In 1918 the Saar Basin was a heavily industrialised area that boasted a large number of coal mines. Following the Treaty of Versailles the area was occupied and governed by France and Britain under the auspices of the League of Nations. France was also given exclusive control of the area’s rich coal mines as part of the reparations agreement. The Treaty called for a plebiscite to decide the long-term future of the Saar region after a period of fifteen years.
By the time of the plebiscite Adolf Hitler had secured his position as the supreme leader of Germany. This had caused a number of people who opposed Nazi policies to move to the Saar Basin since it was the only part of Germany free from their rule. These people were keen for the area to remain under the League’s administration, but maintaining the status quo was unpopular with many other Germans in the area.
The Nazis launched an intensive pro-Germany campaign in the area that was led by propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. As early as 1933, complaints that the Nazi campaign amounted to a ‘reign of terror’ had been noted by American political scientist Sarah Wambaugh who was one of the members of the commission sent to oversee the plebiscite. Although the Nazis did restrain their tactics by the end of 1934, the League of Nations still provided a peacekeeping force to monitor the plebiscite.
Voter turnout was 98% of all eligible voters, and 90.8% of them chose to re-join the German Reich. The overwhelming result surprised many observers, and acted as powerful propaganda for the Nazi Party.
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