Sankt Wendel is a Kreis (district) in the north of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are Trier-Saarburg, Birkenfeld, Kusel, Neunkirchen, Saarlouis, Merzig-Wadern.
The district was created in 1834 when Prussia bought the Lichtenfeld area from Saxony-Coburg. After the World War I the Saar area came under special rulership of the League of Nations, and thus the Sankt Wendel district was split into two parts. The northern part, the Restkreis Sankt Wendel, was merged into the district Birkenfeld, the southern part stayed in the Saarland in its reduced size.
Geography
The district is located in the Saar-Hunsrück natural area, an hilly area with elevations between 200 and 600 meters. The main river in the district is the Nahe. The Bostalsee is the biggest tourist lake in the south-west of Germany, covering an area of about 1.2 km².
Coat of arms
The blue lion represents the counts of Veldenz, a branch of the Wittelsbach family. The silver lion is taken from Nassau-Saarbrücken. The two counties had the most important possessions in the districts. The shield in the middle show a fleur-de-lis taken from the city Sankt Wendel, in the colours taken from the Lorraine.
It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districtsSanktWendel (Saarland), Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.
The principality of Birkenfeld was annexed by Oldenburg in 1817; Lichtenberg became an exclave of Saxony-Coburg[?].
In 1937 the Oldenburgian district of Birkenfeld was merged with the remaining SanktWendeldistrict to form the new Prussian district of Birkenfeld.
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