League of nations
Saar Territory 1920-1935

The Saar is a territory on the border of Germany and France. The region is 1912 km² large and in 1927 had a population of 770.030. The Saar is a very industrial state due to lots of natural resources like coal.

                                                              This is the Flag of Saar 1920-1935
https://flagspot.net/flags/de-sl920.html

In history the ownership of Saar changed several times between France and Germany. In 1792 the Saar lost its independence to France, while in 1815 Bavaria toke over the leadership. After several annexations of Napoleon, in 1870 the Saar was part of Germany again.

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Lage_Deutsches_Reich_-
_Saargebiet.png&filetimestamp=20121002170158&

                                               This is a map of Germany, The red is Saar.

In 1918 Germany lost the first World War to France, Great Britain and US.  As a result Germany had to pay reparations which were documented in the Treaty of Versailles. One part was that France could take economical advantage of the territory of Saar. In detail the Saar was put under mandatory of the League of Nations for 15 years. Afterwards the population could vote for either Germany, France or independence. During the 15 years the territory was govern by 5 person Governing commission, which at least had to consist of one German and one French representative.

     

 

                                                         This is the emblem of the Saar
https://flagspot.net/flags/de-sl920.html

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/images/highres_30024570%20copy.jpg

This was the German vote paper.  I used the vote paper to show how something like this used to look.  It is the German ballot but there is also french writing on it. Normally Hitler and the Germans would do not very fair ballots but this was a very far vote so no one could say anything against the result of it.  When voting you would cross in the white space of your choice. I use this also to show that it was a fair vote. 

In 1935 January there was the vote. There were three choices. 90.8% of the population voted for Germany while 8.8% voted for independence and only 0.8 percent for France. Reason for that was the strong power of Nazi Germany during the mid 30ies, especially the support for Hitler. After the reintegration into Germany many people which were against Nazis had to flee into other countries or put into jail.
                     This is a video of the 1935 where they announced the votes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLA9BGc_mc8

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19350116&id=6adAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=haUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3378,2205720 (The Glasgow Herald - Jan 16, 1935) The source 

Here you can see a copy of the newspaper ‘The Glasgow Herald’ 1935 when Hitler won the elections. I used the British newspaper because this was the view from the outside. The German newspaper or the french newspaper would be unfair. Because it tells it from one point of view. It would be bias to use the Germans or French. Three days after he won the elections. There is also a copy of his speech and the results of the votes. Hitler says in his speech that 15 years there was wrong done. There was a lot of harm for all the people living there and for the nation. But there is joy that it now belongs to the German Reich.  Hitler thought that it was bad for Saar to be under control of the League of Nations and used by France.

https://isemodernworldhistorygrade9.wikispaces.com/From+the+Saarland+to+the+Rhineland,+1935-36

( 1935- Here is a picture of the people voting in Saar.)

To the votes Hitler responded by saying he was proud of the German people.  He did not like the treaty of Versailles and League of Nations. Hitler said that the votes were a demonstration of support for his
government and this was the first steep towards the union of all Germans in Germany.  The votes were also totally legal not like other votes which Hitler faked. The Saar was the first German speakers to reunion to Germany under Nazi rule. After that the Nazis could also reunion other territories that had German speakers in it like Austria.

                                   This is the money that was used in the Saar. It was french money.

http://www.saar-nostalgie.de/Muenzen/SaargebietFranken/MinesDominiales1FR_a.jpg

Until 1923 the main currency was the German Mark. After that only the French franc was aloud as currency. After the elections n 1935 the currency changed again to the German Reich Mark.

http://bilder.auxion.de/normal/194/194367/S2403100010-95e871fb26c840d7a867427f876e8fda.jpg

Before 1920 the Saar had German stamps. During the change of ownership the old stamps were stamped with the French print (sarre).

 

These are stamp from my dad. He got the stamps in Germnay. The stamp on the right is from 1928. It is a stamp that was printed in Paris. It also had 60 centime.  Which was French money at that time. It only had French money 1923 to 1935. After that the Saar had German money again. The stamp on the left is a German stamp from 1935 when the Saar belong Germany again. At the to it says “Die Saar kehr heim”. In English this means the Saar returns home. The picture of the kid and the women symbolises this that everyone meats at home again. That they are hogging is a symbol that they belong together and love each other. This is the same with the Saar and Germany. These two stamps are biased because they are from the Germans. They do not show the other side of France  They support Germany and the nazi regime. Hitler says that wrong was done with the Saar and it is good that they become again a part of the third Reich. The stamps symbolise this. 

http://kwilhelmii.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15311806/2420444.jpg?0

1919 the League of Nation was formed. The aim was to stop all wars and know one should start a war. In 1920 the  League of Nations declared that the Saar will be a mandated territory for 15 years. The league of nations gave France the territory to use to repair what Germany did to them in WW1.



bibliography

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