Word: saar
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Confrontation. West Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer returned from the U.S. to find not only his opposition but leaders in his own coalition loudly complaining that he had given in too much to France on the Saar. Opportunistic Thomas Dehler, who had accepted the Saar accord in Paris on behalf of his right-wing Free Democratic Party, had changed his mind back in Bonn. There were elections soon in Bavaria and Hesse, and political profit to be made by attacking the agreement. Not to be outdone, the small Refugee and German parties began outshouting Dehler. Scornfully, Konrad Adenauer dressed...
...French any points the FDP had to make. Experts were scheduled to meet to work out some details anyway, and the points could be brought up then. The FDP leaders emerged looking pleased. Exuberantly, Party Deputy Chairman August Martin Euler told newsmen that there were going to be new Saar talks with the French. "Reopening of Saar talks," said the headlines. No such thing, answered the French Foreign Office. Hastily the German Foreign Office sent off assurances to Paris that Adenauer had no intention of asking Premier Mendès-France for any "interpretations" or "protocols." Adenauer had only promised...
Ruled for early centuries by obscure princes, the Saar has been fought over by Germany and France for the past two centuries. German since 1915, it was handed over to French control under League of Nations auspices after World War I. In 1935 the Saar enthusiastically voted itself into Hitler's Germany in a plebiscite, and survived to regret it. After World War II, the Saar was linked in economic union with the French; in return, France agreed to scale down reparations from Germany...
With its coal mines (17 million tons annually) and its steel furnaces (3,000,000 tons), the Saar is the counterweight France wants to offset the industrial might of West Germany. With the Saar, France's steel production is near West Germany's (13 million tons v. 16 million); without the Saar and with the Saar added to West Germany, France would have little more than half of West Germany's output (11 million tons v. 18 million...
...political logic, all arguments point to union with Germany. But both sides recognize that the Saar is the smelter for the iron mines of Lorraine in France, and cannot thrive in the German market cut off from Lorraine. Even the Saar's Germans recognize this: in the 1952 elections, they gave a surprisingly heavy majority to parties supporting continued economic linkage with France. Ideally, most look hopefully for the day when a real European community would allow them to get their iron from Lorraine while allied with Germany politically...