The French-German Friendship Bridge (French Pont de l'amité, German Freundschaftsbrücke), located south of Saarbrücken, is a bridge over the River Saar connecting the Saarland village of Kleinblittersdorf and the lotharingian village of Grosbliederstroff.
The idea to construct a bridge connecting the two villages which had belonged together for hundreds of years, was conceived in the 1860's and later realized in 1880. The bridge was destroyed early during World War II and rebuilt in 1964. Its current form as a pedestrian bridge was built in 1993.
While the bridge itself is unremarkable in terms of architecture or size, its eventful history serves as a symbol for the development of the relations between France and Germany, from historic enmity to close partnership within the European Union since the enactment of the Elysée Treaty in 1963. At points during its history, the bridge functioned as a border crossing between France and Germany while other times it was either a domestic French or German structure.
The first bridge from 1880
editIn medieval and early modern times, Groß- and Kleinblittersdorf were merely two parts of the Lotharingian village of Bliederstorff located on opposite sides of the River Saar. Bliederstorff's first official attestation dates back to 777. The prefixes Groß- and Klein- appeared for the first time in the late 16th century and initially only referred to the different numbers of inhabitants. The villages were separated following the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1871, after the end of the Franco-Prussian war, both villages belonged to the German Reich; G. as part of the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, K. as part of the Rhine Province. Großblittersdorf became a French borough again in 1919. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, Kleinblittersdorf was at first part of the Territory of the Saar basin (governed by the League of Nations), and part of the Third Reich starting in 1935. Between 1940 and the end of World War II, both villages were under German rule. Afterwards, both were ruled by France again until 1956, as they already had been between 1919 and 1935. During this time, Großblittersdorf, now renamed Grosbliederstroff, was part of the Département Moselle, while Kleinblittersdorf was part of the semi-autonomous Saar region. Following the Saar treaty, it returned to Germany on 1 January 1957.
There is no record of a constructed river crossing in the Middle Ages or the Early Modern Period. The river Saar, which was not yet canalized back then, was likely first crossed through a ford and later by ferry. The idea to construct a bridge on this spot first became concrete in 1868. The plan was to utilize a river isle between the Saar and a parallel section of the Canal de la Sarre, which was built from 1862 to 1879. These plans by the mayor of Grosbliederstroff were rejected by the Prefecture of Metz. It is unknown whether or not Prussian authorities east of the Saar were contacted at the time. However, soon after the end of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871, Prussian authorities did start planning a bridge; since many workers living along the western banks of the Saar had found employment at factories in Brebach (a district in the south east of Saarbrücken), the need for another river crossing between Saarbrücken and Sarreguemines greatly increased. Additionally, the Saar was no longer a border river as it was completely within German territory now, rendering any concerns by the German military that French troops might benefit from such a bridge during an invasion obsolete.
In August 1879, a contract to build a stone arch bridge with 6 pillars was awarded to the company Richart Schmidt in Luisenthal. The bridge was opened for pedestrian traffic on 1 October 1880, even though a guard rail had not been installed yet. As the construction was to be partly funded by a toll, toll boths were build at both ends.
GERMAN ORIGINAL
edithttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freundschaftsbr%C3%BCcke_(Deutschland%E2%80%93Frankreich)