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

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 Da ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, 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, 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'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.

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 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) * the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to: ** Limes (Roman Empire) (Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimitin ...

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 R ...

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 '' Schultheißen'' (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 battl ...

. Landgrave Ludwig VI of Hesse-Darmstadt renewed Groß-Gerau's town rights in 1663 for a payment of 24000

Gulden ''Gulden'' is the historical German and Dutch term for gold coin (from Middle High German "golden penny" and Middle Dutch " golden florin"), equivalent to the English term guilder. Gulden, Gülden, Guldens or Gulden's may also refer to: Coins o ...

. These rights included the abolition of compulsory labour, market stall levies, representation in the '' Landtag'' and the right to drive Jews 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 econ ...

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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

) 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 th ...

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 dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

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 product ...

makers (Groß-Gerau is where "Mainz" cheese is made) and the sugar 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, from ...

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 Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

4 seats (-3) * KOMBI 3 seats (-) * Left Party 2 seats (+1) *

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

2 seats (+2) * Free 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 it ...

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 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 oni ...

, 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 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 centres. ...

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 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 metrics, sin ...

AG * Engel & Völkers, 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, sport ...

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 Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Brignoles, 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 (perhap ...

, 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 w ...

, Poland (2000)

Notable people

* Max Ilgner (1899–1966), industrialist *

Fabio De Masi Fabio Valeriano Lanfranco De Masi (born 7 March 1980) is a German-Italian politician. He was a member of the German Bundestag from 2017 to 2021 and was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1 July 2014 to 23 October 2017. Unt ...

(born 1980), German-Italian politician * Ludwig Roth (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 G ...

(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 wooden ...

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