Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival.

Geography

Location

Groß-Gerau lies in the north of the ''Hessisches Ried'', the northeastern section of the Rhine rift.

Neighbouring communities

Groß-Gerau borders in the north on the community of Nauheim, in the northeast on the town of

Mörfelden-Walldorf Mörfelden-Walldorf () is a town in the Groß-Gerau (district), Groß-Gerau district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region in the federal state (Bundesland) Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a tria ...

, in the east on the community of Büttelborn, in the southeast on the town of Griesheim ( Darmstadt-Dieburg), in the south on the community of

Riedstadt Riedstadt (), with its municipal area of 73.76 km2 is Groß-Gerau (district), Groß-Gerau district's biggest town by land area. It lies in Hesse, Germany, about 12 km southwest of Darmstadt. Geography Location Riedstadt is shaped not ...

and in the west on the community of Trebur.

Constituent communities

Groß-Gerau consists of the centres of Berkach, Dornberg, Dornheim, Auf Esch, Groß-Gerau and Wallerstädten.

History

Already by Roman times, the area forming today's town of Groß-Gerau had great importance. A

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

in the area of the constituent community of Auf Esch ensured a bridgehead for the Roman provincial capital of Moguntiacum (Mainz), even before the Limes was established and southern Hesse became Roman. Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B44 from the southern tip of the old pheasantry (at Auf Esch) to Dornheim corresponds exactly with the old

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from Mainz through Groß-Gerau to Ladenburg. It led to the fort's south gate. With the founding of the ''Civitas Auderiensium'' (Dieburg), the fort was forsaken. The camp (

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

) remained and became a market village. The fact that this vicus and the later mentioned Wasserburg Dornberg (moat-ringed castle) corresponded very closely in location would be no accident. The ''Gerauer Mark'' (Gerau March, the woods between Wallerstädten and Messel) had its first documentary mention in one of Mainz Archbishop Hatto I's donation documents in 910. In the time that followed, the Lords of Dornberg, held sway in the region, likely doing so as the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

emperors' vassals in the Frankfurt Palatinate (in 1160, a moat-ringed castle is mentioned in what is now the Dornberg area). After the Lords of Dornberg died out came the Counts of Katzenelnbogen as their successors. The new overlords managed to procure town rights for Groß-Gerau in 1398. In 1479, Count Philip the Elder died without a male heir and the county passed to Hesse. In 1578, building work on the Town Hall was begun. This was where the ''Schöffengericht'' ("Jurymen's Court") and the ''

Schultheiß In medieval Germany, the ''Schultheiß'' () was the head of a municipality (akin to today's office of mayor), a '' Vogt'' or an executive official of the ruler. As official (''villicus'') it was his duty to order his assigned village or county ( ...

en'' (roughly "

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

s") appointed by the Landgraves sat. Groß-Gerau's town church was burnt down in 1634 by Imperial troops during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. Landgrave Ludwig VI of Hesse-Darmstadt renewed Groß-Gerau's town rights in 1663 for a payment of 24000 Gulden. These rights included the abolition of compulsory labour, market stall levies, representation in the ''

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

'' and the right to drive

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s out of the town. In the 19th century,

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

began in Groß-Gerau, too, as elsewhere. Given the connection to the ''Hessische Ludwigsbahn'' (

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

) with the

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

stretch in 1858 and the

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

stretch in 1879 (the ''Riedbahn''), a multifaceted industrial life sprang up. The town became headquarters to

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

businesses (FAGRO), canneries (Helvetia),

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

makers (Groß-Gerau is where "Mainz" cheese is made) and the

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

industry. From 1869 to 1871, Groß-Gerau was the epicentre of a series of mostly weak

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s. A plan to connect two local railway stations and the surrounding communities together with a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

way in the late 19th century fell through, and there are still no trams in the town even now. Recently, the town's, and more particularly the district's economic situation has worsened. Relatively high debt loads and strict controls of public institutions (especially at the district level) by the government presidium in

have led to this. The name Groß-Gerau means "Great Gerau", and the town shares its name with the village of Klein-Gerau – "Small Gerau" – a constituent community of Büttelborn.

Population development

() * 1998 - 23,000 * 1999 - 23,147 * 2000 - 23,349 * 2001 - 23,342 * 2002 - 23,565 * 2003 - 23,600 * 2004 - 23,519 * 2017 - 25,496

Politics

Town council

Groß-Gerau's council is made up of 33 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 6 March 2016: (in parentheses changes from municipal elections held in March 2011): * SPD 10 seats (-1) * CDU 10 seats (-1) * Greens 4 seats (-3) * KOMBI 3 seats (-) * Left Party 2 seats (+1) * Free Democratic Party 2 seats (+2) *

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

2 seats (+2)

Executive and mayor

The executive of the district town of Groß-Gerau consists of the directly elected mayor, the honorary first town councillor, a full-time town councillor and a further five honorary town councillors. The current mayor Erhard Walther of the CDU was elected on 4 February 2018.

Coat of arms

Groß-Gerau's civic

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

might heraldically be described thus: The shield: Party per fess, above, a lion rampant striped per fess three times argent three times gules, armed, langued and crowned Or (or langued gules, depending on source), below, in Or a cross pattée gules and between the arms above dexter an onion with shoots vert, sinister a cabbage vert, below dexter a cabbage vert, sinister an onion with shoots vert, both onions per bend sinister. The crest: a crenellated wall with three crenellated towers Or. Groß-Gerau's oldest known town seal dates from the 16th century. There are none surviving from the time when town rights were first granted in 1398. The seal in question shows a

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

and an

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

, perhaps symbolizing horticulture's importance in the area. The cross first appeared about 1600 in combination with the vegetables, and this new symbol was used in town seals and on buildings. It is unknown why the cross came to be in the town's seal. It is also seen on a municipal limit marker from 1596, but without the produce. The arms were granted in 1901, and also include the lion of Hesse in the chief. The arms shown in this article and on the town's official website include the crest consisting of a crenellated castle wall with three crenellated towers. This crest does not appear in some earlier versions.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Groß-Gerau is very advantageously placed for transportation. It is on Federal Highways (''Bundesstraßen'') B42/L3482 and B44. Groß-Gerau-Dornberg station is on the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway and Groß Gerau station is on the Wiesbaden–Darmstadt–Aschaffenburg line. The north and south

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

interchanges on the A 67 provide connections in all directions. Frankfurt International Airport is 15 minutes away by Autobahn. Even major cities are right nearby (

11 km,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

23 km,

18 km and

28 km).

Established businesses

* FAGRO Preß- und Stanzwerk GmbH (closed down) *

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

, Werk Groß-Gerau (formerly Wick; personal hygiene and pharmaceuticals) * Südzucker AG, Werk Groß-Gerau (closed down) * Frigoropa GmbH (EK19), daughter company of Nordfrost AG (deepfreezes) * Erlenbacher Backwaren GmbH], daughter company of

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

AG * Engel & Völkers, Claus Jousten Immobilien e.K. Franchise of Engel & Völkers Residential GmbH

Media

The only daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

is the ''Groß-Gerauer Echo'', belonging to the ''Darmstädter Echo'' newspaper family.

Schools

* Luise-Büchner-Schule * Schwenkschule (former: Johannes-Angelus-Schule) * Grundschule Dornheim * Schillerschule * Nordschule * Berufliche Schulen Groß-Gerau * Grundschule Wallerstädten * Martin-Buber-Schule * Prälat-Diehl-Schule * Goetheschule * Astrid-Lindgren-Schule * Liberta Schule * Carl von Ossietzky Schule

Twin towns – sister cities

Groß-Gerau is twinned with: * Brignoles, France (1959) *

Bruneck Bruneck (; or Ladin language, Ladin: ''Bornech'' or ''Burnech''; or ''Brunopolis'') is the largest town in the Puster Valley in the Italy, Italian province of South Tyrol. Geography Bruneck rises up in the middle of a wide valley (perhaps a ...

, Italy (1959) *

Tielt Tielt (; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Tielt proper and the villages of Aarsele, Kanegem, and Schuiferskapelle. History Some traces of Gallo-Roman occupation hav ...

, Belgium (1959) * Szamotuły, Poland (2000)

Notable people

* Max Ilgner (1899–1966), industrialist * Fabio De Masi (born 1980), German-Italian politician * Ludwig Roth (1909–1967), Aerospace engineer * Tobias Reinhardt (born 1971), classical scholar * Laura Sánchez (born 1981), Spanish model and actress * Indira Weis (born 1979), actress and singer

Gallery

Groß-Gerau Stadtkirche.jpg, Town Church (Evangelical) Groß-Gerau Fachwerkhaus an der Stadtkirche.jpg,

Half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

house at the Town Church Groß-Gerau Skulptur Marktplatz VHS.jpg, Sculpture at the marketplace (house of the VHS) Groß-Gerau 1.jpg, Historic houses Groß-Gerau 2.jpg, Historic houses Groß-Gerau 3.jpg, Historic houses Groß-Gerau 4.jpg, Historic houses Groß-Gerau 5.jpg, Historic houses

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross-Gerau Groß-Gerau (district)