Social Democratic Party of the Saarland

The Social Democratic Party of the Saarland (short name: SPS ) was a political party in the autonomous Saarland between 1946 and 1956 , which at that time existed under the protection of France. The party program of the Saarland Social Democrats essentially corresponded to that of the West German SPD , but in terms of Saar politics, the SPS represented economic ties to France (economic and monetary union) with internal autonomy . The party organ of the SPS was Die Volksstimme .

founding

The SPS was unofficially founded at the end of October 1945 in the back room of a Saarbrücken restaurant; Georg Schulte , who later became a member of the state parliament, was appointed chairman . Since the French occupation authorities had not yet allowed the founding of a party, it took until January 6, 1946, until the SPS was officially established at a founding party congress; chairman was Richard Kirn selected.

Political content

At the beginning of the French occupation of the Saar, France's final policy towards the Saar was unclear. It was generally expected that - analogous to the German approach towards Alsace-Lorraine in 1941 - an annexation of the Saarland by France would take place. Due to the difficult supply situation in 1945 and 1946, there were not a few supporters of such a solution within the Saarland, who promised themselves a better food supply through such a step. The organization Mouvement pour le Rattachement de la Sarre à la France (MRS) , which was founded in 1945 and which is said to have been joined by 100,000 Saarlanders and thus around 15% of the Saar population at the time, advocated the connection of the Saarland to France . The SPS pursued together with the stronger CVP and at that time still the DPS against a policy which was supposed to achieve the advantages of an economic connection of the Saarland to France, but which was supposed to preserve the autonomy of the area. After initial hesitation and a massive change of opinion on the part of the other Western allies on the subject of the Anschluss, France followed suit.

The SPS passed this policy on April 6, 1946. The SPS was represented by five members in the Saarland's 20-person constitutional commission; The vice-president of the commission was SPS chairman Richard Kirn. In the elections for the constitutional assembly of Saarland, which should turn into the first state parliament after the constitution was approved , the SPS received 32.8% of the votes and 17 of the 50 seats. The turnout was 95.7%. The constitutional assembly approved the new Saarland constitution with 48 of the 50 votes, which provided for the economic connection to France and the autonomy of the Saarland. Only the Communist Party rejected the constitution.

The SPS was represented in the Hoffmann I cabinet by the Minister for Labor and Welfare Richard Kirn and the Minister for Justice Heinz Braun until April 1951. This was followed by the move into the opposition , until the two ministers took their seats again in the Hoffmann III cabinet from December 23, 1952 to July 17, 1954. On July 17, 1954, the coalition with the CVP broke up due to internal political disputes over the Works Constitution Act. In terms of Saar politics, however, the SPS stuck to its positions.

In the second state parliament election in 1952 , the SPS was able to maintain its position and win 32.4% of the valid votes cast and thus again 17 seats. The turnout was 93.1%; however, 24% of the votes cast were "white" or invalid. The growing prosperity in the newly founded Federal Republic and the common cultural roots on the one hand and the sometimes chaotic French domestic policy, reinforced by economic problems as well as the Algerian war and the Vietnam conflict with the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ , on the other hand, made the politics of the autonomous increasingly difficult Saar government, which feared a considerable burden of the reconciliation between France and Germany in the event of a policy change.

In the course of 1954 negotiations between France and Germany, in consultation with the Saarland government, resulted in a treaty on a European Saar statute . The autonomy of the Saarland should be preserved, Saarbrücken should be the seat of European institutions such as the Council of Europe , the Coal and Steel Community and the Western European Union (WEU). The economic relations between the Saarland and France should be supplemented by similar relations with the Federal Republic. The people of Saarland should be asked about this in a referendum; the establishment of “German” parties was allowed for the first time. Thereupon the CDU Saar, the German Social Democratic Party (DSP) and the DPS were founded, which had been banned in 1951 because of anti-constitutional activities (demand for annexation to the Federal Republic); they joined together in the so-called Heimatbund.

The voting campaign was conducted with extraordinary severity and a variety of personal attacks, and an observer mission from the WEU only managed to maintain an orderly voting campaign with great difficulty. After the vote, the WEU had to set up an extraordinary court on the Saar, which the former opponents made several claims.

The resolution

With the October referendum, the Saarland population spoke out against the European Saar Statute. On the night of October 23, 1955, the previous CVP Hoffmann government ( Hoffmann IV cabinet ) resigned. In the state elections in December 1955 , the SPS still achieved 5.8% of the votes and entered the state parliament with two members. The party merged with the DSP in the Saarland SPD and resolved to dissolve itself on March 18, 1956.

literature

• Johannes Hoffmann : The goal was Europe. The way of the Saar 1945–1955. Günter Olzog Verlag, Munich-Vienna 1963.
• Wilfried Busemann: Go your own way. The self-discovery of social democracy on the Saar from 1945 to 1968. Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86110-533-6