date_event1            = 23 October 1954
| event2                 = [[1955 Saar Statute referendum|Referendum]]
| date_event2            = 23 October 1955
| event3                 = [[Saar Treaty]]
| date_event3            = 27 October 1956
| event_end              = {{nowrap|Integration into [[West Germany]]}}
| date_end               = 1 January
| year_end               = 1957
| p1                     = Gau Westmark
| flag_p1                = Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg
| border_p1              = yes
| s1                     = Saarland
| flag_s1                = Flag of Saarland.svg
| border_s1              = no
{{endplainlist}}
| capital                = [[Saarbrücken]]
| coordinates            = {{coord|49|14|N|7|0|E|format=dms|display=inline}}
| largest_city           = capital
| languages_type         = Common languages
| languages              = {{plainlist}}
* [[German language|German]]
* [[Rhine Franconian dialects|Rhine Franconian]]
* {{nowrap|[[Moselle Franconian dialects|Moselle Franconian]]}}
{{endplainlist}}
| religion               = [[Secular state]]
| demonym                = Saarlander or Saar
| status                 = [[Disputed territory]] of Germany<br>French [[protectorate]]{{efn|Saarland was an independent government within the economic sphere of France; France was responsible for defence and foreign affairs (cf. Preamble of Saarland's Constitution).}}
| government_type        = [[Unitary parliamentary republic]]
| title_leader           = French Representative
| leader1                = [[Gilbert Grandval]]{{efn|High Commissioner (1948–1952), Ambassador & Chief of the Diplomatic Mission (1952–1956).}}
| year_leader1           = 1947–1955
| leader2                = Charles de Carbonnel{{efn|Ambassador & Chief of the Diplomatic Mission.}}
| year_leader2           = 1955–1956
| title_deputy           = [[List of Minister-Presidents of the Saarland|Minister-President]]
| deputy1                = {{nowrap|[[Johannes Hoffmann (CVP)|Johannes Hoffmann]]}}
| year_deputy1           = 1947–1955
| deputy2                = [[Heinrich Welsch]]
| year_deputy2           = 1955–1956
| deputy3                = [[Hubert Ney]]
| year_deputy3           = 1956
| legislature            = [[Landtag of Saarland|Landtag]]
| currency               = {{plainlist}}
* [[Reichsmark]] (1946–47)
* [[Saar mark]] (1947)
* {{nowrap|[[French franc]] (1947–54)}}
* [[Saar franc]]{{efn|French franc with German markings.}} (1954–59)
{{endplainlist}}
| today                  = [[Germany]]
}}
The '''Saar Protectorate''' ({{langx|de|Saarprotektorat}} {{IPA|de|ˈzaːɐ̯pʁotɛktoˌʁaːt|}}; {{langx|fr|Protectorat de la Sarre}}), officially '''Saarland''' ({{langx|fr|Sarre}}), was a short-lived French [[protectorate]] and a [[disputed territory]] separated from [[occupied Germany|Germany]]. On joining the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany)]] in 1957, it became the smallest "federal state" ({{lang|de|Bundesland}}), the [[Saarland]], not counting the "city states" ({{lang|de|Stadtstaaten}}) of [[Berlin]], [[Hamburg]], and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]. It is named after the [[Saar (river)|Saar River]].

The region around the Saar River and its [[tributary|tributary valleys]] is a geologically folded, mineral-rich, ethnically German, economically important, and heavily industrialized area. It has well-developed [[railway|transportation infrastructure]], and was one of the centres of the [[Industrial Revolution]] in Germany. Around 1900, the region formed the third-largest area of coal, iron, and steel industry in Germany (after the [[Ruhr Area]] and the [[Upper Silesian Coal Basin]]). From 1920 to 1935, as a result of [[World War I]], the region was under the control of the [[League of Nations]] as the [[Territory of the Saar Basin]]. In 1935, [[Nazi Germany]] established its full sovereignty over the territory.

Geographically, the post-[[World War II]] protectorate corresponded to the current German state of Saarland (established after its incorporation into West Germany as a state on 1 January 1957). A policy of industrial disarmament and dispersal of industrial workers was officially pursued by the [[Allies in World War II|Allies]] after the war until 1951. The region was made a [[protectorate]] from [[French occupation zone in Germany|French military occupation zone]] in Germany under French control in 1946. In 1947, Saarland promulgated a separate constitution. [[Cold War]] pressures for a stronger Germany allowed renewed industrialization, and the French returned control of the region to the government of West Germany founded on the American–British–French occupation zones. Historically, it was a [[disputed territory]] of West Germany as it was always opposed by the Soviet Union, one of the countries occupying Germany and a member of the [[Allied Control Council]] (ACC).

== History ==
The region of the Saar had been previously annexed by France (as the {{ill|Bailiwick of Sarrelouis|fr|Bailliage de Sarrelouis}}, 1685) and occupied during the French Revolution (1790–1798) and the [[Napoleonic Wars]], when it had been included in the [[First French Empire]] as the [[Sarre (département)|Sarre]] department between 1798 and 1814.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

=== Post-World War I ===
{{main|Territory of the Saar Basin}}

Under the [[Treaty of Versailles]], the Saar was initially occupied by combat units from the United Kingdom and [[French Third Republic|France]]. In 1920, Britain and France established a nominally independent occupation government for the [[Territory of the Saar Basin|League of Nations mandate of the Saar]]: the greater part of the area under its control was carved out of the [[Free State of Prussia|Prussia]]n [[Rhine Province]] and was supplemented by two [[Bavaria]]n districts (Homburg and St. Ingbert) taken from the [[Circle of the Rhine|Rhenish Palatinate]]. This was sanctioned by a 15-year [[League of Nations]] mandate which stationed League of Nations troops from Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in the Saar until 1935. The Saar's coal industry, the dominant industry in the region at the time, was nationalized and directly administered by France, in compensation for the destruction of French mines by the retreating Germans in 1918.

==== Plebiscite ====
{{main|1935 Saar status referendum}}

On 13 January 1935, a [[1935 Saar status referendum|plebiscite]] held in the territory at the end of the 15-year term, resulted in 90.7% of voters casting their ballot in favour of a return to Germany, and 0.4% voting for union with France. Others (8.9%) favoured the third option of a continued British–French occupation government. After political agitation and manoeuvring by Chancellor [[Adolf Hitler]] for the re-union of the Saarland with the [[German Reich]] ({{lang|de|Rückgliederung des Saarlandes}}) it was reincorporated in 1935. Its area was not redivided among the Prussian [[Rhine Province]] and the Bavarian Palatinate, but united with the latter as the [[Gau (German)|Gau]] of [[Gau Westmark|Saar-Palatinate]] ({{lang|de|Saarpfalz}}). In 1942 it was renamed {{lang|de|Westmark}} (Western [[March (territory)|March]]), as it was planned to be expanded to incorporate parts of German-occupied French [[Lorraine]] which, however, did not materialise.

=== Post-World War II ===
[[File:Deutschland Besatzungszonen 8 Jun 1947 - 22 Apr 1949 franzoesisch.svg|thumb|Germany in 1947:
{{plainlist|style=text-align: left;}}
{{Legend|#a2bef1|Saar Protectorate}}
{{Legend|#1a62d5|[[French occupation zone in Germany|French occupation zone]]}}
{{Legend|#707070|Rest of [[Allied-occupied Germany]]}}
{{Legend|#f5f5f5|Polish-administrated [[former eastern territories of Germany]]}}
{{endplainlist}}]]
In July 1945, two months after World War II had ended in Europe, the Allied forces were redeploying from the areas they had conquered into their respective zones of occupation. On 10 July 1945, US forces left the Saar, and French troops established their occupational administration. On 16 February 1946, France disentangled the Saar from the Allied zones of occupation and established the separate Saar Protectorate, which was ''de facto'' no longer under the joint Allied jurisdiction by the [[Allied Control Council|Allied Control Council for Germany]].

French officials deported a total of 1,820 people from the Saar in 1946 and 1947, most of whom ultimately were allowed to return.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Long|first1=Bronson|title=No Easy Occupation: French Control of the German Saar, 1944–1957|date=September 2015|publisher=Camden House|location=Rochester, New York|isbn=978-1-57113-915-3|pages=44–47|edition=First}}</ref> However, France had not agreed to the expulsions approved (without input from France) in the Potsdam agreement by the Allies, so France refused to accept war refugees or expellees from the eastern annexed territories in the Saar protectorate or the French zone.<ref>Cf. the report of the Central State Archive of Rhineland-Palatinate on the first expellees arriving in that state in 1950 to be resettled from other German states. {{cite web |url=http://www.landeshauptarchiv.de/blick/archiv.html?15.04.0 |title=Blick in die Geschichte – Jubiläum #15.04.0 |access-date=2010-03-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821002653/http://www.landeshauptarchiv.de/blick/archiv.html?15.04.0 |archive-date=2009-08-21 }}</ref> However, native Sarrois returning from Nazi-imposed removals (e.g. political and Jewish refugees) and war-related relocations (e.g. evacuation from air raids) were allowed to return to the areas under French control. France aimed at winning over the Saar population for a future annexation.

With effect from 20 July 1946, 109 municipalities of the Prussian [[Rhine Province]] within the French zone were added to the Saar Protectorate. By 18 December 1946 customs controls were established between the Saar and allied occupied Germany. By further territorial redeployments between the Saar Protectorate, constituted in early 1947, and neighbouring [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] (a new state established on 30 August 1946 in the French zone), 61 municipalities returned to Germany, while 13 other municipalities were ceded to the Saar Protectorate between 8 June 1947 and 1949, followed by one further Palatine municipality incorporated into the Saar in the latter year.<ref>Hans-Peter Schwarz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=RxY5HN9m48QC&pg=PA489 Konrad Adenauer: a German politician and statesman in a period of war]'', p489</ref>

In the speech [[Restatement of Policy on Germany]], given in [[Stuttgart]] on 6 September 1946, the US Secretary of State [[James F. Byrnes]] stated the US's motive in detaching the Saar from Germany as "The United States does not feel that it can deny to France, which has been invaded three times by Germany in 70 years, its claim to the Saar territory".

[[File:Verfassung des Saarlandes 1948.jpg|thumb|Constitution of Saarland 1947/48]]
On 16 July 1947 the [[Saar mark]] replaced the [[Reichsmark]] as legal tender in the Saar Protectorate, followed by the integration of the Saar into the French currency area on 15 November the same year. While only [[French franc]] banknotes circulated from 1954 on, [[Saar franc]] coins, designed similar to French coins, were issued too. On 15 December 1947 the Saar was constituted by its constitution as the Saarland (took effect two days later), with an elected government under the control of the French high commissioner [[Gilbert Grandval]]. December 1947 had severe flooding along the Saar river, water higher than in the past 150 years, with extensive relief efforts undertaken. On 23 March 1948 the customs union with France was confirmed, taking effect on 1 April.

[[File:France. Shown here is the Voelklingen Iron and Steel Works, largest steel mill in the Saar. In addition to numerous... - NARA - 541686.tif|thumb|View of steel and ironworks in the Saar, {{circa}}1950]]
Initially, a policy of industrial disarmament was pursued in Germany by the Allied powers (see [[industrial plans for Germany]]). As part of this policy, limits were placed on permitted production levels, and industries in the Saar were dismantled as they had been in the Ruhr, although mostly in the period before the detachment (see also [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/message_for_monsieur_schuman_from_mr_bevin-en-0fc42bca-95ef-4f07-bf54-2c23d3e015a2.html The 1949 letter] from the UK Foreign minister [[Ernest Bevin]] to the French Foreign minister [[Robert Schuman]], urging a reconsideration of dismantling policy). This policy was quickly reversed in mid-1946 or early 1947.

France's attempts to internationalize the Ruhr (see [[International Authority for the Ruhr]]) were abandoned in 1950 when, in the face of [[Cold War]] pressures in Europe, the French government took an historic step in deciding that the only viable political model for the future lay in European integration.  This resulted in the [[Schuman Declaration]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/symbols/europe-day/schuman-declaration_en  | title=The Schuman Declaration – 9 May 1950 |  author=EUROPA.EU An official website of the European Union}}</ref> a plan drafted for the most part by [[Jean Monnet]]. The plan put forward a rapprochement between France, Germany, and other European countries wanting to participate. As a first step, France and Germany were to agree to pool their markets for coal and steel, following the establishment of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] (ECSC).<ref>{{cite web|last=Britannica|date=2021-05-21|title=Schuman Plan|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Schuman-Plan}}</ref>  With the participation of [[West Germany]] in the ECSC, agreement on termination of the International Authority for the Ruhr came into force on 25 June 1952.<ref>{{cite web | author=United Nations | title=Statement of Treaties and International Agreements Registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat during June 1959 | url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/Monthly%20Statement/1959/06/monstate.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906192719/https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/Monthly%20Statement/1959/06/monstate.pdf | archive-date=6 September 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref>  However, France delayed the return of the Saar.

Under French rule, pro-German parties<ref>The parties in favour of a reunification of the Saar with Germany were the [[Christian-Democratic Union of the Saar]] (CDU-Saar), the [[German Social Democratic Party (Saar)|German Social Democratic Party]] (DSP) and the [[Democratic Party of the Saar]] (DPS). Whereas the DSP, on 26 October 1946 first founded as Democratic Association of the Saarland (DVS, Demokratische Vereinigung des Saarlandes) and reorganised and officially registered as the DPS on 28 February 1947, only turned into a pro-German party, earning it the party ban on 21 May 1951, the DSP, inofficially formed on 28 February 1947, and the CDU-Saar, inofficially formed in 1952, promoted the reunification from the beginning and could thus only register officially in May 1955. On 3 September 1955 the three parties formed the united election list called [[Heimatbund]]. Cf. Rainer Freyer, [http://www.saar-nostalgie.de/Parteien1.htm "Die Parteien im Saarland 1945–59"], on: [http://www.saar-nostalgie.de/ ''Saar-Nostalgie: Erinnerungen an frühere Zeiten im Saarland''], retrieved on 20 February 2014.</ref> were initially banned from contesting the elections. Much support was given to the {{lang|fr|[[:fr:Mouvement pour le rattachement de la Sarre à la France|Mouvement pour le rattachement de la Sarre à la France]]}}, a Francophile movement founded by Saar exiles in Paris in early 1945, with many of the exiles having returned after the war. However, in the general election of December 1952, 24% of the voters cast blank ballots in support of banned pro-German parties (while the majority still voted for one of the legal parties who wanted the Saar to remain autonomous).{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

=== Referendum and becoming a state of West Germany ===<!-- [[Kleine Wiedervereinigung]] redirects here-->
{{Main|1955 Saar Statute referendum}}
In the [[Paris Agreements]] of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of the [[Western European Union]] (WEU), but a [[1955 Saar Statute referendum|referendum]] held on 23 October 1955 rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite the public support of West German Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Sarrois was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.cvce.eu/viewer/-/content/26859090-52d0-4850-9019-92748182042a/en;jsessionid=D56ABFCD5B07575A729089229C359CD3 |title=Results of the referendum on the Saar Statute (23 October 1955)|work=Saarländische Volkszeitung|location=Saarbrücken |page=10|date= October 24, 1955 |access-date=November 8, 2011}}</ref>

[[File:100 saar franken.jpg|thumb|right|100 Saar franken coin]]

On 27 October 1956 the [[Saar Treaty]] established that Saarland should be allowed to become a state of [[West Germany]], as provided by article 23 of its {{lang|de|[[Grundgesetz]]}} (constitution), and so Saarland did on 1 January 1957. West Germany agreed to the [[River engineering#Channelization|channelization]] of the [[Moselle River|Moselle]], which reduced freight costs for the French steel industry in [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]]. West Germany also agreed to the teaching of [[French language|French]] as the first foreign language in schools in the Saarland; although no longer binding, the agreement is still generally followed.

The treaty also stated that economic union with West Germany was to be completed by 1960, with the exact date of the replacement of the Saar and French franc by the [[Deutsche Mark]] being kept a secret called "Day X" ({{lang|de|Tag X}}). Although the Saar became a state of West Germany (as [[Saarland]]) on 1 January 1957, the franc remained legal tender in Saarland until 6 July 1959.{{Clarify|date=March 2025}} Thus on that date the {{lang|de|Kleine Wiedervereinigung}} (little reunification) was completed, after more than 13 years of separation.

As a footnote to the creation of the [[European Union]], the territorial dispute over control of the Saarland was one of the last between member states and led to the [[European flag]] being given a politically neutral ring of twelve stars rather than the originally proposed 15 (one of which was to represent a nominally independent Saar as a member of the [[Council of Europe]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homepage.tinet.ie/~seanjmurphy/chiefs/euroflagmemo.html |title=Irish Chiefs: Memorandum on the Role of Irish Chief Herald Slevin in the Design of the European Flag |first=Sean |last=Murphy |work=homepage.tinet.ie |date=January 25, 2006 |access-date=November 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423064110/http://homepage.tinet.ie/~seanjmurphy/chiefs/euroflagmemo.html |archive-date=April 23, 2007 }}</ref>

== Minister-Presidents ==
The first elections for the parliament of the Saar protectorate were held on 5 October 1947, with four parties being allowed, the [[Christian People's Party of Saarland]] (CVP), the [[Social Democratic Party of Saarland]] (SPS), the [[Democratic Party of Saarland]] (DPS) and the [[Communist Party of Saarland]] (KPS). The first {{lang|de|Landtag}} passed the law establishing the constitution of the Saarland on 15 December 1947. The most successful party, the CVP under [[Johannes Hoffmann (CVP)|Johannes Hoffmann]] formed the first government with the SPS.
* 1947–1952: [[Johannes Hoffmann (CVP)|Johannes Hoffmann]] (CVP), first term
* 1952–1955: Johannes Hoffmann (CVP), second term, resigned after the Saar statute failed in the referendum
* 1955–1956: [[Heinrich Welsch]] (independent), led the government till the end of his term
* 1956–1957: [[Hubert Ney]] (CVP), resigned after the reunification due to party quarrels

== French representatives ==
[[File:Saar Protectorate Europe Location.svg|thumb|Saar Protectorate (dark green) and France (light green) in 1956]]

;High Commissioner of the French Republic in the Saarland
* [[Gilbert Grandval|Gilbert-Yves-Edmond Grandval]]: 10 January 1948 – 5 March 1952

;Chiefs of the diplomatic mission of the French Republic in the Saarland
* [[Gilbert Grandval|Gilbert-Yves-Edmond Grandval]]: 1 January 1952 – 8 July 1955
* Charles-Marie-Eric de Carbonnel: 8 July 1955 – 27 October 1956

== Sport ==
The [[Saar at the 1952 Summer Olympics|Saar competed in the]] [[1952 Summer Olympics]] in [[Helsinki]], and the [[Saarland national football team]] participated in the [[1954 FIFA World Cup qualification#Group 1|qualifying section of the 1954 FIFA World Cup]], but failed to qualify after coming second to the [[Germany national football team|West German team]], but ahead of [[Norway national football team|Norway]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/02/world-cup-2010-player-managers | work=The Guardian | first=John | last=Ashdown | title=World Cup 2010 special: part two – Have any player-managers ever appeared at a World Cup? | date=2 June 2010}}</ref> [[Helmut Schön]], later World and European champion with West Germany, was the manager of the Saarland team from 1952 until Saarland became a part of West Germany in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/saar-intres.html |title=Saar – List of International Matches and Line-Ups |first=Barrie |last=Courtney |work=[[RSSSF]] |date=May 20, 2004 |access-date=November 8, 2011}}</ref>

The [[Amateurliga Saarland]] was the local league within the [[German football league system|German Football League System]] except 1948–1951 period when it was under independent [[Saarland Football Association]] control. [[1. FC Saarbrücken]] took part in the first ever [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] in [[1955-56 European Cup|1955]].

== Postage stamps ==
Postage stamps were issued specially for the territory from 1920 to 1935, and from 1947 to 1959 (see [[postage stamps and postal history of the Saar]]).

== See also ==
* [[Sarre (department)|Sarre]], a department of France (1798–1814)
* [[Saar (river)]]
* [[Kehl]], a town directly annexed to France in 1945 and returned to Germany in 1953
* [[List of French possessions and colonies]]
* [[Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War]]
* [[Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War]]
* [[Luxembourg annexation plans after the Second World War]]
* [[Recovered Territories]]
* [[Free Territory of Trieste]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Further reading ===
* [[Jacques Freymond]], ''The Saar Conflict, 1945–1955''. Hassell Street Press, 2021. ISBN 978-1013850066

=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Saar Protectorate}}
* [http://www.amtsblatt.uni-saarland.de/hefte/1947/1947-067.pdf Constitution of Saarland] (In French & German) on the website of the University of Saarland
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/aide_memoire_concerning_the_separation_of_germany_s_industrial_regions_8_september_1945-en-65894711-44e5-4dc8-98e8-e9e7c8a25a65.html Aide-mémoire concerning the separation of Germany’s industrial regions] 8 September 1945. on CVCE website
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/note_on_the_advantages_of_the_franco_saar_economic_union_august_1952-en-52dc0154-3e67-41ad-ba57-87967795d7bb.html Note on the advantages of the Franco-Saar Economic Union (August 1952)] Documents relating to the Saar-France Issue. Translated version available on CVCE website.
* [http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box31/t297a01.html Morgenthau (post surrender) Plan from 1944] Purpose of proposed Saar transfer is to weaken German industry.
* [http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga4-460906.htm Restatement of Policy on Germany. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes. Stuttgart. 6 September 1946] Statement in favour of the transfer of the Saar to France.
* [http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/saar.htm France, Germany and the Struggle for the War-making Natural Resources of the Rhineland] Describes the contest for the Saar over the centuries.
* [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS.FRUS1947v02 Foreign relations of the United States, 1947. Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria] Pg. 1073 onwards deals with "Attitude of the United States Regarding the Detachment of the Saar from Germany and its Integration into the French Economy"
* [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3908480 THE SAAR CONFLICT 1945–1955] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604224508/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3908480 |date=4 June 2011 }}

{{Council of Europe}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saar (Protectorate)}}
[[Category:Saar Protectorate| ]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II in Germany|Saar (1947–1956)]]
[[Category:History of Saarland|Saar (1947–1956)]]
[[Category:France–Germany relations]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1947]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1957]]
[[Category:1947 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:1957 disestablishments in Europe]]