7 - Cultural Quagmire

Summary

The age of the nation-state is over! Europe must unite if it wants to exist beside the two world powers.

—History textbook used in Saar schools during the 1950s

There are other ways to show that the Saar is part of Germany. The German soccer federation illustrated this when it admitted the Saar into its championship league.

—French Foreign Ministry report, June 1952.

A “European” Education Policy

BY THE EARLY 1950S the Saar's fate was clearly a contentious issue both within the Saar itself and between France and West Germany. Moreover, the territory's future increasingly became intertwined with that of emerging European organizations. As the Saar came to attract international attention, French and Saar cultural policies, especially those of Grandval and Hoffmann, changed. Both Grandval and Hoffmann continued their efforts to forge close cultural ties between France and the Saar and cut connections with West Germany. At the same time, the Saar's role in European culture also became a major theme of their cultural policies. Indeed, the idea of European unity and cooperation fitted nicely with their efforts to foster Saar “particularism,” free of Prussian militarism and German nationalism. Grandval and Hoffmann continued to concentrate their cultural policies on aspects that had an impact on most Saarlanders, namely education, religion, and sports. While the 1950s presented them with many opportunities in these areas, they encountered many difficulties as well.

In many ways the Universität des Saarlandes was one of Grandval and Hoffmann's greatest successes. Its enrollment increased throughout the 1950s. Fewer and fewer Saar students left their homeland to study in either West Germany or France. Those who continued to study in French universities found support in France from the AFS. Instead of remaining in France for the duration of their studies, however, most Saarlanders only spent one or two years at a French university before returning to the Saar to complete their degree. The Universität des Saarlandes had an organization for students who had spent time at French universities, the Allgemeine Studentengemeinschaft für internationalen Austausch (AGA). The AGA encouraged Saar students to enroll in foreign universities, especially French ones.