Jews have lived in the capital of the Saar Region, on the French-German border, since 1321. After World War I, the Saar was administered by the League of Nations until the German takeover in 1935, at which time many Saarlanders, and most Jews, given the choice of Nazi-German or French nationality, chose the latter. The synagogue of Saarbrücken was destroyed on Kristallnacht, and the remaining Jews deported in 1940. Today’s Saarbrücken Jewish community has some 1,000 members.