Saarbrücken (French Sarrebruck), city in southwestern Germany, on the Saar River, capital of Saarland, near France. The city is an industrial and transportation center of a great coal basin; manufactures include iron and steel, sugar, beer, pottery, optical instruments, machinery, and construction materials. A university, castle, and town hall (18th century) are in the city. Saarbrücken, chartered in 1321, passed to the control of Prussia in 1815. For two intervals (1919-1935, 1945-1957) the city was included in France; it suffered severe damage in World War II (1939-1945). Parts of Saarbrücken were flooded following record rainstorms in December 1993. Population (1997) 189,012.
