Mail envelope Saar referendum of 1935 Mail envelope Saar referendum of 1935

While governed by the League of Nations, the inhabitants of the Saar region decided on their political future on 13 January 1935. This mail envelope is a piece of interesting memorabilia regarding this fateful day. The Reichspost released special postage stamps that called attention to this important day. Letters from 13 January 1935 were additionally postmarked with the imprint "National referendum in the Saar region today". While the front side of the letters is kept neutral in relation to the referendum and is merely used to encourage voters to participate, the sender has used the back side for propaganda purposes. The obvious proponent of the "Heim ins Reich" campaign (literally: "Return to the Reich") has placed a sticker with the lettering "13 January 1935, the Saar is German, we want to return to the Reich" on the back of the envelope. The result and the consequences of the Saar referendum are well known. 90.73 percent of voters opted for reunification with Germany while 8.86 percent voted to maintain the current status quo, while merely 0.4 percent of the Saar region's inhabitants voted for a unification with France.