Saarland is a state of Germany in the south west of the country.
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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.
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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.
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Saarland was returned to Nazi Germany in the 1935 Saar status referendum.
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Saarland used its own currency, the Saar franc, and postage stamps issued specially for the territory until 1959.
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Region of the Saarland was settled by the Celtic tribes of Treveri and Mediomatrici.
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The region of the Saarland was divided into several small territories, some of which were ruled by sovereigns of adjoining regions.
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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.
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Saarland was allowed a regional administration very early, consecutively headed by:.
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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.
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Since 1971, Saarland has been a member of SaarLorLux, a euroregion created from Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland Palatinate, and Wallonia.
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One third of the land area of the Saarland is covered by forest, one of the highest percentages in Germany.
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Saarland has the highest concentration of Roman Catholics of any German state, and is the only state in which Catholics form an absolute majority .
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However, the last coal mine in Saarland closed in 2012, ending 250 years of coal mining history in the region.
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Saarland is home to the Saarland University and the administrative headquarters of the Franco-German University.
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