The second world war on the Saar Evacuation and deportation, destruction and liberation. In the first days of the war at the beginning of September 1939, the civil population had to leave the "Red zone", the area between the French border and the principal battle line of the Westwall. Hundreds of thousands of people were brought in collective transports to the "Rescue areas" in middle Germany. They were able to come back only after the end of the French campaign in the summer of 1940. The villages on the lower Saar and in the Bliesgau were the most destroyed. Here French troops had entered the Reich for some weeks in the autumn of 1939. In the course of the directed repopulation of the "Red zone", Jews were deported in camps in the French Pyrenées. In the Saarland the last Jews were affected on 22nd October 1940. From those 134 Jewish fellow citizens, 65 were later sent to Ausschwitz. Sick people from the institutions in Merzig and Homburg were deported to killing places in Hessen. 1943 the Gestapo constructed in Saarbrücken the KZ "Neue Bremm" for prisoners of war, people from Lorraine and Germany but mostly for forced labourers from Eastern Europe. Many were transported from Saarbrücken to the notorious extermination camps. The rest of the population also suffered from the horrors of the war. The "Regional capital Saarbrücken" lived its first devastating air attack on 30th July 1942. Another followed on 5th October 1944. At this time, the 3d American army was already advancing in Lorraine, but was stopped until March 1945 on the middle Saar and the "Orscholz-Riegel". During those battles, Saarlouis suffered the heaviest destructions. After the break through in Hunsrück, American troops conquered the area of the Saarland from the south and the north in a few days. In the smaller industrial area between Saarbrücken and Neunkirchen the arms became silent on 21st March 1945. Time of occupation and "Saar State" No more back to the Reich! After the end of the war, the Americans created a civil administration for the Saarland called the "Regierungspräsidium". When on 10th July 1945 French troops replaced the Americans, it was very soon clear that France wanted to tie the industrial area closer to it like after the first world war. Under various models the decision went in favour of an economic union and a limited autonomy. The French government defended this concept since February 1946 and worked consequently for its realisation in the Saarland. France didn't sign the agreement of Potsdam because it did not contain border changes in the West. Already in July 1945 the civil administration was dissolved and an administration commission formed on 8th October 1946. It took the place of the Regierungspräsidium. Basis for its composition were the communal elections from 15th September 1946. On 22nd December 1946, France closed the border of the Saarland with the rest of Germany and promoted so the development ! in the French way. The material misery of the population was relieved only after the political reorganisation at the end of 1947 : 5th October 1947 Elections for the constitutional assembly. 20th November 1947 Introduction of the French Franc. 17th December 1947 Coming into effect of the Constitution. 18th December 1947 First government of Saarland with Johannes Hoffmann. 1st January 1948 Replacement of the military government by a high commissariat for the Saarland. The Constitution included in its Preamble the economic annexation to France and the separation from Germany. The French politic after the war has left nearly no election possibilities to the population of the Saarland. Nevertheless the special way of the Saarland was obviously welcome by a great majority. As well negative experiences with the Prussian authority and with the "Reich", as the hope for a rapid amelioration of the economic situation determined this decision. Among the leading representatives of the Christian popular party and the Social Democratic party, there was also the experience of the emigration. The relationship with France was regulated in detail through a series of Conventions in 1950 and 1953.