We all know that after WWII, Germany was split into 4 administrative zones each controlled by one of the Allies. The Soviet controlled one became East Germany and the other three became West Germany, with the exception of the Saar region which became the Saar Protectorate and remained under French control.
Why was it treated differently?
As a bonus question, when Berlin was split up, why were exclaves such as Steinstuken created?
The Saarland was given to France as a protectorate because of the wealth of coal that was there. France has a strong industrial center in North of France but the country and it's colonies at the time was lacking in coal (and still is, this is also why France has invested so heavily in nuclear power). France was very jealous of Germany's coal resources but their control of the Saarland created a paradox in their industry. The Saarland sent coal to France to feed the industry there but that caused the industry to demand more coal which was not readily available. To solve this the European Steel and Coal Community was created. This was the brain child of Jean Monnet who was very pro European unification. And the ESCC served as the basis that became the European Union we know today. PanEuropean thought was very popular in the years legging up to the two world wars but the impetuous to begin integration wasn't there until after the second would war. As the Europeans were looking for a way to pool their power in a way to resist the growing power of the USSR and the USA.