German passport valid only for Saarland
This passport is a rarity as its validity was only for travels to and from Saarland. After WWII, the Saarland (Sarre) became French from 1946 on. In 1957 Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany and became the smallest federal state (not counting the city-states). Federal German Passport Saarland
The Saarland was also French after WWI. After Saar’s coal mines were awarded to France, Saarland was placed under the administration of the League of Nations for 15 years, at the end of which time a plebiscite permitted the inhabitants to choose between being part of France or Germany. In the plebiscite, held on January 13, 1935, more than 90 percent of the inhabitants of Saar voted for its return to Germany.
This model of the first passport type of Germany was issued on Sep 10, 1951, just seven months after Federal Germany regained the right from the Allied military forces to issue passports as a sovereign state. Its validity was initially two years but got renewed in 1953 for another three years until Sep 1956.
Passport applications in the first several months still had to be made at the offices of the allied forces. On 1 January 1950, the government office “Deutsche Amt für Ein-Ausreiseangelegenheiten” (German Office for Entry and Exit Affairs) became the main issuing authority but according to the occupation laws this office was still under the control of the High Commission for Germany. This article explains the evolution of the Federal German passport.
A pretty nice document of German (passport) history for my collection. I also hold the very first ever issued passport of the Federal Republic of Germany. A special case was issued at the German consulate in New York on Nov 1950 – three months before the official law. Probably, the rules were different abroad as Germany had to take care of its citizens outside the country.
Federal German Passport Saarland
