Friendship Bridge (Germany-France)

While it impresses neither through architectural boldness nor through record breaking dimensions, the varied history of Franco-German relations, from "hereditary enmity" to a strong partnership within the European Union, can be interpreted through the bridge, especially since the 1963 Élysée Treaty came into force.

In the Middle Ages and in the early Modern Era, Groß- and Kleinblittersdorf were two districts of the Lorraine village of Bliederstorff (first documented in the year 777) on opposite banks of the Saar river.

[3] Separated by the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna, both districts belonged to the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, although to different states (Großblittersdorf to the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Kleinblittersdorf to the Prussian Rhine Province).

Whereas in 1956, like from 1919 until 1935, both places were again under French influence: Grosbliederstroff (as it is now known) as a municipality in the Moselle department and Kleinblittersdorf in the semi-autonomous Saarland, which was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany on 1 January 1957 due to the Saar Treaty.

Commuters on the western bank of the Saar now had greater access to the Kleinblittersdorf train station on the important Saarbrücken-Saareguemines railway line, which was much easier and faster to reach than the previous ferry service.

During the reconstruction period, the construction of a new bridge and thus an additional permanent border crossing, especially one that was so close to Saarbrücken, was not on the political agenda for the Metz prefecture or for the Saarland governments under Minister-President Johannes Hoffmann and his successors.

The necessity to facilitate the border-crossing of goods and passenger trafficking in this spot was already seen in the 1970s, as all suitable border crossings for motor traffic to France at Rilchingen-Hanweiler and Saarbrücken-Güdingen were too far away and would have required cross-town links.

Additionally, the recently finished building project Bypass B-51 of the Kleinblittersdorf municipality crossing under the old bridge required a larger overhead clearance.

Construction began at the end of 1992 and the inauguration followed on 12 September 1993 by the respective mayors, Günther Brettar (Kleinblittersdorf) and Jean Jung (Grosbliederstroff), as well as the environment minister of the Saarland region, Jo Leinen.

[11] In 1987, the Kleinblittersdorf municipality mounted a piece of plastic art by Wolfram Huschens, a German artist from the Saarland region, made from copper sheets on a glacial erratic at the eastern end of the roadbridge B51/N61 next to the custom clearance site which had been rendered redundant by the Schengen Agreement (1985).

[12] On the occasion of the anniversary of the German liberation on 8 May 2007, the first four stations of the projects of the cultural capitals called hArt an der Grenze (English: close to the limit) were opened between Kleinblittersdorf and Grosbliederstroff, displaying artistic works on the bridge and the former border hut until the end of August 2007.

[13] The project included objects like life-sized photographs of artists wearing the uniforms of former customs officers and a performance by Bernd Wegener called "Le son du vent" (English: The sound of the wind) for which bells had been hung between the similarly shaped lamps on the bridge.

In 1982, the local Carnival society called "Grünschnäbel" (English: green beaks) declared the only 30 m2 (during low tide) wide river Saar-islet between the two municipalities to be the "Free State Carnevalis", holding annual ceremonies there, rewarding celebrities like Willy Millowitsch, Oskar Lafontaine, Ephraim Kishon, Lilo Pulver and Wim Thoelke with the title of Doctor humoris causa.

In 2007, the event took place for the last time, due to the ageing process of the "Grünschnäbel", possibly the future owners of this "free state", which was auctioned off in June and July 2007, might continue to put it to public use.