After World War II in 1945, Saarland remained separate from both countries and for a moment considered declaring themselves an independant country but eventually decided to rejoin Germany in 1957 with a referendum.
These border regions are so important in understanding the history of European relations. The first version of the European Union, the ECSC or European Coal and Steel Community was founded in 1945 and had the goal of combining the steel production of both France and Germany so that Germany could not produce weapons without the knowledge of France, and thus could not threaten Europe again. From that point on there have been multiple evolutions and expansions of that organization to the E.U. of today.
Today the factory in Völklingen is closed down, the furnaces are no longer running, and the space has been converted into a museum!
This environment is special because of the coal and iron that can be found here. In order to harnass that natural energy, many ironwork factories were built in Saarland, the first one dating back to 1539 in Neunkirchen!
By transforming the factory into a museum and park, Saarland is symbolically opening up this historically industrial space to new growth. Not only are there rotating exhibits in the factory buildings themselves, but there is also a permanent street art exhibit that you can explore on the grounds of the ironworks plant. It was so cool to explore pretty much everywhere and see the physical traces of regrowth.
