Johannes Hoffmann was born on December 23, 1890, in Landsweiler-Reden. After serving in World War I, he worked as a journalist and became editor-in-chief of the Catholic Saarbrücker Landeszeitung in 1929. Forced out by the Nazis in 1934, he fled after the 1935 Saar vote to avoid arrest. He and his family escaped via Forbach, Luxembourg, Paris, Spain, and Portugal to Brazil, where they lived until 1945. Returning to the Saar in September 1945, he became politically active and served as Saarland’s Minister President from 1947 to 1955. Hoffmann died in Völklingen on September 21, 1967.
