Mouvement for the Rattachement de la Sarre à la France
The Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre à la France (MRS; French - Movement for the connection of the Saar to France) was a non-partisan organization that campaigned for the economic and political annexation of the Saarland to France after the Second World War . The movement operated from 1945 to 1949.
The association was founded in the spring of 1945 by exiles from Saarland in Paris as the Mouvement pour la Liberation de la Sarre (MLS - Movement for the Liberation of the Saar). After the liberation by the US Army , political activity in Saarland was initially prohibited and the authorities persecuted. The MLS was only able to operate unhindered after the American armed forces were replaced by the French army in July 1945 and political associations were permitted at the end of 1945.
The organization, which was now renamed Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre à la France , was very popular and, according to its own statements, already had over 100,000 members in 1946. These included numerous former members of the NSDAP who, by joining the MRS, hoped to avoid expulsion by the French military government .
Friedrich Pfordt was the leader of the movement from 1946 to 1949 and editor of the MRS organ “Die Neue Saar” . The MRS was represented with members in all pro-French parties. It had district administrators and mayors as well as several members of the constitutional commission (1947) in its ranks.
CVP and SPS were able to come to terms with the economic connection to France, but strictly refused the political connection. The only approved party that spoke out against the economic annexation of the Saarland to France was the KP Saar .
After France refrained from calling for a political annexation of the Saarland and by 1948 the economic annexation to France was completed, the work of the MRS became irrelevant.
literature
- Theodor Schieder (Hrsg.): Handbook of European history. Volume 7. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-12-907890-8 , p. 597.
Web links
- Such a crispy roast pork. In: Der Spiegel , edition 1/1947, p. 1 f.
- Klaus Altmeyer : An episode for a new democratic beginning. MRS in Lebach . In: Lebacher Historical Calendar 2006 . (PDF; 450 kB)
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c Such a crispy roast pork. In: Der Spiegel , edition 1/1947, p. 1 f.