History of Saar, Saarland

1926: The first amateur radio operators in the Saar used the illegal calls of the German Reich. One of the first was Julius Kron, DE 181, unlis (E)K4SAR, organised in the Deutsche Funkverband (DFV). When the Deutsche Amateur Sende Verband (DASD) was founded in Kassel, 1927, Kron and nine others were present, and Kron became Landesgruppenleiter (Regional leader) of “Landesgruppe 7 – Saar”. 1929 they meged with Landesgruppe 6, Hesse and by Rhine, from 1933 adding /T to their DE-Number.

1.1.1929: Official allocation: TS=Territoire de la Sarre. Patriots considered this to be Un-German, sounding like a French colonial callsign, so they still preferred their new (unlis) D-calls to declare their Germanness.

1934: In anticipation of the reincorporation of the Saar to the German Reich officials from Berlin appealed to the ITU in Geneva to eliminate the “shameful French TS”.

From 1.1.1934 the allocation was changed to EZ. Still unlis EZ was mainly used by Nazi supporters.

1.1.1935: “Heim ins Reich” (“Back to the Homeland”). The Nazi regime was established in March 1933, and Hitler succeeded to get an international agreement to incorporate the Saar to the Third Reich. Even before amateur radio was legalized for German (i.e. non-Jewish) hams, on 13. February 1935, the Saar PTT provided “provisional” D-Calls for DASD members. After the war, whilst the first amateur radio clubs were approved in the British and American zones, the French Security Police "Sûreté Nationale" had a strict control in the French zone where operating was prohibited – until 1951.

Amateur radio was legalized in the Saar, and on 19 April 1951, the "Shortwave Amateur Club Saar" (KWACS) was founded. It existed until 1957 when the Saar, now “Saarland” became the 11th Bundesland (Federal Province of the Federal Republic of Germany

A total of 62 calls (9S4AB-DW) were issued between 8.11.1947 and 31.3.1957.

Two years later, on 12.08.1959, 220 hams of the local sections Saarbrücken, St. Ingbert, Neunkirchen, Merzig and Völklingen formed a joint DARC group which became, on 13. February 1960 the DARC District of Saar ("Q") and DL8 was assigned to the former 9S4 hams.

Courtesy of QSL Collection at DokuFunk, Vienna
Tnx OE1WHC

Saar (officially The Territory of the Saar Basin) was  a region of Germany occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France, from 1920 to 1935, under a League of Nations mandate.

Saar was returned to Germany in 1935.

Following the defeat of Germany in World War II, Saar was partioned from Germany on 1947-11-08, and became a French Protectorate.

The protectorate of Saar was a DXCC entity in its own right  (now deleted), named Saarland, with the prefix 9S4.

The French returned control of Saar to Germany on 1957-01-01, and the DXCC entity of Saarland was deleted on 1957-04-01.

From 1957-04-01, contacts with Saar counted as Germany (now deleted). The 9S4 prefix continued to be used from the German state of Saarland until late 1957. Club Log maps 9S4 to Germany (deleted) until 1957-11-30.

The April, 1957 issue of QST reports:
"In view of the present status of Saarland and Trieste, effective as of April 1, 1957 these two countries will no longer be counted as separate for DXCC purposes. All confirmations dated April 1, 1957 and after, from Saarland and Trieste, will be considered as Germany and Italy respectively. Confirmations dated prior to April 1, 1957 will still count as separate credits."

Info courtesy of W2VRK