The Saarland is a state in the southwest of the Federal Republic of
Germany. The smallest of the non-city states and the second-smallest
state (after Bremen) in terms of population with just under one million,
borders in the north and east on the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in
the south on the French region of Grand Est with its Moselle department
and in the west on the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . Together with these
neighbors and the Belgian region of Wallonia, Saarland forms the greater
European region of Saar-Lor-Lux, which is home to around 11.6 million
people.
Saarland is characterized by a high degree of
industrialization and a well-developed infrastructure. The region has
the highest cross-border mobility of workers in the European Union.
State capital, largest city and regional center of Saarland is
Saarbrücken.
After administrative and constitutional pre-forms
since the 7th century (Franconian district of Saargau) and the 17th
century (Duchy of Saarland, Saar province and Saar department), Saarland
came into being on January 10, 1920 as a political unit Saar (Basin)
area (Territoire du Bassin de la Sarre) as a result of the Versailles
Treaty. It was spun off from the state authority of the Weimar Republic
and existed for 15 years with its own constitution and with the
international government commission appointed by the Council of the
League of Nations as a League of Nations mandate. At the urging of the
population, a provincial council was set up in 1922 as an advisory
representative body. In 1935, after the Saar vote provided for in the
treaty, the Saar region was reintegrated into the German Reich as
Reichsland Saarland, at that time under the National Socialist
government, due to around 90 percent approval.
After the Second
World War, Saarland became part of the French occupation zone after the
creation of the Saarland Regional Council. France subsequently spun it
off and removed it from the jurisdiction of the Allied Control Council.
The governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in particular prevented a complete
annexation of the Saar region by France after the two world wars in the
20th century - in the latter case also the government of the Soviet
Union.
This led to the formation of a separate Saarland state
government and the enactment of the Saarland constitution on December
15, 1947, which aimed to create a formally autonomous Saarland state.
However, constitutional autonomy, self-government and self-government
were limited by French supremacy. Saarland was an associate member of
the Council of Europe from 1950 and a full member from 1951. In the
following year, 1951, it joined the European Coal and Steel Community
(Montanunion) as part of the Saarland-French Economic Community. After
the rejection of the European statute for Saarland in the referendum on
October 23, 1955, there was a partial constitutional revision and new
negotiations, after which Saarland joined the Federal Republic of
Germany on January 1, 1957 as the 10th state. Full economic accession
took place on July 6, 1959 (popularly "Day X").
Saarland is part of the greater European region of Luxembourg,
Lorraine (French: Lorraine), Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Wallonia
and can be divided into the following regions:
Regional
association Saarbrücken with state capital Saarbrücken, UNESCO World
Heritage Site Völklingen Ironworks and the Warndt (forest area)
St.
Wendeler Land with the Saarland part of the Hunsrück-Hochwald National
Park and the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park, as well as the largest swimming
lake in southwestern Germany, Bostalsee. There is also the oldest abbey
in Germany, the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey
Saarschleifenland with the symbol of Saarland, the Saarschleife.
Saarlouis with the Vauban town of Saarlouis and the Saarpolygon, a
monument to the mining culture on the Duhamel spoil tip
The UNESCO
biosphere reserve Bliesgau with the baroque town of Blieskastel
Neunkirchen adventure region with the Landsweiler-Reden adventure
resort, the old town of Ottweiler and the Itzenplitz recreation area
Neunkirchen
Saarbrücken
Saarlouis
St Wendel
The state capital Saarbrücken offers many cultural
sites and museums, but also numerous gastronomy and gourmet
producers. In Saarland, those interested in technology and industry
will find contemporary witnesses from an almost forgotten time as
well as the modern counterpart. In addition, the Saarland offers
many historic old towns from the Middle Ages and the Baroque period.
Suggestions sorted by district
District of Merzig-Wadern
City of Merzig - Viez region
City of Wadern - high forest
community
Municipality of Weiskirchen - climatic health resort
Municipality of Losheim am See - with the Losheim reservoir
Municipality of Mettlach - Villeroy & Boch location, Saarschleife
Municipality of Perl - in the middle of the border triangle (FR, DE,
LUX)
Saarlouis district
City of Saarlouis - Vaubanstadt,
great nightlife
Municipality of Wadgassen - outlet center, German
newspaper museum
Municipality Wallerfang - hilly landscape
Saargau
Municipality of Rehlingen-Siersburg - with Siersburg
Castle
District of St. Wendel
City of St. Wendel -
historic old town with Wendalinus Basilica
Community of
Nonnweiler - National Park community with Celtic village
Municipality of Tholey - Germany's oldest abbey, Schaumberg
Municipality of Nohfelden - Bostalsee
district of Neunkirchen
City of Neunkirchen - former smelting town
City of Ottweiler -
historic old town with guided tours in costume
Municipality of
Eppelborn - leisure center Finkenrech (cultural and garden area)
Municipality of Illingen - cultural center Illipse Illingen
Municipality of Schiffweiler - Landsweiler-Reden experience and
event location with water gardens, Gondwana adventure museum
Saar-Palatinate district
City of Homburg - Schlossberg with the
Vauban Fortress and Schlossberg Caves
City of Blieskastel -
baroque city with Gollenstein (6.58 meter high monolith)
City of
St. Ingbert - gateway to the Bliesgau biosphere
Saarbrücken
(regional association)
Saarbrücken - state capital with many
cultural sites, great nightlife
Völklingen - Völklingen Ironworks
World Heritage Site (19th century ironworks)
Kleinblittersdorf -
Saarland thermal baths
Großrosseln - Warndt
Saarkohlewald -
primeval forest just outside the city of Saarbrücken and walk-in
heaps from the coal era
The list of cities and communities
provides an overview.
Background Saarland, with its capital Saarbrücken, was incorporated
into the Federal Republic of Germany as the 10th federal state in 1957
as a result of a vote. Between 1947 and 1956 it was a partially
sovereign country under the political hegemony of France, which was
economically dependent on France until the introduction of the D-Mark in
1959. There are still close ties with France today, which manifests
itself in lively border traffic and a large number of cross-border
commuters. For a long time, Saarland was economically shaped primarily
by steel production and the hard coal mining that was still in operation
until 2012. Today, the focus is primarily on the automotive and
increasingly also the service sector
There is a "cultivated
rivalry" with the Palatinate, which is particularly pronounced in
Saarbrücken. But this is not serious, because there are many mutual
relationships and migration flows in both directions. In a way, this can
be compared to the situation in Cologne and Düsseldorf or the rivalry
between Nuremberg and Fürth. In general usage, anyone who is not a
Saarlander or Frenchman is referred to as a "Palatinate" ("Pälzer",
pronounced without "f").
By plane
Saarbrucken Airport (IATA: SCN) is located in Ensheim, 12
km southeast of Saarbrucken. Saarbrücken city center can be reached with
the R10 bus line, which runs between Saarbrücken and Blieskastel.
The following can also be used for arrival: Frankfurt-Hahn Airport.
Metz-Nancy, Luxembourg Airport; the latter is the most important of the
airports mentioned.
From the airports in Frankfurt am Main and
Paris, which are more important in international air traffic, there are
direct train connections to Saarbrücken and from there to the rest of
the Saarland.
By train
The most important railway junction is
Saarbrücken main station, with the TGV/ICE connection from Paris and
Frankfurt am Main. Strasbourg, Trier, Mainz, Pirmasens and Mannheim can
be reached by regional transport. Other major train stations with IC or
ICE stops are in Homburg and Merzig. The train station in Homburg is
connected to the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar. You can take the Saarbahn from
Saargemünd to the Saarland.
By bus
The most important
long-distance bus stations are in Saarbrücken, Saarlouis, Homburg,
Merzig and Neunkirchen.
In the street
By boat
The Saar and
the Moselle are navigable. In any case, these waters are also navigable
with pleasure boats.
bus and train
For the entire Saarland there is the transport
association saarVV, whose tariffs for bus, train and light rail divide
the federal state into honeycombs. As a rule of thumb, a day ticket is
cheaper than a single ticket for two trips with low fare levels from
three trips or from medium fare levels (≥ 3). Tickets can be purchased
from DB machines in train stations, from machines at Saarbahn stops,
from bus drivers and some kiosks. Alternatively, HandyTickets can also
be purchased via the DB Navigator or, after registration, via the Saar
timetable app. Travelers with the Saarland Card can use public transport
without additional tickets. You can get timetable information from e.g.
in the Saar timetable portal or the associated app.
An
alternative to the saarVV tickets is the Saarland ticket for 1 to 5
people, which is recognized in all local transport in Saarland and,
depending on the transport association, in some parts of
Rhineland-Palatinate. It applies on working days from 9:00 a.m. and on
weekends and public holidays from 0:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. of the
following day. In addition to the basic price for one person, you pay a
surcharge of 6 € for each additional person.
The network of the
Stadtbahn Saarbahn S1 consists of only one line, which, depending on the
direction of travel, runs either to French Saargemünd, south of
Saarland, to the local train station or to Lebach, which is roughly in
the middle of Saarland. The actual end point of the Lebach-Jabach line
is in a residential area and is only served until noon. The train
destination display on the Saar railways and the departure boards at the
stops show the final destination of the journey. All stops before this
terminus are served.
Most buses can only be boarded in front of
the driver. You exit via the rear doors. When boarding, the ticket must
be shown in passing; In Saarland, compared to other federal states,
people insist on it very meticulously and react snotty if you don't
comply.
Bikes can be taken on the Saarbahn, bus and train free of
charge from 9 a.m. on weekdays and all day long on weekends. Otherwise,
a children's ticket with the appropriate price level must be purchased.
limited barrier-free Local transport is only partially barrier-free:
Not all platforms are stepless or accessible by elevator; but at least
all Saarbahns and trains are at least partially accessible with low
floors, buses are accessible via a ramp. Tactile guidance strips are not
reliable at train stations and bus stops.
Since the different
transport companies only cooperate half-heartedly with each other, it
should be noted that maps, timetable books and timetable information
screens often do not list lines operated by competitors, even though
they are part of the saarVV and tickets are therefore recognised. In
addition, you should find out about any diversions and bus stop
cancellations before you start your journey, as such data is generally
not entered into the timetable information.
At night, night buses
run from Saarbrücken to communities throughout Saarland. A separate
ticket is required to use these. Weekly tickets and some other season
tickets are also accepted.
By bicycle
In the Saarland there
are some cycle paths that can be explored by bike.
The signage is
mostly area-wide between towns and along tourist routes. Signposts for
main routes, i.e. along main roads, are flat red; Secondary routes and
tourist routes, which usually lead more relaxed via secondary roads and
farm roads, are marked green and brown signposts lead to individual
destinations.
In Saarland, people talk mostly in Rhenish Franconian, although in
Saarbrücken it is more similar to Lorraine and in Homburg more to
Palatine. In northern Saarland, on the other hand, Moselle Franconian is
more widespread, although it is closely related to Luxembourgish. For
example, the unusual guttural sounds in the area around Schmelz are
striking.
Of course, you can also communicate in High German,
albeit with a clearer coloring. In Saarland, for example, a lot of
French vocabulary is used (“Isch hann toujours gelee in bed”) and used
as a matter of course.
Hiking: In the Saarland
there is a dense network of paths with beautiful hiking routes through
historically or geologically interesting areas:
Municipality of
Überherrn in the district of Saarlouis
Municipality of Losheim am See
in the district of Merzig-Wadern
currently 211 premium hiking trails
and dream loops (as of May 2019).
Cycling:
Moselle cycle path
Saar cycle path
Blies cycle route
Nahe cycle path
Trail
riding in Saarland:
Riding from station to station on field and
forest paths in gently undulating terrain
canoe tours
After
the river has been straightened, there are several old river courses and
interesting estuaries along the Saar that can be explored by water.
Several clubs along the Saar offer rental boats for group tours lasting
several hours, guided or on your own.
Probably the most famous specialties in the Saarland are the Lyoner
Ring, a delicately smoked meat sausage that is sold in the whole ring
and the Schwenkbraten, which is grilled on a three-legged grill with a
swiveling grate (the Schwenker).
Otherwise, traditional cuisine
consists more of home cooking dishes:
Dibbelabbes (potato
casserole with diced bacon), Schaales is similar, both are often eaten
with apple sauce
Married (in some corners also called Geheirade,
dumplings with boiled potatoes)
Gefillde (potato dumplings with a
filling of liver sausage, diced Lyoner and herbs in bacon cream sauce)
Geicheltes (folded lard bread filled with onions, weighed down overnight
with an old cast-iron iron (hence Geicheltes = ironed) so that the lard
penetrates the pores of the bread and then fried in the pan)
Because the Saarland is one of the three classic old industrialized
areas in Germany, the population density is also higher here. This in
turn means that there is also a wide range of options for going out:
Saarlouis and its old town: The old town of Saarlouis is a pub
district that is well-known far beyond the city limits and has a pub for
almost every preference (with or without music, live or "from the tape",
with or without food).
Recommendations for the old town of Saarlouis:
The coffee house (Sonnenstr. 10, 66740 Saarlouis, Tel: 06831 - 12 97 02)
with its cakes, some of which are homemade and which are still lukewarm
if you get there early enough.
Old town of Saarbrücken: The old town
of Saarbrücken is divided into the St. Johanner Markt, which also has
culinary specialties, and the Nauwieser district, which is particularly
popular with students.
In addition to the well-established large
discos, many smaller clubs have also settled in recent years, scattered
all over the city.
in Neunkirchen a water tower was converted into a
nightlife district. It used to be part of the steelworks and is now part
of the Altes Hüttenareal industrial park. In addition to cinemas, there
are also several pubs. Cultural events take place regularly in the
directly adjacent event venues "Gebläsehalle" and "Stummsche Reithalle".
The security situation corresponds to the usual situation in the
Federal Republic. There are no specific risks.
If you want to
hike in the Saar-Palatinate district (Ostsaarland), you should note that
this is classified as a TBE risk area.
Saarland Card
If you stay overnight in some accommodations, mainly
youth hostels, hotels and selected holiday apartments, you will receive
the Saarland Card free of charge. In order to use this, the
corresponding app must be downloaded onto the smartphone and the card
registered in it. The card entitles you to free use of local public
transport and free access to some attractions in Saarland and some in
Luxembourg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The offer ranges from museums, zoos
and swimming pools to tourist must-sees such as the Völklingen
Ironworks.
The Saarland covers an area of 2,569.69 square kilometers to the left
of the Rhine in the extreme south-west of Germany and stretches over
parts of the Hunsrück with the Black Forest high forest, the Lorraine
strata and the Saar-Nahe mountains. Other important areas are the Saar
and Bliesgau with their fertile limestone soils.
Saarland borders
a single federal state, Rhineland-Palatinate, to the north and east, and
France and Luxembourg to the south and west.
The Saarland shows a high degree of heterogeneity both geologically and geomorphologically. The Saarbrücker saddle, which is layered from northeast to southwest and in which carboniferous rocks come to the surface, adjoins Permian sedimentary and magmatic rocks to the north and northeast. The Hunsrück, which forms the southern edge zone of the Rhenish Slate Mountains, borders on these Permian rocks in the north. In the northeast, the Permian rocks border on the Mainz Basin, a lateral extension of the tectonically formed Upper Rhine Plain. The Saarbrücker Saddle is bordered in the south, south-east and west by Triassic rock that is unevenly layered. Deposits from the Triassic fill the Saargemünd-Zweibrücker Mulde in the south-east of Saarland. To the southeast they merge into the red sandstone mountains of the Vosges and to the east into the Palatinate Forest. In the west and south-west of the Triassic regions of the Saarland are deposits from the Paris Basin from the younger Mesozoic.
The highest elevation is the Dollberg (695.4 m) north of Nonnweiler, the second highest is the Schimmelkopf (694.8 m) north of Weiskirchen. The most important elevation, however, is the Schaumberg in Tholey with its lookout tower, which is probably also due to its tradition as the highest mountain in the former Saar region and is considered to be the Saarland's local mountain. At 569 meters it is relatively low, but stands alone in a rather flat environment.
A third of the area of Saarland is covered with deciduous mixed forest. This means that Saarland, together with Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, has the largest percentage of forest area in Germany. In addition, deciduous forest accounts for the largest proportion of the total forest area here in comparison to all other federal states.
The longest Saarland river is the Blies, of whose 99.5 km river
course about 93 km are in the federal state, from the course of the
eponymous Saar, on the other hand, only 68 km. The Blies has its source
in northern Saarland near Selbach and flows into the Saar in the south
as a border river near Saargemünd (France). Other important rivers are
the Saar tributaries Prims, Rossel and Nied, the Rhine tributary Nahe
with the Glan and the Moselle near Perl. In the north there are also the
Bostalsee, the Primstalsperre and the Losheim reservoir.
Almost
95% of the area of the Saarland belongs to the catchment area of the
Saar-Moselle river system. The remaining 5% of the state area in the
northeast belongs to the Glan-Nahe drainage area.
The climate is temperate oceanic. The average annual rainfall is 800 millimeters. The Saarland is one of the warmest regions in Germany.
In addition to the political division into municipalities and the
Saarland districts, the following landscapes and areas can be described.
They are characterized by a relatively uniform appearance in contrast to
neighboring landscapes and areas, which often arose from common
political-historical or economic contexts (especially agriculture,
industrialization):
Bliesgau
Kollertal
easter valley
Saargau
Saar coal forest
Black Forest high forest
Sankt Ingbert-Kirkeler
forest area
St. Ingbert Valley
Sankt Wendel country
Today's Saarland was formed as a political entity on January 10,
1920, based on administrative and constitutional pre-forms in the early
Middle Ages and the early modern period, from areas that had belonged to
Prussian or Bavarian state territory since the Congress of Vienna.
After the Second World War and even before the founding of the state
of Rhineland-Palatinate on August 30, 1946, 142 communities with almost
900 square kilometers and around 100,000 inhabitants were separated from
the administrative district of Trier and annexed to Saarland on August
1, 1946, whereby the Saarland state territory was divided into stretched
into the Hunsrück and the Moselle. Barely a year later, on June 8, 1947,
the French government had to take into account the resistance of the
governments of the USA and Great Britain to this unilaterally
implemented change of territory and had to return 61 municipalities in
the Saarburg and Trier districts. In the Saarland, however, there
remained areas of the enlargement of August 1, 1946 in the northeast,
which in the 19th century had been part of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
(exclave Principality of Birkenfeld) and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha (Principality of Lichtenberg), as well as the border area with the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in the north-west. In addition, on June 8,
1947, the state of Saarland was expanded in the north-east by 13
Rhineland-Palatinate communities. On April 23, 1949, small parts of the
Rhineland-Palatinate were added to the east of the Saarland.
In
the period before the French Revolution, the four most important
dominions in what is now Saarland were the Electorate of Trier, the
Duchy of Lorraine, the Wittelsbach Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken and
the County of Saarbrücken. These four rulers are also reflected in
today's state coat of arms.
The territories in what is now
Saarland, which were independent before the French Revolution, have
always been German-speaking since the early Middle Ages, but have always
been under French influence at times, especially in the late 17th
century during the French reunions and in the period between the
Napoleonic Wars and the Second Parisian War Peace.
Even after
World War I and World War II, the country was under French influence.
From 1920 to 1935, the "Saar region" (as it was called at the time) was
under the administration of the League of Nations, but belonged to the
French economic area. On March 1, 1935, after a referendum, the Saar
region became part of the German Reich again, initially under the name
Saarland.
After the Second World War, Saarland was initially part
of the French occupation zone before it was removed from the Allied
Control Council's area of responsibility in January 1946. In 1947, a
separate constitution and citizenship were created. On June 16, 1947,
Saarland briefly received its own currency, the Saar mark, for reasons
of monetary policy. It was replaced by the French franc on November 20,
1947. Own coins were also minted with German inscriptions and
Saarland-related motifs, but denominated in French francs (see
illustration). Once again, the Saarlanders held a special position for
more than a decade. This time they also took part with their own teams
in the 1952 Summer Olympics and in qualifying for the 1954 World Cup.
On October 23, 1955, a referendum on the Europeanization of the
Saarland was carried out, in which 67.7 percent of the Saarlanders
voting said "No" and thus spoke out against the (second) Saar Statute
negotiated by the Adenauer government with the French government. The
result of the vote was interpreted as the will of the people of Saarland
to join the Federal Republic of Germany. The French government gave in,
and on October 27, 1956, the Saar Treaty was concluded in Luxembourg,
whereupon the Saarland became the tenth federal state of the Federal
Republic of Germany on January 1, 1957. The economic incorporation
including the acquisition of the D-Mark was completed on July 6, 1959,
the so-called "Day X".
In 2012, Saarland applied for its own
top-level domain .saarland as part of the application process for new
generic top-level domains (gTLD), which was awarded to dotSaarland GmbH
in September 2014. The project is supported by the Saarland government,
which was able to reserve domain names free of charge. In addition, the
non-profit association dotSaarland e. V. the TLD. In addition to
Saarland, the federal states of Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg and NRW have
their own TLDs.
During industrialization in the 19th century, a densely populated area developed at the sites of coal mining and steel production along the Dillingen–Saarbrücken–Neunkirchen railway line. The rural outskirts of the country have a lower population density.
Dialects
In the Saarland, Rhineland and
Moselle Franconian dialects are spoken, which are usually called Platt
by the speakers. Characteristic features of both dialect families
(closely related to each other and to the Luxembourgish language) are
few diphthongs, systematic monophthongisation, weakening of consonants
within German and simplification of word suffixes. The border between
the Moselle and Rhenish Franconian dialects is the dat-das line, which
runs across the Saarland. It is not uncommon for the Saarlanders to mix
several dialects.
German and French
Official language is
German. French is occasionally heard in Saarland due to the proximity of
the border and is intended to serve as a kind of lingua franca in order
to promote multilingualism in the region. The cities of Saarlouis and
Saarbrücken also reach regions in France near the border with cultural
or commercial offers. Stop announcements on the Saarbahn crossing the
border are in German and French. Saarland is the only German federal
state that stipulates French as a compulsory foreign language in grammar
schools. The Saarland state government is planning measures to make
French the second lingua franca by 2043.
Historical
The population of the region experienced two major
surges in growth and immigration in modern times. The first concerns the
period of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. During the Thirty
Years' War, which lasted in Lorraine until 1661 (Peace of Vincennes) and
continued almost seamlessly through the wars of Louis XIV, large areas
of the country became deserted in the second third of the 17th century.
Population loss is estimated at around 80 percent for some territories.
A targeted immigration and settlement policy recruited new citizens,
including Huguenots, Walloons, Picards, Tyroleans and Swiss.
The
region experienced the second boost in the 19th century. While
industrialization only set in hesitantly in the early 19th century, the
population increased sharply after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71:
the population of the Greater Saarbrücken region quadrupled in the
second half of the 19th century. The main migration areas were the
heavily rural regions of the Hochwald and the Hunsrück north of the
industrialized areas. As a result, the majority of the population in the
former Protestant areas of the County of Saarbrücken is now Catholic, so
Saarland has the largest percentage of Catholic population in Germany.
At the same time, the Saarland steel and metallurgical barons and the
Prussian mine administration ensured that the workers and miners were
able to purchase property and houses on favorable terms, which is why
Saarland still has the highest rate of property ownership in Germany to
this day.
Saarland has been struggling with a significant decline in population for some time. The population fell by 0.68% in 2006. The main cause is an unfavorable natural population balance of −0.48% (birth rate per 1000: 6.9; death rate: 11.7). Saarland reached a fertility rate of 1,233 in 2006. This is the last place among the non-city states, only Hamburg's fertility is even lower. In 2017 it was 1.51 children and was the third lowest among the federal states and the last among the non-city states. However, the population density of the Saarland is still significantly higher than the national average. In the course of 2011, the population of Saarland fell below the 1 million mark for the first time since 1955.
Average life expectancy in 2015/17 was 77.5 years for men and 82.2
years for women. Men thus rank 12th among the German federal states,
while women rank 16th. Both values are below the national average.
Regionally, in 2013/15 the Saar-Palatinate district (expectation of the
total population: 80.75 years) had the highest and Neunkirchen (79.21)
the lowest life expectancy.
Hospitals/clinics
City of Saarbrucken
Saarbrücken am Winterberg Clinic, Saarbrücken,
Sponsor: City of Saarbrücken
CaritasKlinikum Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken
(locations St. Theresia Rastpfuhl and St. Josef Dudweiler), Sponsor:
Caritas Trägergesellschaft Saarbrücken
SHG clinics in Sonnenberg,
Saarbrücken, sponsor: Saarland-Heilstätten
Evangelical city hospital,
Saarbrücken, sponsor: Kreuznacher Diakonie
SHG clinics Völklingen, Völklingen, sponsor: Saarland-Heilstätten
Miners' Hospital Sulzbach, Sulzbach, sponsor: Knappschaftsklinikum Saar
Knappschaftskrankenhaus Püttlingen, Püttlingen, Sponsor:
Knappschaftsklinikum Saar
Saarpfalz district
Saarland
University Hospital, Homburg, Sponsor: Saarland University
District
hospital, St. Ingbert, sponsor: Saarpfalz district
District of
Neunkirchen
Marienhausklinik St. Josef Kohlhof, Neunkirchen, Sponsor:
Marienhaus Group
Diakonie Klinikum, Neunkirchen, Sponsor: Kreuznacher
Diakonie
Fliedner Hospital, Neunkirchen, Sponsor: Kreuznacher
Diakonie
Marienhaus Clinic, Ottweiler, Sponsor: Marienhaus Group
District of St. Wendel
Marien Hospital, St. Wendel, Sponsor:
Marienhaus Group
Saarlouis district
Caritas Hospital, Lebach,
sponsor: cusanus trägergesellschaft trier
Marienhaus Clinic
Saarlouis-Dillingen, Saarlouis, Sponsor: Marienhaus Group
Saarlouis
Hospital from the DRK, Saarlouis, Sponsor: German Red Cross
St.
Nikolaus Hospital, Wallerfang, sponsor: Adolf von Galhausche
Sophienstiftung
Median Clinic, Berus, Sponsor: Median Clinics
District of Merzig-Wadern
Klinikum Merzig, Merzig, sponsor:
Saarland-Heilstätten
Saarland Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry, Merzig,
Sponsor: State of Saarland
Marienhaus Clinic St. Josef, Losheim,
Sponsor: Marienhaus Group
rehabilitation clinics
Hochwald-Kliniken, Weiskirchen, sponsor: cusanus trägergesellschaft
trier
Johannesbad Specialist Clinic, Health & Rehabilitation Center
Saarschleife, Orscholz, Sponsor: Johannesbad Group
MediClin Bliestal
Kliniken, Blieskastel, sponsor: Mediclin
Specialist clinic St.
Hedwig, Illingen, sponsor: cusanus trägergesellschaft trier
health resorts
There are two health resorts in Saarland:
Merzig-Bietzen in the north of the state and Rilchingen-Hanweiler in the
south. There is also the Saarland thermal bath.
denomination
statistics
According to the 2011 census, 62.0% were Roman Catholic,
19.1% were Protestant and 18.9% were non-denominational, belonged to
another religious community or made no statement. The number of
Protestants and Catholics has since fallen. At the end of 2021, 53.2% of
residents were Catholics, 16.4% were Protestants, and 30.3% either
belonged to another faith community or did not provide information. At
53%, Saarland is the only federal state with a Catholic majority in the
population.
Before Saarland joined the Federal Republic, parliament was always
occupied by a majority of the CVP.
Since the election to the
Saarland state parliament on September 5, 1999, the CDU was the
strongest government faction, replacing the SPD, which had previously
been the sole governing party, and governing alone until the constituent
session of the state parliament after the state elections on August 30,
2009. In this election, five parties made it into the state parliament,
with the CDU remaining the strongest party despite heavy losses,
followed by the SPD, the left, the FDP/DPS and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
The CDU then governed together with the FDP/DPS and Bündnis 90/Die
Grünen in Germany's first Jamaican coalition at state level. However,
this collapsed again in January 2012 and a grand coalition of CDU and
SPD followed. At the municipal level, the free voters were able to move
into district and municipal councils.
The SPD has had an absolute
majority since 2022.
state building
The Saarland constitution
was passed on November 8, 1947 and came into force on December 15, 1947.
It was changed on December 20, 1956 in preparation for the incorporation
into the Federal Republic of Germany. According to this constitutional
change, the Saarland is a free democracy and a social constitutional
state in the Federal Republic. As is usual in all Western constitutions,
the state powers are divided into legislative, executive and judiciary.
All the power comes from the people.
state government
According to Article 86 of the Saarland Constitution, the Saarland state
government consists of the prime minister, ministers and state
secretaries as additional members.
The prime minister is elected
by secret ballot by the state parliament with a majority of the legal
number of members. The election is valid for the entire legislative
period. He appoints and dismisses ministers with the approval of the
Landtag. However, the number of other members of the state government
may not exceed one third of the number of ministers. The Prime Minister
chairs the state government and manages its business. The state is
represented at the federal level by the representation of Saarland at
the federal level.
The current state government consists of the
following members:
Prime Minister: Anke Rehlinger, SPD
Deputy
Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digital
Affairs and Energy: Jürgen Barke, SPD
Minister of Finance and
Science: Jakob von Weizsäcker, SPD
Minister of the Interior, Building
and Sport: Reinhold Jost, SPD
Minister for Education and Culture:
Christine Streichert-Clivot, SPD
Minister for the Environment,
Climate, Mobility, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and Minister of
Justice: Petra Berg, SPD
Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Women
and Health: Magnus Jung, SPD
State Secretaries of the Government:
Interior, building and sport: Torsten Lang, SPD
Economy, innovation,
digital and energy: Elena Yorgova-Ramanauskas, independent
Environment, climate protection, mobility, agriculture and consumer
protection: Sebastian Thul, SPD
Education and culture: Jan
Benedyczuk, SPD
Health, women, social affairs and families: Bettina
Altesleben, SPD
Justice: Jens Diener, SPD
Finances: Wolfgang
Förster, SPD
Media policy, representative of Saarland at the federal
level: Thorsten Bischoff, SPD
Head of the State Chancellery and
Plenipotentiary for Europe: David Lindemann, SPD
State elections
The elections to the state
parliament of Saarland take place every five years. There are 51 seats
to be filled in each election period. In the state elections on August
30, 2009, the CDU lost its absolute majority, but remained the strongest
parliamentary group with 19 seats. After the failure of the Jamaica
coalition, the state legislature dissolved on January 26, 2012. The
election for the 15th Saarland state parliament took place on March 25,
2012.
Legislative branch
The
legislature (legislative power) is largely reserved for the state
parliament of Saarland. However, the electorate can also be involved in
the legislature through referendums and referendums. The state
government is involved in the legislative process by drafting bills.
Legislation
Bills are introduced into
the state parliament by the prime minister on behalf of the state
government, by a member of the state parliament or by a parliamentary
group. Laws that change the constitution require the approval of
two-thirds of the members of the state parliament. The Constitution can
only be changed by a law that expressly changes or supplements its
wording. The change must not contradict the principles of the democratic
and social constitutional state. In the event of discrepancies, the
Constitutional Court decides.
Referendum
Referendums can be aimed at getting the state parliament to enact, amend
or repeal laws. A referendum is only permitted in areas that are subject
to Saarland legislation. There are generally no referendums on laws that
have an impact on finance, in particular laws on taxes, salaries, state
benefits and the state budget.
A referendum must be based on a
draft law that has been worked out and provided with reasons. A
referendum is to be initiated if five thousand eligible voters apply for
it. A referendum has come about when it is supported by at least one
fifth of those entitled to vote. The state government decides on the
admissibility and realization of a referendum. The Constitutional Court
can be appealed against their decisions. A referendum must then be
submitted to the state parliament without delay.
If the state
parliament does not comply with the referendum within three months, a
referendum must be held within a further three months. The draft law
submitted to the people for a decision must be accompanied by a
statement from the state government, which concisely and factually sets
out both the justification of the applicant and the state government's
view of the subject. The state parliament can submit its own bill to the
people for decision. Such a law is passed by referendum if more than
half of those entitled to vote agree to it. A referendum does not take
place on a referendum aimed at changing the constitution.
executive
The state government, the state chancellery, the ministries
and the subordinate state authorities form the executive (executive
power).
judiciary
The judiciary consists of the courts of the
various judicial branches. The highest court is the Saarland
Constitutional Court, which consists of eight members elected by the
state parliament with a two-thirds majority.
See also: List of
Saarland courts
national emblem
The national emblems of the
Saarland are regulated by the Saarland National Emblem Act (SHzG) of
November 7, 2001 (Law No. 1483, Official Journal of the Saarland, March
18, 2002, pp. 566-576). However, they have existed in this form since
the laws on the coat of arms and flag of the Saarland (laws no. 508 and
509) of July 9, 1956 (Official Gazette, p. 1213).
state coat of
arms
The state coat of arms of the Saarland consists of a quartered
semicircular shield showing the shield images of the four largest
sovereigns at the time of the Old Kingdom (directions as seen from the
point of view of the shield holder): in the upper right corner in a blue
field sprinkled with nine silver pointed crosses, a gold-crowned,
gold-armored and red-tongued one silver double-tailed lion (the Nassau
lion because of the County of Saarbrücken), in the upper left corner in
a silver field a polished red cross (Electorate of Trier), in the lower
right corner in a golden field a red oblique bar, topped with three
silver eagles (Alérion of the Duchy of Lorraine) , and in the lower left
corner in a black field a red-crowned, red-armored and red-tongued
golden lion (the Palatinate lion because of the Wittelsbach duchy of
Palatinate-Zweibrücken).
The state coat of arms may only be used
by state authorities and authorized persons. Private individuals can
express their affinity with the Saarland with the Saarland symbol
(stylized modified state coat of arms embedded in the stylized Saar
loop).
Occasionally (particularly as a car sticker) a completely
different coat of arms can also be found: the former state coat of arms
from the period 1948 to 1956, which was based on the Saarland flag of
the time (see the "History" section). However, the Sarre signature,
which can be seen above the coat of arms on stickers today, was never
used with the coat of arms at the time.
country flag
The state
flag of the Saarland consists of the flag of Germany, on it in the
middle, in the black and the gold-colored stripes, the state coat of
arms, the heraldic right side (from the viewer's point of view the left
side) turned towards the mast (flag hoisting). It can also be designed
as a banner flag, in which case the stripes are arranged vertically, the
coat of arms stands upright, the right side (the left side from the
viewer's point of view) faces the black stripe.
After the
Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany, this combination was
chosen as the state flag to demonstratively indicate that the Saarland
belonged to Germany.
Although the flag contains the state coat of
arms, the state flag may be used by any state citizen (in contrast to
other state flags with coats of arms such as the flag of Berlin or
Baden-Württemberg).
Saar area
After the Saar region was
separated from the German Reich by the provisions of the Treaty of
Versailles in 1920, the state flag consisted of a blue, white and black
tricolor. These are both the colors of the two former states of Prussia
(black and white) and Bavaria (white and blue), from parts of whose
areas the Saar area was formed, as well as the basic colors of the
individual coat of arms fields of the coat of arms of the Saar area.
Saar state
At the time of the semi-autonomous Saarland after the
Second World War, the Saarland flag consisted of a silver (white)
Scandinavian cross, the background blue towards the mast and red towards
the other side. The combination of colors could be interpreted as a
reference to the French tricolore or to the coat of arms colors of the
two most important historical territories in the Saar region, namely
white-red for Electoral Trier and white-blue for the Wittelsbach or
Bavarian Electoral Palatinate. The cross itself was intended to
symbolize the Christian character of all social life in Saarland after
the collapse of National Socialism.
License Plate
The
distribution of license plates differs somewhat from what is otherwise
usual in Germany, since in Saarland not only every administrative
district is assigned a license plate number, but also the medium-sized
towns. Therefore, only the districts of Merzig-Wadern (MZG), Neunkirchen
(NK), Sankt Wendel (WND) and Saarlouis (SLS) have a uniform indicator;
In the Saarbrücken regional association, on the other hand, there is the
indicator VK for the city of Völklingen and SB for the rest of the
regional association, in the Saar-Palatinate district there is IGB for
the city of St. Ingbert and HOM (after the district town of Homburg) for
the rest of the district.
There is also the SAL identifier for
official bodies in the country.
In June 2012, the Saar mine, the last coal mining operation, was shut
down.[39] In the (now former) coal mining region there are or were 4
larger coal-fired power plants: the Bexbach power plant, the Ensdorf
power plant, the Fenne power plant and the Weiher power plant. The
development of renewable energies began in 1995 with the Freisener Höhe
wind farm. Wind turbines with a total output of 138 MW were connected by
2013.
In 2014, the electricity mix in Saarland was made up as
follows: 60.2% hard coal, 19.5% natural gas, 10% renewable energies,
10.3% other.
The economic development of the Saarland is closely related to the
regional structural change that went hand in hand with the cessation of
hard coal mining. Until the middle of the 20th century, mining and the
associated steel industry were the main employers in the region and
shaped the country's economic infrastructure. From the 1960s, a
comprehensive change began with a gradual decline in mining, which was
reinforced in the 1980s by a drastic reduction in production volumes.
The settlement of the automotive industry, however, could also create
new jobs.
In 2005, Saarland had the highest economic growth rates
in terms of gross domestic product. In the first half of 2005 it was 2.8
percent above the same period of the previous year in real terms, while
the national average growth was only 0.6 percent.
Furthermore,
the Saarland has repeatedly won the dynamic ranking of the New Social
Market Economy Initiative, which evaluates the changes in the federal
states. Prime Minister Peter Müller rated this as a success of his
reform policy, which led to the settlement of new branches of industry
and services.
In comparison with the gross domestic product of
the European Union, expressed in purchasing power standards, the
Saarland achieves an index of 119 (EU-28: 100, Germany: 126) (2014).
In 2019, economic output in the federal state of Saarland measured
in terms of GDP was around 36.25 billion euros. In December 2007, the
state's debt was still around 9.1 billion euros, but by March 2020 it
had risen to 13.9 billion euros.
The country has been presenting
itself with a new image campaign since 2014. The motto "Big things
always come from small things" and the associated measures promote the
state as a place to live and do business.
Pursue
The most
important economic sector on the Saar today is the automotive industry
with Ford in Saarlouis, together with the associated supplier industry
with Bosch, INA and Michelin in Homburg, ZF Friedrichshafen in
Saarbrücken and Eberspächer in Neunkirchen. With almost 9,000 employees,
ZF is the largest industrial employer in Saarland.
With Saarstahl AG
and AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke, two other large steel companies are
based in Saarland.
Larger employers from the electrical engineering
sector are the Hager Group in Blieskastel and Festo in Rohrbach.
The
ceramics industry (Villeroy & Boch) also plays an important role in the
Saarland economy.
The field of computer science and the information
industry, Scheer in Saarbrücken and SAP in St. Ingbert, is strongly
promoted and growing.
Coal mining was an important industry. This was
also of great importance for population development.
Traffic structure
Due to its early and
intensive industrialization, the Saarland has a very good transport
infrastructure. Nowhere else in Germany was there such a dense rail
network for passenger transport as in Saarland, until the Deutsche
Bundesbahn began to no longer serve many routes in the 1960s. The
small-scale structure in large parts of the state has meant that today,
with an average of 704 motor vehicles per 1000 inhabitants, Saarland has
the most cars in relation to the population in a German non-city state.
Public transport
On August 1, 2005, a collective tariff was
introduced with the Saarland transport association (SaarVV). Previously
there was only the Saar Transport Community, which provided some tariff
cooperation and ensured free travel for the severely disabled.
Rail transport
The most important
long-distance rail link is the Mannheim–Paris route. From 2006 to
December 2007, the Saarbrücken main station was converted into the
"Europabahnhof". From June to December 2007, only a Paris–Frankfurt
(Main) ICE pair ran via Saarbrücken, which used a new high-speed route
in France; two other ICE pairs initially ended in Saarbrücken. Since
December 2007, five ICE pairs have been operating between Germany and
France, stopping only in Saarbrücken in the Saarland. Saarbrücken is
connected to the French high-speed network LGV Est européenne (journey
time from Saarbrücken to Paris: one hour and 50 minutes).
The
other long-distance traffic on the
Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern-Mannheim-Frankfurt (Main) line is served
daily by several IC and ICE trains, including a pair of trains to
Dresden, once a day to Stuttgart and back and a pair of trains to/from
Graz via Munich. On all other routes in the Saarland, only regional
trains are now running after the InterRegio trains, which ran over the
Saar route in the direction of Koblenz-Cologne-Northern Germany, were
removed from the timetables in December 2002. No express trains have
operated on the Nahe Valley Railway or the Landau–Rohrbach line since
1991.
In Saarbrücken, the Saarbrücken tram, which was abolished
in 1965, returned in 1997 with the Saarbahn.
The lower reaches of the Saar have been developed for large shipping
from Konz to above Saarbrücken. From Saarbrücken to Saargemünd, the
river is navigable for smaller ships (Penischen). From Saargemünd, the
Saar is connected to the Rhine-Marne Canal via the Saar Canal (formerly
also known as the Saar-Kohlen Canal).
Air
traffic
Saarbrücken Airport is an international commercial airport
with around 12,000 take-offs and landings per year. Other international
airports are in the immediate vicinity of Saarland: Luxembourg and
Frankfurt-Hahn.
Education and Research
Saarland University,
which was founded in 1948, is based in Saarbrücken and Homburg.
Saarbrücken is the seat of the administration. This is also where most
of the courses are located. The Institute of Computer Science is part of
the Kaiserslautern-Saarbrücken Computer Science Cluster, in which around
800 researchers work together. The Saarland Cancer Registry is also
maintained in Saarbrücken. The campus in Homburg is the seat of the
medical faculty.
The Franco-German University, founded in 1999,
offers courses leading to a double or triple degree (German, French,
Luxembourgish). The courses take place at universities in Germany,
France and possibly a third country. On September 15, 1978, the foreign
ministers of the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic
signed the convention with which the Franco-German University Institute
for Technology and Economics/L'Institut supérieur franco-allemand de
techniques, d'économie et de sciences (DFHI/ISFATES ) was founded with
headquarters in Saarbrücken and in Metz. The DFHI offers a three or
five-year German-French study cycle with alternating study locations
(Metz, Saarbrücken, Luxembourg).
The Hochschule für Musik Saar -
University of Music was founded in 1947 as a state conservatory. After
setting up an institute for Catholic church music and an institute for
school music, it was converted into a state university for music in 1957
and transferred to the sponsorship of the Saarland in 1971.
The
Saar University of Fine Arts was founded in 1989 in its present form as
an art college with university status and emerged from the State School
for Arts and Crafts founded in 1924 and the School for Arts and Crafts
that existed from 1946.
There are the following universities of
applied sciences in Saarland
The Saarland University of Applied
Sciences (HTW), founded in 1971 by merging the higher business school,
the state engineering school and the state arts and crafts school,
received its current name in 1991. Furthermore, from 2005 the HTW took
over the social science faculty of the Catholic University for Social
Work, which was completely closed three years later. Here, too, there is
Franco-German cooperation (especially with the Grenoble École de
Management).
The Saarland University of Applied Sciences in
Göttelborn trains candidates for civil service careers in the higher
civil service.
The following private research institutes are
located on the campus of Saarland University:
the Max Planck
Institute for Informatics (established in 1988);
the Max Planck
Institute for Software Systems (established in 2004);
the Max
Planck Society;
the CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security
(founded in 2017)
the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research
Saarland (established in 2009);
the Helmholtz Association of
German Research Centers;
the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive
Testing (IZFP) (in Saarbrücken) and
the Fraunhofer Institute for
Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) (in St. Ingbert)
the Fraunhofer
Society;
the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM);
the German
Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI);
the Korean
Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Europe, the European branch
of one of Korea's largest research institutes, founded in 1996;
the
Intel Visual Computing Institute;
the Cluster of Excellence
Multimodal Computing & Interaction (MMCI);
the Saarbrucken Graduate
School of Computer Science;
the Center for Bioinformatics (CBI);
the Computer Science Competence Center at Saarland University;
International conference and meeting center for computer science at
Dagstuhl Castle;
the Office for Austrian Literature and Culture
(AfÖLK)/Robert Musil research within German Studies;
the SaarLernNetz
as the central point of contact for everything to do with education.
The Catholic College for Social Work existed from 1971 to 2008. It
was sponsored by the Diocese of Trier.
apprenticeship positions
In the annual dynamic ranking of the federal states of the New Social
Market Economy Initiative, Saarland takes first place in the area of
training place placement. Between 2004 and 2006, the number of training
places on offer increased at an above-average rate. With an increase of
4.0 percentage points, Saarland is well ahead of all other federal
states.
Media
Alongside the Free
Hanseatic City of Bremen, the Saarland is the smallest federal state
with its own public broadcaster, the Saarländisches Rundfunk. The SR is
a member of the ARD and is based in Saarbrücken. Among other things, he
runs SR television and five radio programs.
The
Landesmedienanstalt Saarland (LMS) is an institution under public law
and is based in Saarbrücken. It is a state control authority and is
responsible for the licensing and control of private radio and
television broadcasters and their coordination with public broadcasters.
The LMS continues to provide film funding and convey media skills on
behalf of the state. Radio Salü is a private radio station based in
Saarbrücken, Germany, whose range covers the entire Saarland. Since June
5, 2008, the state capital of Saarbrücken has had its own local radio
station, Radio Saarbrücken 99.6.
The only daily newspaper in
Saarland is the Saarbrücker Zeitung, which on the one hand covers the
entire Saarland as a regional newspaper and, with eleven local editorial
offices, also provides local reporting as a local newspaper. The weekly
mirror supplements the Saarland media landscape as a weekly advertising
paper with an extensive editorial content. The weekly mirror also has
nine local editorial offices. The Rhineland-Palatinate regional daily
newspapers Die Rheinpfalz and Pfälzischer Merkur cover the
Saar-Palatinate district and Saarland state events in their reports. Two
online magazines have been in operation in Saarland for several years:
Saar Report and Saar-Zeitung (distribution area: Saarlouis district,
Saarbrücken regional association).
Some lifestyle magazines with
regional references are published in Saarland (TOP-Magazine, L!VE,
Eurosaar, Background, Saar-Revue). Since March 31, 2005, the newspaper
Bild has been published as Bild Saarland with a regional section.
.saarland domains
Since October 30, 2014, domains with the
.saarland extension can be registered. The domains are managed by
dotSaarland GmbH.
The sunrise phase started on July 18, 2014 and
ended on September 15, 2014. The first domain (apart from the registry)
is available since September 23, 2014.
Saarland specialities
The traditional Saarland cuisine consists of
simple regional products: potatoes, vegetables, sauerkraut, grain flour,
sausage and meat. Typical Saarland dishes and drinks are:
Dibbelabbes
and Schaales (similar dough to potato pancakes)
Lyoner (meat sausage)
in the ring
Hoorische (potato dumplings made from raw potatoes)
Gefilde (stuffed potato dumplings)
Heirade ("married", combination of
dumplings and potatoes with light bacon sauce)
double rolls
Snowballs (very fluffy, airy potato dumplings)
Schwenker (typical
swivel steak)
Bettseichersalat (dandelion salad; seichen = to
urinate, because of the diuretic effect; in French the dandelion is
officially called pissenlit = pee in bed)
Well-known Saarland beers
come and came, for example, from the breweries Becker (St. Ingbert),
Bruch (Saarbrücken), Donner (Saarlouis), Großwald (Heusweiler-Eiweiler),
Gross (Riegelsberg), Karlsberg (Homburg), Neufang (Saarbrücken),
Ottweiler Brewery, Paqué (St. Wendel), Saarfürst (Merzig), Schäfer
(Dirmingen), Schloss (Neunkirchen) and Walsheim (Walsheim). Today (2012)
Karlsberg dominates the beverage market in Saarland, most of the former
Saarland beer brands now belong to the Karlsberg Group, but not the two
breweries Bruch and Grosswald, which, unlike Karlsberg, are still 100
percent privately owned.
The Saar wines (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer growing
area) do not come from Saarland, but from the lower reaches of the Saar
in Rhineland-Palatinate. Saarland wines are grown on the short section
of the Moselle called Obermosel (also: "Southern Weinmosel" for wine
marketing), the border between Saarland and Luxembourg.
Viez (cider)
is mainly produced in the Merzig area and in the Saargau. The Viezstraße
runs between Merzig and Trier.
Fruit schnapps are produced in almost
all parts of the country, but especially in the Bliesgau and Saargau.
Distillation takes place across the orchard: cherry, apple, wild pear,
quetsch (plum), mirabelle plum, pomace, sloe or the rare specialty
Hundsärsch, a medlar brandy.
Sightseeing features
In the
Saarland there is a wealth of sights from the areas of nature and
technology and lots of monuments and works of art to discover, sometimes
in a very small area.
The Saarland is home to some archaeological and architectural
monuments of European importance, such as the Celtic and Roman
excavations on the Upper Moselle (Perl municipality with the districts
of Nennig and Borg) and in the Bliesgau (Bliesbrück-Reinheim and
Schwarzenacker), as well as the so-called Hunnenring in Otzenhausen. The
baroque Ludwigsplatz with the Ludwigskirche in Saarbrücken comes from
modern times. The historic Völklingen Ironworks can be found on the
UNESCO World Heritage List.
Jewish cemeteries
There are 16
Jewish cemeteries in Saarland: in Blieskastel, Dillingen, Homburg,
Illingen, Merzig, Neunkirchen, Nohfelden-Gonnesweiler, Nohfelden-Sötern,
Ottweiler, Saarbrücken (old), Saarbrücken (new), Saarlouis,
Saarwellingen, St. Ingbert, St , Wendel and in Tholey.
Art collections
The modern gallery of the
Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken houses the most important art collection
in the Saarland with paintings by German Expressionism, above all the
famous Little Blue Horse by Franz Marc. A special collection focus of
the museum is on Alexander Archipenko; the collection has 107 plaster
models and numerous bronze casts by the artist.
The St. Ingbert
Museum was opened in 1987 under the sponsorship of the Albert Weisgerber
Foundation. It was closed in July 2007 at the suggestion of the St.
Ingbert city administration and the decision of the St. Ingbert city
council.
The Saar Historical Museum on Schlossplatz in Saarbrücken shows the
history of the state and points out cultural, social, economic,
industrial and technological aspects of the Saarland. The permanent
exhibition presents the eventful history of the Saar region and today's
Saarland from 1870 to the second half of the 20th century on 1700 m²
using art and design objects, but also many everyday objects.
Visitors to the Saarland Mining Museum in Bexbach can experience the
special importance of mining for the region. It deals exclusively with
hard coal mining from the early beginnings in the 15th century to the
mid-1980s.
With the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the
Saarland has an ensemble of European standing. The orchestra was formed
in 2007 through the merger of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra
and the Kaiserslautern Radio Orchestra. Well-known conductors were Hans
Zender and Christoph Poppen.
Sandra, Ingrid Peters, the producer
Frank Farian and the first German ESC winner Nicole are important in
popular music. Well-known bands are Powerwolf and Blackeyed Blonde.
Genetikk and DCVDNS are well known in rap music.
Jazz musicians
include Oliver Strauch (drums), Christof Thewes (trombone), Georg Ruby
(piano) and Nicole Johänntgen (saxophone).
The most important
festivals are the Rocco del Schlacko (rock/pop), the SR Ferien Open Air
St. Wendel (pop), the electro magnetic (techno/electro), the St. Ingbert
jazz festival and the Saar Music Festival (classical).
Saarland
literature
Two writers from the Saarland in particular have become
well-known from the recent past: the novelist Ludwig Harig and the poet
Johannes Kühn. Other well-known writers related to the Saarland are u.
a. Gustav Regulator, Kerstin Rech, Alfred Gulden, Arnfrid Astel,
Johannes Kirschweng and Florian Russi (Rudolf Dadder).
Worth
mentioning descriptions of the Saar region can be found in Poetry and
Truth (Part 2, Book 10) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and in Soldiers'
Life by Johann Michael Moscherosch. In contemporary literature, Ludwig
Harig's Die Saarland Freude and Das Saarland as well as Reisen mit Pippo
by Holger Willi Montag deserve special mention.
theater and film
Every year in January, Saarbrücken hosts the most important
international festival of young German-language films, the Max Ophüls
Prize, named after Saarbrücken-born director Max Ophüls.
In
Saarbrücken there is also a large, three-part theater with the
Saarländisches Staatstheater. In recent years, Marguerite Donlon's
ballet company and the musical productions carried out in collaboration
with Frank Nimsgern have gained international attention.
After
all, the Franco-German Perspectives Festival has been the only theater
festival of its kind to enrich the German cultural scene since 1977.
On the Gräfinthal natural stage and the Hülzweiler open-air stage,
you can experience outdoor theater in summer. The open-air theater in
Gräfinthal plays two plays every year, and one play is performed in
Hülzweiler. Both theaters can look back on a long tradition.
Erich Honecker (born August 25, 1912 in Neunkirchen (Saarland); † May
29, 1994 in Santiago de Chile), German communist politician and
Secretary General of the Central Committee of the SED
Frank Farian
(born July 18, 1941 as Franz Reuther in Kirn, grew up in
Saarbrücken-Altenkessel), music producer, composer and singer
Nicole
Seibert (born October 25, 1964 as Nicole Hohloch in Saarbrücken),
singer, 1982 the first German winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
Heiko Maas (born September 19, 1966 in Saarlouis), German politician
(SPD) & former Federal Foreign Minister in the Merkel IV cabinet
Matthias Maurer (born March 18, 1970), ESA astronaut and German
materials scientist
Thomas Schmitt (born October 1, 1979 in Homburg),
creative producer, podcaster and Grimme Prize winner
Daniel Sträßer
(born July 18, 1987 in Völklingen), German actor
At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Saarland provided the first
and only independent, second German Olympic team at the time, through
the Saarland NOK (SAA). Until 1956, Saarland (SFB) took part in
international competitions as an independent FIFA member with the
Saarland football team, e.g. in qualifying for the 1954 World Cup.
Since 2004, the individual euro countries have been allowed to issue a 2
euro commemorative coin each year. In order to provide information about
federalism in Germany in the other countries of the European Union, the
Federal Republic of Germany presents itself every year on the back of
the coins with the federal state that holds the Bundesrat presidency. In
2009, the Saarbrücken Ludwigskirche was stamped for the Saarland.
In
the German media, Saarland is used disproportionately often as a unit of
measurement to illustrate the size of countries or the extent of natural
disasters (for example: "Switzerland is almost 16 times the size of
Saarland" or "[...] more than 1000 square kilometers under water – an
area almost half the size of Saarland”). The reason for this is not
known. According to ZEIT, the Saarland was the most used unit of
measurement among the German federal states between 2001 and 2011 (in
209 press articles), followed by Bavaria (in 178 press articles). This
phenomenon also exists in the United States, where Rhode Island (the
smallest US state) is mentioned disproportionately often as a size
comparison in US media.
Saarland Order of Merit: The Saarland Order
of Merit is the highest award in Saarland. It is awarded in one class
(international class: officer). The awards are published in the official
gazette of Saarland. As a rule, a state minister presents the insignia
and the award certificate.
Literature
Marianne Albrecht-Bott: Saarbrücken and the Saarland. A cultural and
art historical guide. Petersberg 2013
Hektor Ammann, Heinz Quasten:
Historical atlas for the country on the Saar. Institute for Regional
Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 1991, ISBN 3-923877-80-3 (4 deliveries,
45 maps, 12 explanatory booklets).
Wolfgang Behringer, Gabriele
Clemens: History of the Saarland, Munich 2009.
Gerhard Bungert:
Saarland. So chat and so write to me. Vocabulary - language history -
grammar - spelling, Geistkirch Verlag 2016, ISBN 978-3-946036-51-7.
Paul Burgard, Ludwig Linsmayer: The Saar state - images of a bygone
world. [L'Etat Sarrois - Images d'un monde passé]. Texts in German and
French (= echo sounder. Historical contributions from the Saarbrücken
State Archives. Volume 2). Self-published by the State Archives,
Saarbrücken 2005, ISBN 3-9808556-2-7.
Paul Burgard, Ludwig Linsmayer:
50 years Saarland. From the incorporation into the Federal Republic to
the state anniversary (= echo sounder, vol. 5). Association for the
Promotion of the Saarbrücken State Archives, Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN
978-3-9808556-7-9
Paul Burgard: Small history of the Saarland. G.
Braun publishing house, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2010, ISBN
978-3-7650-8394-5
Gabriele B. Clemens and Eva Kell (ed.): Prussia on
the Saar. A conflicted relationship (1815–1914). Commission for Saarland
State History and Folk Research e. V., Saarbrücken 2018, ISBN
978-3-939150-11-4.
Joachim Conrad, Stefan Flesch (ed.): Castles and
palaces on the Saar. 3. Edition. Minerva, Saarbrücken 1995.
H. P.
Dörrenbächer, O. Kühne, J. M. Wagner (ed.): 50 years Saarland in
transition (= publications of the Institute for Regional Studies in
Saarland. Volume 44). Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 978-3-923877-44-7.
Thomas Fläschner, Frank Hunsicker: Traffic and mobility in Saarland - in
the past and present (= publications of the Institute for Regional
Studies in Saarland. Volume 47). Institute for Regional Studies in
Saarland, Saarbrücken 2009, ISBN 978-3-923877-47-8, p. 126.
Nikolaus
Fox: Saarland folklore, Saarbrücken 1927. Association for the Promotion
of the State Archive Saarbrücken,
Jürgen Hartmann (ed.): Handbook of
the German federal states. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn
1997, ISBN 3-89331-083-5
Hans-Walter Herrmann (ed.): Historical
regional studies of the Saarland, 3 volumes, 1960-1994.
Hans-Walter
Herrmann and Georg Wilhelm Sante: History of the Saarland, Würzburg
1972.
Martin Klewitz: Saarland (German Lands German Art). 3rd,
modified and expanded edition, Munich / Berlin 1982
Bernd Kissel:
Saarland Album (Comic) Geistkirch-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2011, ISBN
978-3-938889-33-6.
Jörg Koch: The Saarland. 55 highlights from
history: people, places and events that shape our region to this day.
Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2021, ISBN 978-3-96303-349-0.
Ludwig Linsmayer
(ed.): The 13th of January. The Saar at the focal point of history (=
echo sounder. Historical contributions from the Saarbrücken State
Archives Volume 1). Self-published by the State Archives, Saarbrücken
2005, ISBN 3-938415-00-2.
Ludwig Linsmayer (ed.): The birth of
Saarland. On the dramaturgy of a special route (= echo sounder.
Historical contributions from the Saarbrücken State Archives. Volume 3).
Self-published by the State Archives, Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN
3-9808556-3-5.
Peter Neumann (ed.): Saarland pictures of life. 4
volumes. Saarbrücken printing and publishing house, Saarbrücken
1982-1989.
Fred Oberhauser: The Saarland. Art, culture and history in
the border triangle between Blies, Saar and Moselle (DuMont art travel
guide). Cologne 1999
Hermann Overbeck and Georg Wilhelm Sante (ed.):
Saar Atlas, Gotha 1934.
Heinz Quasten and Hans Walter Herrmann (ed.):
Historical atlas for the country on the Saar, Saarbrücken 1971.
Kerstin Rech: The Schlager, the Saarland and the Seventies Geistkirch
Verlag, Saarbrücken 2017, ISBN 978-3-946036-68-5.
Dietrich Soyez
(ed.): persistence and change in a peripheral border area. Geographical
Institute, Saarbrücken 1989, ISBN 3-924525-36-6 (The Saarland. Volume
1).
Dietrich Soyez (ed.): The Saar - a river landscape changes its
face. Geographical Institute, Saarbrücken 1989, ISBN 3-924525-37-4 (The
Saarland. Volume 2).
Dieter Staerk (ed.): The Saarland book. Minerva,
Saarbrücken 1981, ISBN 3-477-00066-8.
Andreas Stinsky: Saarland -
voyage of discovery to 60 exciting places in history, Mainz 2019, ISBN
978-3-96176-016-9.