15 Facts About Saarland

1.

Saarland is a state of Germany in the south west of the country.

FactSnippet No. 857,934
2.

Saarland is mainly surrounded by the department of Moselle in France to the west and south and the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany to the north and east; it shares a small border about 8 kilometres long with the canton of Remich in Luxembourg to the northwest.

FactSnippet No. 857,935
3.

Saarland was established in 1920 after World War I as the Territory of the Saar Basin, occupied and governed by France under a League of Nations mandate.

FactSnippet No. 857,936
4.

Saarland was returned to Nazi Germany in the 1935 Saar status referendum.

FactSnippet No. 857,937
5.

Saarland used its own currency, the Saar franc, and postage stamps issued specially for the territory until 1959.

FactSnippet No. 857,938
6.

Region of the Saarland was settled by the Celtic tribes of Treveri and Mediomatrici.

FactSnippet No. 857,939
7.

The region of the Saarland was divided into several small territories, some of which were ruled by sovereigns of adjoining regions.

FactSnippet No. 857,940
8.

Saarland died on 28 September 1944 and was succeeded by Willi Stohr, who remained in office until the region fell to advancing American forces in March 1945.

FactSnippet No. 857,941
9.

Saarland was allowed a regional administration very early, consecutively headed by:.

FactSnippet No. 857,942
10.

On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty declared that Saarland should be allowed to join the Federal Republic of Germany, which it did on 1 January 1957.

FactSnippet No. 857,943
11.

Since 1971, Saarland has been a member of SaarLorLux, a euroregion created from Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland Palatinate, and Wallonia.

FactSnippet No. 857,944
12.

One third of the land area of the Saarland is covered by forest, one of the highest percentages in Germany.

FactSnippet No. 857,945
13.

Saarland has the highest concentration of Roman Catholics of any German state, and is the only state in which Catholics form an absolute majority .

FactSnippet No. 857,946
14.

However, the last coal mine in Saarland closed in 2012, ending 250 years of coal mining history in the region.

FactSnippet No. 857,947
15.

Saarland is home to the Saarland University and the administrative headquarters of the Franco-German University.

FactSnippet No. 857,948