Editing Saarbrücken (section)

==History==

===Roman Empire===
[[File:20110418Roemerkastell Saarbruecken10.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins of the [[Castra|Roman camp]] ''Römerkastell'']]
In the last centuries BC, the [[Mediomatrici]] settled in the Saarbrücken area.<ref name="LHSSB">{{cite web | title = Chronik von Saarbrücken | publisher = Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken | url = http://www.saarbruecken.de/de/tourismus/infos_und_reiseplanung/sehenswertes/sehenswuerdigkeiten/die_geschichte_saarbrueckens | language = de | access-date = 18 July 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111206180842/http://www.saarbruecken.de/de/tourismus/infos_und_reiseplanung/sehenswertes/sehenswuerdigkeiten/die_geschichte_saarbrueckens | archive-date = 6 December 2011 }}</ref> When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in the first century BC, the area was incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]]. 
[[File:Saarbrücken Halberg Mithrashöhle.JPG|thumb|right|The [[mithraeum|Mithras shrine]] at ''Halberg'' hill]]
From the first century AD to the fifth century,<ref name="kastell">{{cite web | title = Das Römerkastell in Saarbrücken | publisher = Interessengemeinschaft Warndt und Rosseltalbahn (IGWRB) e. V. | url = http://warndt.freizeit-saar.eu/pop_poi_details.php?id=1258&lang=de | language = de | access-date = 4 April 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130213055100/http://warndt.freizeit-saar.eu/pop_poi_details.php?id=1258&lang=de | archive-date = 13 February 2013 }}</ref> there was the [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman]] settlement called ''vicus Saravus'' west of Saarbrücken's ''Halberg'' hill,<ref name="Saarlandbilder">{{cite web | url = http://www.saarlandbilder.net/orte/saarbruecken/roemerkastell/kastell.html | title = Röerkastell in Saarbrücken | date    = 20 January 2009 | work = Saarlandbilder | language=de | publisher  = Andreas Rockstein | access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref> on the [[Roman road|roads]] from [[Metz#Ancient history|Metz]] to [[Worms, Germany#Celts and Romans|Worms]] and from [[History of Trier#Roman Empire|Trier]] to [[Argentoratum|Strasbourg]].<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/> Since the first or second century AD,<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/> a wooden bridge, later upgraded to stone,<ref name="memotransfront"/> connected ''vicus Saravus'' with the south-western bank of the Saar, today's St&nbsp;Arnual, where at least one [[Roman villa]] was located.<ref name="Arnual">{{cite web | title = Ausgrabungen im Kreuzgangbereich des ehem. Stiftes St. Arnual, Saarbrücken 1996–2004 | author = Jan Selmer |year = 2005 | url = http://www.zeitensprung.de/arnpub07.html | language = de | access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref> In the third century AD, a [[mithraeum|Mithras shrine]] was built in a cave in ''Halberg'' hill, on the eastern bank of the Saar river, next to today's old "Osthafen" harbor,<ref name="mithras">{{cite web | title = Mithras-Heiligtum Saarbrücken | publisher = Tourismus Zentrale Saarland GmbH | url = http://www.tourismus.saarland.de/de/mithras-heiligtum-saarbruecken-saarland | language = de | access-date = 4 April 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150428183732/http://www.tourismus.saarland.de/de/mithras-heiligtum-saarbruecken-saarland | archive-date = 28 April 2015 }}</ref> and a small [[Castra|Roman camp]] was constructed at the foot of Halberg hill<ref name="Saarlandbilder"/> next to the river.<ref name="kastell"/>

Toward the end of the fourth century, the [[Alemanni]] destroyed the castra and ''vicus Saravus'', removing permanent human presence from the Saarbrücken area for almost a century.<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/>

===Middle Ages to 18th century===
{{See also|Saarbrücken Castle#History|label 1=History of Saarbrücken Castle}}
The Saar area came under the control of the [[Franks]] towards the end of the fifth century. In the sixth century, the [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingians]] gave the village ''Merkingen'', which had formed on the ruins of the villa on the south-western end of the (in those times still usable) Roman bridge, to the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz|Bishopric of Metz]]. Between 601 and 609, Bishop Arnual founded a community of clerics, a ''[[Stift#Stift as a collegiate body or building|Stift]]'', there. Centuries later the ''Stift'', and in 1046 ''Merkingen'', took on his name, giving birth to ''St&nbsp;Arnual''.<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/>

The oldest documentary reference to Saarbrücken is a deed of donation from 999, which documents that [[Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Otto III]] gave the "castellum Sarabrucca" (Saarbrücken castle) to the Bishops of Metz. The Bishops gave the area to the [[Count]]s of ''[[County of Saargau|Saargau]]'' as a [[Fee (feudal tenure)|fief]].<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/> By 1120, the county of Saarbrücken had been formed and a small settlement around the castle developed. In 1168, [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Barbarossa]] ordered the [[slighting]] of Saarbrücken because of a [[feud]] with Count Simon I. The damage cannot have been grave, as the castle continued to exist.<ref name="GdS">{{cite book 
|last1=Behringer 
|first1=Wolfgang 
|last2=Clemens 
|first2=Gabriele 
|chapter = Hochmittelalterlicher Landesausbau
|title=Geschichte des Saarlandes 
|trans-title=History of the Saarland 
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeGD1POy1BkC&pg=PA21 
|date=20 July 2011 
|publisher=C.H.Beck 
|location=München
|language=de 
|isbn=978-3-406-62520-6 
|page=21
|access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref>
 
In 1321/1322<ref name="memotransfront"/> Count Johann I of [[County of Saarbrücken-Commercy|Saarbrücken-Commercy]] gave city status to the settlement of Saarbrücken and the fishing village of St&nbsp;Johann on the opposite bank of the Saar, introducing a joint administration and emancipating the inhabitants from [[serfdom]].<ref name="LHSSB"/>

From 1381 to 1793 the counts of [[County of Nassau-Saarbrücken|Nassau-Saarbrücken]] were the main local rulers. In 1549, [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V]] prompted the construction of the ''Alte Brücke'' (old bridge) connecting Saarbrücken and St&nbsp;Johann. At the beginning of the 17th century, [[Louis II, Count of Nassau-Weilburg|Count Ludwig II]] ordered the construction of a new Renaissance-style castle on the site of the old castle, and founded Saarbrücken's oldest [[Gymnasium (Germany)|secondary school]], the ''Ludwigsgymnasium''. During the [[Thirty Years' War]], the population of Saarbrücken was reduced to just 70 by 1637, down from 4500 in 1628. During the [[Franco-Dutch War]], [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]]'s troops burned down Saarbrücken in 1677, almost completely destroying the city such that just 8 houses remained standing.<ref name="LHSSB"/> The area was incorporated into France for the first time in the 1680s. In 1697 France was forced to relinquish the Saar province, but from 1793 to 1815 regained control of the region.

During the reign of [[William Henry, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken|Prince William Henry]] from 1741 to 1768, the coal mines were nationalized and his policies created a [[Proto-industrialization|proto-industrialized]] economy, laying the foundation for [[Saarland#Economy|Saarland]]'s later highly industrialized economy. Saarbrücken was booming, and Prince William Henry spent on building and on infrastructure like the ''Saarkran'' river [[Treadwheel crane|crane]] (1761), far beyond his financial means. However, the famous [[Baroque architecture|baroque]] architect [[Friedrich Joachim Stengel]] created not only the ''Saarkran'', but many iconic buildings that still shape Saarbrücken's face today, like the ''Friedenskirche'' (Peace Church), which was finished in 1745, the ''Old City Hall'' (1750), the catholic ''St.&nbsp;John's'' ''[[Minor basilica|Basilica]]'' (1754), and the famous ''[[Ludwigskirche]]'' (1775), Saarbrücken's landmark.<ref name="LHSSB"/>

===19th century===
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1871) b 753.jpg|thumb|left|''Lulustein'' in 1871, commemorating [[Napoléon, Prince Imperial|Prince Louis Bonaparte]]'s first cannon shot]]
In 1793, Saarbrücken was captured by [[French Revolution]]ary troops and in the treaties of [[Treaty of Campo Formio|Campo Formio]] and [[Treaty of Lunéville|Lunéville]], the county of Saarbrücken was ceded to France.<ref name="LHSSB"/>

After 1815 Saarbrücken became part of the [[Prussia]]n [[Rhine Province]]. The office of the mayor of Saarbrücken administered the urban municipalities Saarbrücken and St&nbsp;Johann, and the rural municipalities [[Malstatt-Burbach|''Malstatt'', ''Burbach'']], ''Brebach'', and ''Rußhütte''. The [[Saar-Warndt coal mining basin|coal and iron resources of the region]] were developed: in 1852, a railway connecting the [[Palatine Ludwig Railway Company|Palatine Ludwig Railway]] with the [[Chemins de fer de l'Est|French Eastern Railway]] was constructed, the Burbach ironworks started production in 1856, beginning in 1860 the Saar up to [[Ensdorf, Saarland|Ensdorf]] was channeled, and Saarbrücken was connected to the [[List of canals in France|French canal network]].<ref name="LHSSB"/>

At the start of the [[Franco-Prussian War#Occupation of Saarbrücken|Franco-Prussian War]], Saarbrücken was the first target of the French invasion force which drove off the Prussian vanguard and occupied Alt-Saarbrücken on 2 August 1870. Oral tradition has it that 14-year-old French Prince [[Napoléon, Prince Imperial|Napoléon Eugène Louis Bonaparte]] fired his first cannon in this battle, an event commemorated by the ''Lulustein'' memorial in Alt-Saarbrücken. On 4 August 1870 the French left Saarbrücken, driven away towards Metz in the [[Battle of Spicheren]] on 6 August 1870. Saarbrücken would remain the only German territory occupied by French forces during the conflict.

===20th century===
In 1909 the cities of Saarbrücken, St Johann and Malstatt-Burbach merged and formed the major city of Saarbrücken with a population of over 100,000.

During [[World War I]], factories and railways in Saarbrücken were bombed by British forces. The [[Royal Naval Air Service]] raided Saarbrücken with 11&nbsp;[[Airco DH.4|DH4s]] on 17 October 1917, and a week later with 9&nbsp;[[Handley Page Type O|HP11s]].<ref>{{cite web | url=//www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/bc_devel1.html | work=RAF History – Bomber Command 60th Anniversary | title=Development of the Strategic Bomber | access-date=30 April 2013 | date=13 March 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501105123/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/bc_devel1.html | archive-date=1 May 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Royal Air Force]] raided Saarbrücken's railway station with 5&nbsp;[[Airco DH.9|DH9s]] on 31 July 1918, on which occasion one DH9 crashed near the town centre.<ref>{{cite web | url=//www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/h99.html | work=RAF History – Bomber Command 60th Anniversary | title=No. 99 Squadron | access-date=30 April 2013 | date=13 March 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301044315/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/h99.html | archive-date=1 March 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Saarbrücken became capital of the [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar territory]] established in 1920. Under the [[Treaty of Versailles]] (1919), the [[Saar-Warndt coal mining basin|Saar coal mines]] were made the exclusive property of France for a period of 15 years as compensation for the destruction of French mines during the [[First World War]]. The treaty also provided for a [[plebiscite]], at the end of the 15-year period, to determine the territory's future status, and in 1935 more than 90% of the electorate voted for reunification with Germany, while only 0.8% voted for unification with France. The remainder wanted to rejoin Germany but not while the Nazis were in power. This "status quo" group voted for maintenance of the League of Nations' administration. In 1935, the Saar territory rejoined Germany and formed a district under the name Saarland.

====World War II====
Saarbrücken was heavily [[Strategic bombing during World War II|bombed]] in [[World War II]].<ref name="luftangriffe">{{cite web | url=http://www.flugzeugabstuerze-saarland.de/html/luftangriffe.html | work=The results of the air war 1939–1945 in the Saarland | title=air raids | access-date=1 May 2013 | date=27 July 2012 | author=Klaus Zimmer}}</ref>
In total 1,234 people (1.1 percent of the population) in Saarbrücken were killed in bombing raids from 1942 to 1945.<ref>After the Battle Magazine, Issue 170, November 2015, page 34</ref> 11,000 homes were destroyed and 75 percent of the city left in ruins. Today more than a third of the city consists of buildings from before 1945.<ref>https://zensus2011.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/Aufsaetze_Archiv/2015_12_NI_GWZ_endgueltig.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4</ref>

The British [[RAF Bomber Command|Royal Air Force]] (RAF) raided Saarbrücken at least 10 times. Often employing [[Area bombing directive|area bombing]], the RAF used a total of at least 1,495 planes to attack Saarbrücken, killing a minimum of 635 people and heavily damaging more than 8,400 buildings, of which more than 7,700 were completely destroyed, thus [[dehousing]] more than 50,000 people.<ref name="luftangriffe"/> The first major raid on Saarbrücken was undertaken by 291&nbsp;aircraft of the RAF on 29 July 1942, targeting industrial facilities. Losing nine&nbsp;aircraft, the bombers destroyed almost 400&nbsp;buildings, damaging more than 300 others, and killed more than 150 people.<ref name=diary>{{cite web | title=Campaign Diary | work=RAF History – Bomber Command 60th Anniversary | url=//www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/diary.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610145646/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/diary.html | archive-date=10 June 2007 | access-date=30 April 2013 | date=13 March 2006 | publisher=UK Crown | url-status=dead }}<br />'''1942''': 
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611032112/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/jul42.html July],
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611030306/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/aug42.html August],
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070610105237/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/sep42.html September],<br />
'''1944''':
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611030447/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/apr44.html April], 
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611023020/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/jun44.html June], 
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611031257/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/jul44.html July],
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611024544/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/oct44.html October],<br />
'''1945''':
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611024304/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/jan45.html January]</ref> On 28 August 1942, 113 RAF planes raided Saarbrücken doing comparatively little damage due to widely scattered bombing.<ref name="diary"/> After the RAF mistakenly bombed [[Saarlouis]] instead of Saarbrücken on 1 September 1942, it raided Saarbrücken with 118&nbsp;planes on 19 September 1942, causing comparatively little damage as the bombing scattered to the west of Saarbrücken due to ground haze.<ref name="diary"/> There were small raids with 28&nbsp;[[de Havilland Mosquito|Mosquitos]]<ref name="diary"/> on 30 April 1944, with 33&nbsp;Mosquitos<ref name="diary"/> on 29 June 1944, and with just 2&nbsp;Mosquitos<ref name="diary"/> on 26 July 1944. At the request of the American Third Army, the RAF massively raided Saarbrücken on 5 October 1944, to destroy supply lines, especially the railway. The 531&nbsp;[[Avro Lancaster|Lancasters]] and 20&nbsp;Mosquitos achieved these goals, but lost 3&nbsp;Lancasters and destroyed large parts of Malstatt and nearly all of Alt-Saarbrücken.<ref name="diary"/> From 13 to 14 January, the RAF raided Saarbrücken three times, targeting the railway yard. The attacks with 158, 274, and 134 planes, respectively, were very effective.<ref name="diary"/>

The [[Eighth Air Force|8th US Air Force]] raided Saarbrücken at least 16 times, from 4 October 1943, to 9 November 1944. Targeting mostly the marshalling yards, a total of at least 2,387 planes of the 8th&nbsp;USAF killed a minimum of 543 people and heavily damaged more than 4,400 buildings, of which more than 700 were completely destroyed, thus depriving more than 2,300 people of shelter.<ref name="luftangriffe"/> [[Donald J. Gott]] and [[William E. Metzger, Jr.]] were posthumously awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] for their actions during the bombing run on 9 November 1944.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1979-020-24, Westwall, eingebautes MG.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Machine-gun emplacement of a bunker. Saarbrücken, 1940.]]
[[File:M24 Chaffee at Spicheren pic01.JPG|thumb|left|[[M24 Chaffee|M24]], donated by veterans of the 70th US Infantry, facing ruins of fortifications at Spicheren Heights]]
On the ground, Saarbrücken was defended by the [[347th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|347th Infantry Division]] commanded by [[Wolf-Günther Trierenberg]] in 1945.<ref>After the Battle Magazine, Issue 170, November 2015, page 36</ref> The [[70th Infantry Division (United States)|US 70th Infantry Division]] was tasked with punching through the [[Siegfried Line]] and taking Saarbrücken. As the fortifications were unusually strong, it first had to take the Siegfried Line fortifications on the French heights near [[Spicheren]] overlooking Saarbrücken. This ''Spichern-Stellung'' had been constructed in 1940 after the French had fallen back on the [[Maginot Line]] during the [[Phoney War]]. The 276th Infantry Regiment attacked [[Forbach]] on 19 February 1945, and a fierce battle ensued, halting the American advance at the rail-road tracks cutting through Forbach on 22 February 1945.<ref name="70th">{{cite web | url=//www.trailblazersww2.org/Docs/division_history.pdf | work=taken from "The 50th Anniversary program book of the 70th Division (Training)" | title=Abbreviated History of the 70th Infantry Division | access-date=10 May 2013 | date=10 November 2004 | author=70th Regional Readiness Command }}</ref> The 274th and 275th Infantry Regiments took Spicheren on 20 February 1945.<ref name="70th"/> When the 274th Infantry Regiment captured the Spicheren Heights<ref name="70th"/> on 23 February 1945, after a heavy battle on the previous day, the Germans counter-attacked for days, but by 27 February 1945, the heights were fully under American control.<ref>{{cite web | url=//www.trailblazersww2.org/units_274_spicheren_heights_battle.htm | work=taken from "Trailblazer" magazine, Fall 1997, pp. 10–12 | title=The Battle for Spicheren Heights | access-date=10 May 2013 | date=1 February 2013 | author=Charlie Pence }}</ref> A renewed attack on 3 March 1945, allowed units of the 70th Infantry Division to enter [[Stiring-Wendel]] and the remainder of Forbach. By 5 March 1945, all of Forbach and major parts of Stiring-Wendel had been taken. However, fighting for Stiring-Wendel, especially for the ''Simon'' mine, continued for days.<ref name="70th"/> After the German defenders of Stiring-Wendel fell back to Saarbrücken on 12 and 13 March 1945,<ref name="274th">{{cite web | url=//www.trailblazersww2.org/units_274_documents_aarmar45.htm | work=Narrative Report of Operations | title=Period from 1 Mar 1945 to 31 Mar 1945 | access-date=10 May 2013 | author=Headquarters 274th Infantry – APO 461 US Army }}</ref> the 70th Infantry Division still faced a strong segment of the Siegfried Line, which had been reinforced<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.saartanisch.de/Linsenspalter/html/hockerlinie_st__arnual.html | work=Operation Linsenspalter- Der Westwall im Saarland | title=Die Höckerlinie in St. Arnual | access-date=10 May 2013 |date=15 May 2005|language = de}}</ref> around Saarbrücken as late as 1940. After having the German troops south of the Saar fall back across the Saar at night, the German defenders of Saarbrücken retreated early on 20 March 1945. The 70th Infantry Division flanked Saarbrücken by crossing the Saar north-west of Saarbrücken. The 274th Infantry Regiment entered Saarbrücken on 20 March 1945, fully occupying it the following day, thus ending the war for Saarbrücken.<ref name="274th"/>

====After World War II====
In 1945, Saarbrücken temporarily became part of the [[Allied Occupation Zones in Germany|French Zone of Occupation]]. In 1947, France created the nominally politically independent [[Saar (protectorate)|Saar Protectorate]] and merged it economically with France to exploit the area's vast coal reserves. Saarbrücken became capital of the new Saar state. A [[Saar Statute referendum, 1955|referendum in 1955]] came out with over two-thirds of the voters rejecting an independent Saar state. The area rejoined the [[Federal Republic of Germany]] on 1 January 1957, sometimes called ''Kleine Wiedervereinigung'' (little reunification). Economic reintegration would, however, take many more years. Saarbrücken became capital of the ''[[States of Germany|Bundesland]]'' (federal state) Saarland. After the administrative reform of 1974, the city had a population of more than 200,000.
[[File:20111230Saarkran Saarbruecken07.jpg|thumb|right|''Saarkran'', reconstructed next to William-Henry-Bridge in 1991]]
From 1990 to 1993, students and an arts professor from the town first secretly, then officially, created [[Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals|an invisible memorial to Jewish cemeteries]]. It is located on the fore-court of the Saarbrücken Castle.

On 9 March 1999 at 4:40&nbsp;am, there was a bomb attack on the controversial [[Wehrmachtsausstellung]] exhibition next to Saarbrücken Castle, resulting in minor damage to the [[Folk high school#Germany and Austria|Volkshochschule]] building housing the exhibition and the adjoining ''[[Saarland Museum#Museum in the Palace Church|Schlosskirche]]'' church; this attack did not cause any injuries.<ref name="BerlinerZeitung">{{cite web | title = Sprengstoffanschlag auf Wehrmachtsausstellung  | work = [[Berliner Zeitung]] | url = http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/polizei-vermutet-rechtsextremistischen-hintergrund---kritik-an-cdu-anzeigenaktion-sprengstoffanschlag-auf-wehrmachtsausstellung,10810590,9607502.html |author=Karl-Otto Sattler |date=10 March 1999| language = de | access-date = 20 July 2012}}</ref>