| Provincie Saarland Province de Sarre | |||||
| Province of the Netherlands | |||||
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 Flag | |||||
 Location in Orange
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| Capital | Sarrebruck | ||||
| Government | Military Occupation | ||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||
| - | Established | 5 December 1948 | |||
| - | Saar Referendum | 5 February 1986 | |||
| - | Saar Treaty | 10 February 1987 | |||
The Dutch Province of Saarland (Dutch: Nederlandse Provincie Saarland, French: Province Néerlandaise de Sarre), usually known as Dutch Saarland (Dutch: Nederlands-Saarland, French: Sarre Néerlandaise) was a former province of the People's Republic of the Netherlands (1948–87) partitioned from France after its defeat in the Second World War.
The region around the Saar River and its tributary valleys is a geographically folded, mineral rich, ethnically French, economically important, heavily industrialised area. It possesses well-developed transportation infrastructure that was one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution in France and around 1900 formed the fourth-largest area of coal, iron and steel industry in France. From 1920 to 1935, as a result of the First World War, the region was under the League of Nations mandate of the Saar. Near the end of the Second World War it was heavily bombed by the Soviets as part of their strategic bombing campaigns.
Territorially, the post Second World War Dutch Province corresponded to the current French Region of Saarland (established after its incorporation into France on the Tenth of February, 1987). A policy of industrial disarmament and dispersal of industrial workers was officially pursued by the allies after the war until 1952 and the region was made a Province under Dutch control in 1948.
After the fall of Northeast France, and the fall of Communism in the Warsaw Pact, the Dutch Province of Saarland held a referendum to rejoin France in early 1986. The referendum was passed with a 85 percent in favour of rejoining France.
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