Paul Miller, age 14, of Vancouver, Wash., for his question:
WHERE IS THE SAAR TERRITORY?
Saar Territory, also known as the Saar Basin and just Saar, is a state in West Germany on the Franco German border. It is named after the Saar River which flows through the area.
Saar Territory covers 991 square miles in the western Rhineland near Lorraine and Luxembourg. The Saar is valuable for its many coal mines and steel plants. Its capital city is Saarbrucken. The area has a population near 1.5 million.
Before World War I, the Saar belonged to Germany. After the war, France wanted to annex the Saar in payment for war damages. The Treaty of Versailles gave France use of the Saar coal mines for 15 years in payment for French losses.
The League of Nations governed the Saar during the French occupation. The governing body included one German, one Frenchman and three persons of other nationalities. Germany potested against this and in 1930 the League ordered an end to the allied control.
Most of the persons living in the Saar were Germans and they voted in 1935 to become part of Germany.
After World War II, France occupied the Saar, directing its defense and foreign relations and controlling its heavy industries. The Saar also joined in a customs and currency union with France.
The Saar was allowed partial self government in 1947. In October, 1955, the people voted against transferring the responsibilities of defense and foreign relations from France to the Western European Union.
On December 18, 1955, the people of the Saar Territory elected a parliament that was pledged to unite the Saar with West Germany. By agreement between France and West Germany, this union took place on January 1, 1957.
About 1,000 B.C., warlike tribes started to migrate from northern Europe to what is now the Saar Territory and West Germany. They wandered from place to place and lived by hunting and farming.
During the 100s B.C., they moved to the Rhine and Danube rivers, the frontier of Rome. The Romans called all the tribes Germani, though that was the name of only one tribe. Other tribes included the Cimbri, Franks, Goths and Vandals.
The Romans called the tribes' land Germania.
In A.D. 9, Rome tried to conquer Germania, or Germany, but Germanic warriers crushed the Roman armies. By A.D. 400, the power of mighty Rome had begun to collapse.
During the 400s, Germanic armies poured into the weakened West Roman Empire and broke it up into tribal kingdoms. The kingdom of the Franks became the largest and most important.