SAAR BASIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1939, Page 6

SAAR BASIN

INDUSTRIAL AND MINING REGION

OCCUPATION BY FRENCH.

'After being in, German hands for four years, the Saar has been reoccupied by the French in the present Western Front offensive.

A valuable industrial and mining region' with an area of 726 square miles, the chief town of which is Saarbrucken, the Saar Basin was occupied by France in 1920 under the Treaty of Versailles, as compensation for the destruction of her northern mines during the Great War. To assure the welfare of the inhabitants and enable France to exploit the mines, an international ‘ governing commission, responsible to the League of Nations as trustee but exercising all powers of government formerly held by the German Empire, Prussia, and Bavaria, was instituted for 15 years.

The Saar, however, was pre-emin-ently German, and it was soon clear that when the plebiscite was taken in 1935 to ■.determine the future fate of the Saar Basin, there would be a strong desire to return to German control.

When the plebiscite took place on January 13, 1935, the overwhelming vote of the population for a return to the Reich took Geneva by surprise. It was generally felt that there would be a minority of at least 25 per cent favouring the status quo. Of a total of 528,000 votes cast, 477,000 were for return to Germany, 46,000 for remaining under the League of Nations, and 2100 for France.

Many foreign observers expressed the hope that the Saar plebiscite would act as a pacifying event in Europe; in effect, it was but the beginning of the Nazi Government’s policy of aggressive expansion, with the exception that the reoccupation of the Saar Basin by Germany was in accordance with treaty undertakings.

Others predicted that it would create a situation which demanded great vigilance. They have been the true prophets.