Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the

Groß-Gerau Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival. Geog ...

district, lying in the southern

Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'' or ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'', abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest metropolitan re ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

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

Hessentag The Hessentag (; en, Hesse Day) is an annual event, both fair and festival, organized by the German state of Hesse to represent the different regions of Hesse. The events are shown for a week to the visitors, with an emphasis on cultural disp ...

state festival.

Geography

Location

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

Rhine rift The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben (German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the s ...

Neighbouring communities

Groß-Gerau borders in the north on the community of

Nauheim Nauheim is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany. Nauheim is located southwest of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the metropolitan region of Frankfurt. It lies in the Hessian Ried. Geography Location Nauheim lies 3 ...

, in the northeast on the town of Mörfelden-Walldorf, in the east on the community of

Büttelborn Büttelborn is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Büttelborn lies on the edge of the northern Hessisches Ried, the northeastern section of the Rhine rift, and even today is still partly rural. Its proxi ...

, in the southeast on the town of Griesheim (

Darmstadt-Dieburg Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis (district) in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds. Histor ...

), in the south on the community of

Riedstadt Riedstadt, with its municipal area of 73.76 km² is 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 only by its preserved rur ...

and in the west on the community of

Trebur Trebur is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hessen, Germany. It is 13 km southeast of Mainz, and 8 km south of Rüsselsheim. Geography Location Trebur is located in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region. The cities of Mainz, Wiesbad ...

Constituent communities

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

History

Already by

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

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

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

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 Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a ...

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 ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

from Mainz through Groß-Gerau to

Ladenburg Ladenburg is a town in northwestern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies on the right bank of the river Neckar, northwest of Heidelberg and east of Mannheim. The town's history goes back to the Celtic and Roman Ages, when it was called Lopo ...

. 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 Hatto I (c. 850 – 15 May 913) was Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence) from 891 until his death. Hatto belonged to a Swabian family, and was probably educated at the monastery of Reichenau, of which he became abbot in 888. He was also abbot of Ellwan ...

'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 dynas ...

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 Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the '' Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbo ...

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 that is commonly transla ...

s") appointed by the

Landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave") ...

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

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

. 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 in non ...

'' and the right to drive

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

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

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

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 that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

) with the

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

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

stretch in 1858 and the

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

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 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 every scale ...

businesses (FAGRO), canneries (Helvetia),

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges 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 productio ...

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, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

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

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

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

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

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 (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

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 heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

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.&n ...

and an

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), 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 on ...

, 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 Mannheim–Frankfurt railway is a German standard gauge, Railway electrification system, electrified railway line and runs in southern Hesse and northern Baden-Württemberg between Frankfurt and Mannheim Hauptbahnhof, Mannheim. It is also called ...

and

Groß Gerau station Groß Gerau station is located approximately 500 metres north of the centre of the town of Groß-Gerau in the German state of Hesse on the Rhine-Main Railway, running from Wiesbaden and Mainz to Darmstadt and Aschaffenburg. A curve branches o ...

is on the Wiesbaden–Darmstadt–Aschaffenburg line. The north and south

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

interchanges on the A 67 provide connections in all directions.

Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centre ...

is 15 minutes away by Autobahn. Even major cities are right nearby (

11 km,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

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, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

, 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 Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

AG *

Engel & Völkers Engel & Völkers AG is a privately owned German company that, via a series of franchised offices, provides services related to real estate transactions. Engel & Völkers was founded under the name Engel & Cie in 1977 in Hamburg, Germany. The c ...

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

Media

The only daily

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written 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 politics, business, spor ...

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 Brignoles (; oc, Brinhòla) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Alongside Draguignan, it is one of two subprefectures in Var. It was the summer residence of the counts of Pro ...

, France (1959) *

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

, Italy (1959) * Tielt, Belgium (1959) *

Szamotuły Szamotuły (german: Samter) is a town in western Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship, about northwest of the centre of Poznań. It is the seat of Szamotuły County and of the smaller administrative district Gmina Szamotuły. The population wa ...

, Poland (2000)

Notable people

Max Ilgner Max Ilgner (28 June 1899 – 28 March 1966) was a German industrialist. He was a member of the board of IG Farben and held the title ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' or war economy leader under the Nazi regime. After the war, he was convicted by the ...

(1899–1966), industrialist * Fabio De Masi (born 1980), German-Italian politician *

Ludwig Roth Ludwig Roth (June 10, 1909 – November 1, 1967) was the Aerospace engineer who was the head of the Peenemünde Future Projects Office which designed the Wasserfall and created advanced rockets designs such as the A9/A10 ICBM. Roth ar ...

(1909–1967), Aerospace engineer *

Tobias Reinhardt Tobias Reinhardt (born 31 August 1971) is a German classical scholar, specialising in Latin literature and ancient philosophy. Since 2008, he has been the Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Corpus Christi ...

(born 1971), classical scholar * Laura Sánchez (born 1981), Spanish model and actress *

Indira Weis Indira Weis (born Verena Weis; 30 September 1979) is a German singer and actress who rose to fame as a member of the R&B/Pop group Bro'Sis. Biography Early life Weis was born the second daughter to Manju, an Indian interpreter and her Ge ...

(born 1979), actress and singer

Gallery

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

Half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

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) Grand Duchy of Hesse