Darmstadt

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coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the city of Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Map of Germany, position of the city of Darmstadt highlighted

Coordinates: 49 ° 52 '  N , 8 ° 39'  E

Basic data
State : Hesse
Administrative region : Darmstadt
Height : 144 m above sea level NHN
Area : 122.09 km 2
Residents: 159,878 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 1310 inhabitants per km 2
Postcodes : 64283-64297
Primaries : 06151, 06150 , 06159Template: Infobox municipality in Germany / maintenance / area code contains text
License plate : THERE
Community key : 06 4 11 000
City structure: 9 districts

City administration address :
Luisenplatz 5
64283 Darmstadt
Website : www.darmstadt.de
Lord Mayor : Jochen Partsch ( Alliance 90 / The Greens )
Location of Darmstadt in Hesse
Kassel Landkreis Kassel Werra-Meißner-Kreis Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Landkreis Waldeck-Frankenberg Landkreis Hersfeld-Rotenburg Landkreis Fulda Vogelsbergkreis Landkreis Marburg-Biedenkopf Lahn-Dill-Kreis Landkreis Limburg-Weilburg Landkreis Gießen Main-Kinzig-Kreis Wetteraukreis Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Hochtaunuskreis Wiesbaden Main-Taunus-Kreis Kreis Groß-Gerau Frankfurt am Main Offenbach am Main Landkreis Offenbach Darmstadt Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg Kreis Bergstraße Kreis Bergstraße Odenwaldkreis Baden-Württemberg Rheinland-Pfalz Bayern Nordrhein-Westfalen Niedersachsen Thüringenmap
About this picture
360 ° panorama of Darmstadt over the Prinz-Georg-Garten; also to see: Herrngarten, TU Darmstadt; on the horizon: left Taunus, in the middle high-rise buildings in Frankfurt a. M. and to the right of Offenbach
as a spherical panorama
Aerial photo from 2003: In the middle is the Residenzschloss , to the right of it are the Hessian State Museum and the Hessian State Archives ; behind the castle is the Ludwigsmonument on Luisenplatz
Darmstadt from the ISS seen from

Darmstadt ( listen ? / I ) is an independent city in the south of Hesse , the administrative seat of the administrative district of Darmstadt and the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg . The city belongs to the Rhine-Main area and is one of the ten regional centers of the State of Hesse. Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse after Frankfurt am Main , Wiesbaden and Kassel . The closest larger cities are Frankfurt am Main and Offenbach , about 30 km north, Wiesbaden and Mainz , about 40 km northwest, Mannheim , about 45 km and Heidelberg about 55 km south. Audio file / audio sample

Darmstadt describes itself as a science city . This title was awarded to the city in 1997 by the Hessian Ministry of the Interior . It owes this status to a number of universities and research institutions, such as the Technical University founded in 1877 , the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences , the Protestant University and the Wilhelm Büchner University with a total of around 50,000 students. The GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research , the European Space Flight Control Center (ESA / ESOC), the European Organization for the Use of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and three institutes of the Fraunhofer Society are among the more than 30 other research institutions . In addition, there are large companies and institutions in the communications and IT sector that conduct applied research and development .

Darmstadt's reputation as the “center of Art Nouveau ” goes back to the artist colony established by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig in 1899 on Mathildenhöhe . Darmstadt is home to the second division soccer club SV Darmstadt 98 .

Darmstadt ranks 52nd among the largest cities in Germany .

geography

360-degree panorama view of the Ludwigsmonument  - you can see: Kollegienhaus (right), the Hessian State Museum and the Hessian State Archives , Residenzschloss , behind it the Mathildenhöhe with wedding tower ,
white tower and town church, Luisencenter and high-rise building of the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences , Rheinstrasse (center). Far on the right in the background the Taunus with the Feldberg , on the left the Odenwald with the cone of the Melibokus . June 2012
Darmstadt from the southeastern Ludwigshöhe

Geographical location

Luisenplatz with Ludwigsmonument

Four natural spaces meet in Darmstadt: The west of the urban area is in the Upper Rhine Plain . This is followed in the southern part of the city to the east by the narrow edge of the Bergstrasse , which begins here. The south-east of the urban area is part of the Vorderen Odenwald up to about Mathildenhöhe . The northernmost point of the Odenwald is on the B 26 near the Institute of Botany and Zoology. The northeast of Darmstadt, on the other hand, is part of the Messeler Hügelland natural area . The city is traversed by the Darmbach and, in the southern district of Eberstadt, the Modau .

As a regional center , Darmstadt is also the central location for the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Odenwaldkreis as well as the communities of the southern district of Groß-Gerau , an area with a total of around 650,000 inhabitants. Neighboring centers are Frankfurt am Main in the north, Aschaffenburg in the east, Heidelberg and Mannheim / Ludwigshafen in the south and Mainz in the north-west.

Neighboring communities

Darmstadt in the Rhine-Main area : View of the Pauluskirche with the skyline of Frankfurt

Darmstadt borders in the north on the Offenbach district and in the east, south and west on the Darmstadt-Dieburg district . It borders (clockwise from the north) on the municipality of Egelsbach , the cities of Langen and Dreieich (all three districts of Offenbach), the municipalities of Messel , Groß -zimmer and Roßdorf , the city of Ober-Ramstadt , the municipalities of Mühltal and Seeheim-Jugenheim , the Cities Pfungstadt , Griesheim and Weiterstadt as well as the community Erzhausen (all district Darmstadt-Dieburg).

City structure and districts

The urban area of ​​Darmstadt is divided into nine districts . For statistical reasons, they are divided into statistical districts , each of which is numbered. Of the total of nine districts, five are in the city center (districts 100 to 500) and four are in the outskirts (districts 600 to 900). In detail there are the following districts:

City structure graphically
View through Wilhelminenstrasse to St. Ludwig
No. designation Area in hectares Popula-
's population (2017)
annotation
100 Darmstadt center 232.7 20,200 u. a. with city center and Eichbergviertel
200 Darmstadt-North 1,231.0 32,219 u. a. with Johannes- , Martinsviertel and Waldkolonie with the Europaviertel
300 Darmstadt-East 2,757.7 14,688 u. a. with Mathildenhöhe and Woogsviertel
400 Qualifications 552.4 14,874 incorporated on April 1, 1888
500 Darmstadt-West 1,514.7 18,901 u. a. with homestead settlement
600 Arheilgen 1,126.0 17,682 incorporated on April 1, 1937 (*)
700 Eberstadt 1,808.4 23,479 incorporated on April 1, 1937 (*)
800 Wixhausen 2,322.8 6.212 incorporated on January 1, 1977
900 Kranichstein 655.0 11,907 -
Darmstadt 12,200.7 159,982  

(*) With the incorporation of Arheilgen and Eberstadt on April 1, 1937, Darmstadt became a major city .

The social geography of Darmstadt has a relatively steep gradient between affluent and socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, which has existed since the 19th century. In the core city (excluding outer districts) there is a clear east-west divide with the most affluent residential areas on the eastern edge of the city from the composer's quarter in the north to Rosen- and Mathildenhöhe, Lichtwiese and Paulusviertel to Ludwigshöhe in the south. The city center with its rebuilt post-war buildings is on average, while Johannesviertel and Martinsviertel in the north and Alt- Bessungen in the south are among the more sought-after residential areas in which gentrification processes have been taking place since around 1975 due to their partially preserved old buildings. In contrast, the west of Darmstadt is characterized by a strong functional mix of commercial, residential and former military use, so that there are many conversion areas and the high pollution levels from industry and traffic, as well as the lack of social infrastructure in some areas, cause urban development problems. On the other hand, the west is the only inner city area where new living space can still be created to a significant extent in order to alleviate the general shortage in Darmstadt. This area along the Main-Neckar-Bahn as a western city has been in the focus of Darmstadt's urban planning since the turn of the millennium and is in a state of major change.

climate

Darmstadt is located in the temperate climate zone . The average temperature is 10.1 ° C. The warmest month is July with an average of 19.3 ° C. The coldest month is January with an average of 0.9 ° C.

Darmstadt and the Rhine-Main area are located at the northern end of the Upper Rhine Plain , which is climatically one of the warmest regions in Germany. The annual mean temperature of 10.1 ° C (long-term mean for the reference period 1981-2010) is higher than that of other German metropolises (Berlin 9.0 ° C, Hamburg 9.1 ° C, Munich 7.7 ° C). The sun shines the longest in July with an average of 7.5 hours a day. In December, the sun shines the shortest with an average of 1.2 hours a day. The overall climate is therefore quite mild. In the period from November to January there is an average of only one to two hours of sunshine during the day. The average rainfall is 765 mm per year.

Snow averages about fifteen days in winter. The snow depth is rarely more than ten centimeters and the snow usually does not stay long. White Christmas is on average every 10 years.

The summer is quite warm with highs around 25 ° C (on an average of eleven days a year also over 30 ° C); In addition, it is slightly changeable with occasional showers or thunderstorms, but this is also the sunniest time with seven to eight hours a day.

The extreme values ​​are around −21 ° C in winter and around +39 ° C in summer. The highest temperature ever measured in Darmstadt was 39.5 ° C, measured on August 7, 2015. The lowest temperature ever measured in Darmstadt was −26.9 ° C, measured on January 19, 1940. The average annual temperature rose on average From 1981 to 2010 by approx. 0.4 to 10.1 ° C.

The mean annual rainfall was around 600–700 mm. Most of the precipitation falls in July, the lowest in April, averaging between 1981 and 2010. The average humidity is around 76%.

The prevailing wind direction is west.

Climate diagram from 1981 to 2010, for the city of Darmstadt

Average monthly temperatures and precipitation for Darmstadt
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 5.0 7.0 11.0 15.0 20.0 23.0 25.0 25.0 20.0 14.0 8.0 5.0 O 14.9
Min. Temperature (° C) −1.0 1.0 3.0 6.0 11.0 13.0 13.0 15.0 11.0 7.0 4.0 1.0 O 7th
Precipitation ( mm ) 55.0 53.0 66.0 49.0 76.0 67.0 75.0 66.0 63.0 66.0 63.0 66.0 Σ 765
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 1.5 2.9 3.9 5.9 6.7 7.1 7.5 7.0 5.3 3.3 1.7 1.2 O 4.5
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
5.0
−1.0
7.0
1.0
11.0
3.0
15.0
6.0
20.0
11.0
23.0
13.0
25.0
13.0
25.0
15.0
20.0
11.0
14.0
7.0
8.0
4.0
5.0
1.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
55.0
53.0
66.0
49.0
76.0
67.0
75.0
66.0
63.0
66.0
63.0
66.0
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: German Weather Service ; wetterkontor.de

history

The name "Darmstadt"

Darmstadt - Excerpt from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655
The oldest city map of Darmstadt from around 1759 by (Kaspar Ludwig) Bettenhäuser. (Note: East is up here.)
Darmstadt in 1816, a watercolor by Johann Heinrich Schilbach
Ernst-Ludwigsplatz with the White Tower after a postcard from around 1899

The origin of the name Darmstadt is unclear. The oldest surviving mention of the settlement under the name Darmundestat comes from the 11th century, several centuries after the settlement was founded. The attempts to explain the origin of the name are very different:

  • The local press prefers to explain that Darmstadt was the fortified settlement of a royal wild boar named Darimund .
  • Another interpretation sees the name as a derivation of the terms darre for gate or obstacle and mouth for protection, so Darmundestat would be a settlement on a paved passage .
  • A further derivation wants to recognize the Celtic word stems dar for oak or tree and mont for mountain.
  • Furthermore, attempts are also being made to see the origin of the name in the Darmbach . Following this theory, Darmstadt would be either the site on the torrent (Dam-unda-stat) or the site on the moor brook (Darm-unda-stat) . However, what speaks against this thesis is that, according to current knowledge, the Darmbach was only called that later.

More detailed explanations of the name derivation in the parallel article: History of the City of Darmstadt

Historical forms of names

Historically documented mentions of the place are (in brackets the year of mention):

  • Darmundestat (2nd half of the 11th century)
  • Darmistat (1234)
  • Intestinal stat
  • Gutestat (1315)
  • Darmstad (1377)
  • Darmbstadt (1451)
  • Darmstatt (1477)
  • Darmstait (1479)
  • Darmstadt (1488)
  • Darmbstadt (1555)
  • Darmstatt (1586)
  • Darmbstatt (1600)

Incorporations

The municipality of Bessungen was incorporated on April 1, 1888. On April 1, 1937, Arheilgen and Eberstadt and around 25% of Griesheims , including the military training area with the August Euler airfield , the Tann settlement and today's Sankt Stephan , were added. Wixhausen followed on January 1, 1977.

Outsourcing

On January 1, 1977, the Sankt Stephans settlement , which had around 2,000 inhabitants at the time, was returned to the neighboring town of Griesheim.

Desolation

From the 13th to the 15th century, Klappach was a hamlet south of the village of Bessungen near Darmstadt.

Population development

Population development of Darmstadt.svg Population development of Darmstadt - from 1871
Population development of Darmstadt. Above from 1570 to 2017. Below a section from 1871

On April 1, 1937, the city's population exceeded 100,000 due to the incorporation of Arheilgen and Eberstadt. During the Second World War , the city lost around 40 percent (45,000) of its residents between 1939 (115,000 inhabitants) and 1945 (70,000 inhabitants). In 1953 the population had reached the pre-war level again. The population of Darmstadt reached its highest level to date on December 31, 2016 with 159,982 registered residents.

The following overview shows the number of inhabitants according to the respective territorial status. Up to 1833 it is mostly estimates, then census results (highlighted in color) or official updates by the respective statistical offices or the city administration itself. From 1843 onwards, the information relates to the “local population”, from 1925 to the resident population and since 1987 to the “population at the location of the main residence ”. Before 1843, the number of inhabitants was surveyed inconsistently.

year Residents
1570 1,220
1600 1,515
1619 2,400
1634 2,000
1636 1,100
1648 1,000
1676 1,790
1700 1,895
1772 9,800
1804 11,219
1816 15,391
1830 23,242
3 Dec 1846 26,300
3 Dec 1861 28,526
3 Dec 1864 29,225
year Residents
Dec. 1, 1871 33,800
Dec. 1, 1875 37.273
Dec. 1, 1880 41,199
Dec. 1, 1885 43,146
Dec. 1, 1890 55,883
Dec. 2, 1895 63.168
Dec. 1, 1900 72,381
Dec. 1, 1905 83.123
Dec. 1, 1910 87,089
Dec. 1, 1916 71,410
Oct 8, 1919 82,367
Jun 16, 1925 89,465
Jun 16, 1933 93,222
May 17, 1939 115.196
December 31, 1945 69,539
year Residents
13 Sep 1950 94,788
25 Sep 1956 123.306
Jun 6, 1961 136,412
Dec 31, 1965 140.066
May 27, 1970 141,224
Dec. 31, 1975 137.018
Dec 31, 1980 138.201
Dec. 31, 1985 134.181
May 25, 1987 134.272
Dec 31, 1990 138,920
Dec 31, 1995 138,980
Dec. 31, 2000 138,242
Dec 31, 2005 139.103
Dec 31, 2007 142.191
Dec 31, 2008 142.310
year Residents
Dec 31, 2009 143,332
Dec 31, 2010 144.402
Dec 31, 2011 145.845
Dec 31, 2012 150.155
Dec 31, 2013 149,743
Dec 31, 2014 151,879
Dec 31, 2015 155.353
December 31, 2016 157,437
December 31, 2017 158.254
December 31, 2018 159.207

Census results highlighted in color

Religions

Denomination statistics

According to the 2011 census , 33.1% of the population were Protestant , 19.3% Roman Catholic and 47.6% were mostly non-denominational , belonged to another religious community or did not provide any information. The number of Catholics, and especially Protestants, has fallen since then. At the end of 2019, 25.6% of the residents were Protestant, 17.1% Roman Catholic and 57.3% had no denomination or belonged to another religious community. A year earlier (as of December 2018), 26.5% of Darmstadt's residents were Evangelical Lutheran Christians, 17.5% Catholics and 56.0% others (of a different or no denomination ).

Christianity

Marketplace around 1900
Orangery (Darmstadt) - southern facade
The St. Ludwig Church in Darmstadt.

In 1526, Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous introduced the Reformation according to the Lutheran confession, so that Darmstadt remained a Lutheran city for a long time. The Christians of the Reformed Confession did not receive the right to hold church services until 1770/71. Since Darmstadt was the residential city , the consistory (church administration) of the Evangelical Church in Hesse was located here , which was united with the regional churches of Frankfurt and Nassau in 1934 and 1947 respectively. Furthermore, the seat of the superintendent or Propstei Starkenburg is located in Darmstadt. Today all Protestant parishioners in Darmstadt - provided they do not belong to an evangelical free church or a congregation of the independent Evangelical Lutheran Church - are assigned to the Darmstadt-Stadt deanery within the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau .

Roman Catholic parishioners moved back to the city no later than the 18th century. They were allowed to hold services again from 1790. In 1827 the dome-roofed Ludwigskirche was completed. Darmstadt is the capital of the Darmstadt deanery in the diocese of Mainz .

Furthermore, there are various Christian free churches in Darmstadt , some of which are members of the Evangelical Alliance . These include, for example, the Christian Center Darmstadt (CZD), the Free Evangelical Community Darmstadt (FeG), the Free Christian Community (FCG), the Christian Community Ecclesia , the Christian Community ( Brethren Movement ) and numerous other Christian communities.

The orthodoxy is represented in Darmstadt. The Russian Orthodox community celebrates services in the Russian Chapel (Church of St. Mary Magdalene) on Mathildenhöhe, the Greek Orthodox community in the Church of St. Nikolaos in Eberstadt .

Judaism

There is also an active Jewish community life in Darmstadt. In 1988 the new synagogue was inaugurated.

Memorial plaque on Julius-Landsberger-Platz, at the place of remembrance Liberal Synagoge Darmstadt (2013)

In October 2003, the remains of the Liberal Synagogue , which had been destroyed on November 9, 1938, were uncovered during construction work on the grounds of Klinikum Darmstadt GmbH . Part of this former synagogue was destroyed in 1940 when an extinguishing water basin was built. In 1970 further foundations were removed due to new extensions to the clinic. The Liberal Synagogue was built from 1873 to 1876. In addition to the remains of the foundation, not only the remains of a circulating air heating system were found in the cellar, but also countless metal and glass fragments. The conservation concept of the State Office for Monument Preservation , which has taken over the safeguarding of the finds, pursues an "unadorned and as unchanged as possible representation of the historical moment of destruction". Since November 2009, visitors have been able to visit the site in a place of remembrance, the Liberal Synagogue . An employee of the Mathildenhöhe Institute completed a 1:50 scale model of the Liberal Synagogue by 2006. It has been in the community center of the Jewish community since 2010.

Darmstadt's Orthodox Synagogue on Bleichstrasse was also destroyed on November 9, 1938. In 2010 a memorial stone reminded of the location of the church.

For several years now, symbolic “ stumbling blocks ” by the artist Gunter Demnig can be found in the Darmstadt city area . These are set in the ground in front of buildings to commemorate their former Jewish residents and others such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists or Zigans, as well as resistance fighters, who were expelled or murdered during the National Socialist era.

Here is the list of stumbling blocks in Darmstadt .

Islam

There are several Muslim communities of different religious or ethnic groups in Darmstadt. The largest mosques are the Emir Sultan Mosque of the ATIB community, IRD (Islamic Religious Community Darmstadt eV), the Arabic-speaking Salam Mosque (Mesjid Issalaam) and, among others, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Nuur-ud-Din- Mosque . There are also several other prayer rooms, especially those of the DİTİB communities run by the Turkish state .

politics

City Council

The city ​​council of Darmstadt consists of 71 elected city councilors. The local elections on March 6, 2016 produced the following results, compared to previous local elections:

Diagram showing the election results and the distribution of seats
Election of the Darmstadt City Council 2016
 %
30th
20th
10
0
29.7%
18.2%
17.2%
9.2%
7.7%
6.8%
5.3%
3.7%
1.8%
0.3%
UFFB.
UWIGA
Otherwise.
Gains and losses
compared to 2011
 % p
 10
   8th
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
  -6
  -8th
-3.2  % p
-6.6  % p
-4.1  % p
+ 9.2  % p
+1.2  % p
+ 2.9  % p
+ 2.1  % p.p.
+ 0.2  % p
-1.1  % p
-0.7  % p
UFFB.
UWIGA
Otherwise.
Distribution of seats in the 2016 city council
5
12
21st
1
3
4th
5
13
7th
12 21st 4th 13 7th 
A total of 71 seats
Nominations %
2016
Seats
2016
%
2011
Seats
2011
%
2006
Seats
2006
%
2001
Seats
2001
GREEN Alliance 90 / The Greens 29.7 21st 32.9 23 15.5 11 16.4 12
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany 18.2 13 24.8 18th 30.1 21st 34.2 24
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany 17.2 12 21.3 15th 29.0 21st 33.5 24
AfD Alternative for Germany 9.2 7th - - - - - -
UFFBASSE Independent Free Citizens Group -
Upright, Spontaneous, Subcultural, Stubborn
7.7 5 6.5 5 6.3 5 2.1 2
THE LEFT. THE LEFT. 6.8 5 3.9 3 2.1 2 - -
FDP Free Democratic Party 5.3 4th 3.2 2 6.8 5 6.5 5
UWIGA Independent voter association, emerged from the waste water community 3.7 3 3.5 3 6.0 4th - -
PIRATES Pirate Party Germany 1.8 1 2.9 2 - - - -
Others Nominations that have not won a seat 0.3 0 1.0 0 1.1 0 1.3 0
The women Feminist Party THE WOMEN - - - - 1.0 1 1.3 1
WASG WASG - - - - 2.0 1 - -
OS / 3 Open city - - - - - - 1.7 1
LEU LIST EUROPE DARMSTADT - - - - - - 1.6 1
PDS-DKP / Open List Democratic Socialism Party -

German Communist Party / Open List

- - - - - - 1.3 1
total 100.0 71 100.0 71 100.0 71 100.0 71
Voter turnout in% 47.8 49.4 43.7 49.5
Allocation of seats in the city council
Citizens and Public Order Office at Grafenstrasse 30

magistrate

These persons are currently full-time members of the City of Darmstadt's magistrate (the magistrate also has 13 honorary members): 1

Surname function Political party
Jochen Partsch Lord Mayor Green
Rafael Reisser Mayor , City Councilor (School Department) CDU
André Schellenberg City treasurer CDU
Barbara Boczek Construction department Green
Barbara Akdeniz City Councilor (Social Department) Green

1 As of June 2020

mayor

City arms on manhole cover

In the Middle Ages, a mayor was at the head of the city administration . From the middle of the 15th century at the latest, there was also the office of mayor, who initially only had the duties of city ​​treasurer . Only gradually did the tasks of the city administration pass from the mayor to the mayor.

Presumably as early as the 15th, but at the latest in the early 16th century, the mayor's office was awarded twice, so that there was both a "council mayor" (later called mayor), who was elected by the city council for one year, and a "younger mayor" (later sub-mayor, today simply mayor), who was elected by the city council.

From 1874 the mayors worked full-time. Since 1993 the mayor has been elected directly by the people. Before that, the city council elected the mayor.

Darmstadt is a red-green stronghold, the SPD provided all post-war mayors until 2011. In 2011 Jochen Partsch ( Greens ) was elected to this office as successor to Walter Hoffmann, and he was sworn in on June 21, 2011; he took office on June 25, 2011. He heads a green and black magistrate.

Lord Mayor

Term of office Surname Political party
since 2011 Jochen Partsch Green
2005-2011 Walter Hoffmann SPD
1993-2005 Peter Benz SPD
1981-1993 Günther Metzger SPD
1971-1981 Heinz Winfried Sabais SPD
1951-1971 Ludwig Engel SPD
1945-1950 Ludwig Metzger SPD
1934-1945 Otto Wamboldt NSDAP
1933 Heinrich Muller NSDAP
1929-1933 Rudolf Mueller DDP
1909-1929 Wilhelm Glässing NLP
1891-1909 Adolf Morneweg NLP (?)
1874-1891 Albrecht Ohly

Local advisory board

In the district of Wixhausen, a local advisory board with a local mayor as chairman was formed in accordance with Section 8 of the main statute of the city . The local advisory council consists of nine members and can be heard on important matters affecting the Wixhausen district. The final decision on a measure then rests with the city council of the city as a whole.

Finances

Darmstadt is one of the most heavily indebted cities in Hesse. With Offenbach am Main and Kassel , Darmstadt is one of the independent cities in Hesse which, due to their poor financial situation, are entitled to participate in the municipal protective umbrella of the State of Hesse. In 2010 the city had a debt of around 300 million euros.

At the end of 2016, Darmstadt headed the ranking list of the 103 independent cities in Germany with a total debt of around 2.3 billion euros in the public sector. Each resident was thus debited around 15,000 euros. A little more than three quarters of the debt falls not on the city administration, but on the city companies. Sorted according to the amount of debt of municipal companies per inhabitant, Darmstadt (€ 11,597) is by far in first place, followed by Mannheim with € 6,541 per inhabitant.

coat of arms

Coat of arms of the city of Darmstadt

The coat of arms of the city of Darmstadt shows under a red-lined grand ducal crown placed on the upper edge of the shield in a divided shield, above a blue armored and tongued, growing red lion in gold , below in blue a silver lily . The coat of arms is often shown without a crown.

The coat of arms with lion and lily is already on a keystone of the lower vault of the city church tower from the 15th century. The coat of arms was re-awarded in 1917 by the then Grand Duke of Hesse in its present-day shapes and colors. The lion is the heraldic animal of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen , who ruled over the city. The Katzenelnbogen lion can also be seen in the coats of arms of Auerbach (Bensheim-Auerbach) , Zwingenberg adB , Pfungstadt , Katzenelnbogen and St. Goar . The lily was later added to the coat of arms, presumably to distinguish it from lion representations in other coats of arms. The origin of the lily cannot be proven with certainty. It is believed, however, that the lily is supposed to symbolize the town church in Darmstadt, which was originally consecrated to the mother of God Maria . The lily is considered a sign of purity and is therefore often depicted as an attribute of Mary, the Mother of God.

Small city coat of arms

Small coat of arms of the city of Darmstadt

The small coat of arms of the city of Darmstadt shows in a split shield, above in gold a blue armored and tongued, growing red lion, below in blue a silver lily.

Town twinning

Town twinning sign in Darmstadt

Darmstadt maintains the following cities partnerships :

"Place of Diversity"

On September 23, 2008 Darmstadt received the title “ Place of Diversity ” awarded by the Federal Government .

Culture and sights

The wedding tower is stylized as the city hallmark of Darmstadt

theatre

There are several theaters in Darmstadt.

The best known is the State Theater with the Large House, the Small House and the Chamber Plays. Various things are performed in the HalbNeun theater, the portfolio ranges from cabaret "Kabbaratz" to performances by music groups.

In Bessungen there is the children's theater “Kikeriki” and the adult puppet theater “Comedy-Hall” with different programs, which is performed in the former Bessungen gymnasium. The performances of the “Darmstadt New Stage” are regularly sold out. With the “Theater Moller Haus”, the independent theater scene in Darmstadt has its own venue. The “Theater in the Pedagogue” (TiP) is located in the “Darmstadt Pedagogue”. The "HoffART Theater" is located in the Martinsviertel. The "West Side Theater" is located in the former freight yard in Eberstadt.

Due to the numerous universities, Darmstadt also has a lively student theater scene. The student association “musische gruppe auerbach” has established itself here with regular theater and musical productions. A spin-off of the “musischen group auerbach” is the improvisational theater group “KurzFormChaos”, which is active in the Rhine-Main area. In addition, the TU Darmstadt's drama studio has existed since the 1950s. In addition to stage productions, the university group also offers weekly open acting exercises.

Museums

The Hessian State Museum is a universal museum with numerous and extensive permanent exhibitions, including a. on finds from the Messel mine and the Joseph Beuys work complex .

The most important art nouveau museum is the Darmstadt Artists' Colony Museum in the Ernst Ludwig House on Mathildenhöhe. It shows the history of the Darmstadt artist community from 1899 to 1914 and the artistic work of its members. Works are the objects they design for everyday use, but also other items from the art of Art Nouveau. In addition, in the Hessisches Landesmuseum there are jewelry, equipment and furniture of the Art Nouveau u. a. by Joseph Maria Olbrich , Peter Behrens and Henry van de Velde .

View from the entrance of the State Museum
Exhibition building next to the wedding tower
Opening of the exhibition Art and Culture in the Empire of the Last Tsar

At Mathildenhöhe, however, it's not just about the past of design: In the Darmstadt design house, the Design Zentrum Hessen e. V. and the Institute for New Technical Form - INTEF exhibitions.

Darmstadt has been shaped in the past centuries by its function as a residential city. In addition, the castle museum in the bell building of the castle offers an overview of 250 years of court life. The most famous exhibit was the " Darmstadt Madonna " by Hans Holbein , which has been in the Johanniterkirche in Schwäbisch Hall since 2012 . On the edge of the Herrngarten lies the baroque Prinz-Georg-Palais with the Grand Ducal Hessian porcelain collection . The largest collection of Kelsterbach porcelain in the world is part of the extensive holdings exhibited there. In the Jagdschloss Kranichstein , one of the few surviving Renaissance hunting castles in Germany, there is now a hunting museum with hunting weapons and equipment, furnishings and paintings with depictions of the hunt.

The Kunsthalle Darmstadt presents four to five exhibitions of national and international standing each year. The focus is on classical modern and contemporary art. The Mathildenhöhe exhibition building next to the wedding tower also offers changing exhibitions.

The history of technology can also be viewed in various forms in Darmstadt: The Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum shows locomotives, wagons and other historical railway material in a setting that is true to the original. In the House for Industrial Culture you can find an exhibition of machines from the printing industry, type foundry and old book printing techniques. Industrial design has been on display since 1955 in the "Institute for New Technical Form - Braun Design Collection" on Mathildenhöhe.

Other smaller museums are dedicated to the history of the city: The old town museum in the Hinkelsturm , the last defensive tower in the city, reminds u. a. with a model of the old town from 1930 to the old town of Darmstadt, which was destroyed in the Second World War . There are also remains of the medieval double city wall. The Wixhäuser Dorfmuseum is a local museum in a Franconian half-timbered farmhouse with old furniture and household items from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The following museums can also be found in Darmstadt:

music

The central station in the carree

The city of Darmstadt is home to the Academy of Music , the Darmstadt International Music Institute (IMD) and the Darmstadt Jazz Institute . Events such as the International Summer Courses for New Music and the Darmstadt Jazz Forum have contributed over the decades to making the city an important international meeting place for musicians and musicologists.

There are various well-known choirs in Darmstadt, including the Bach Choir Darmstadt e. V., the Darmstädter Kantorei , the Konzertchor Darmstadt e. V., the church music in the Pauluskirche Darmstadt, the SurpriSing Chor 2002 Darmstadt e. V. and the Vocal Ensemble Darmstadt e. V. The Darmstädter Residenzfestspiele e. V., the Darmstädter Hofkapelle, Marching Devils e. V., choir and orchestra of TU Darmstadt and Musikzug Darmstadt e. V.

The castle moat festival has been held annually on four days at the end of May since 1999 .

Darmstadt is also considered a stronghold of the classical guitar. The Darmstadt Guitar Days , which have been taking place annually since 1998 and which always attract international greats of the guitar scene to the city in December, testify to this .

The city of Darmstadt also organizes the “International Darmstadt Youth Orchestra”, which is made up of young people aged 14 and over from Darmstadt and its partner cities. After a few days of rehearsal, the orchestra gives a concert in Darmstadt and one of the twin cities, most recently in Troyes in 2018.

Literary life

The John F. Kennedy House , seat of the Darmstadt Literature
House , on Kennedyplatz in Darmstadt

Darmstadt, a city of culture and science, has an extraordinarily strong impact on the field of literature, which is evident from the literary institutes and associations located there, as well as the numerous literary prizes awarded here.

The German Academy for Language and Poetry , based on Mathildenhöhe, is active here to maintain and promote German literature and language. Every year it awards the Georg Büchner Prize , the Johann Heinrich Voss Prize for Translation , the Johann Heinrich Merck Prize for Literary Criticism and Essay, and the Sigmund Freud Prize for Scientific Prose .

With the Literary March, the city ​​of Darmstadt is organizing a literary competition for young authors in the field of poetry with the award of the Leonce and Lena Prizes and Wolfgang Weyrauch sponsorship prizes . The city also awards the Ricarda Huch Prize every three years . The Darmstadt Literaturhaus is to be seen as the center of numerous literary societies and initiatives; Readings are offered here regularly. The German Literature Fund promotes contemporary German-language literature by awarding the Kranichstein Literature Prize as well as other prizes and grants.

The writers' association PEN Center Germany is also based in Darmstadt, as is the Martin Behaim Society for the distribution of German books abroad.

In its function as the central university library, the Darmstadt University and State Library is now organizationally integrated into the Technical University of Darmstadt . As the state library, it is also responsible for the supply of scientific literature and information to the Darmstadt and southern Hesse region. The city also maintains the Darmstadt City Library as an educational and cultural institution for all population groups.

Movie

  • That was the old Hessen - Darmstadt. Documentary film, Germany, 43, 2013, p. 40 min., Script and direction: Jörg Adrian Huber, production: Hessischer Rundfunk , series: So war das alten Hessen, first broadcast: May 19, 2013 on hr-fernsehen , summary by ARD .

Buildings

Mathildenhöhe with wedding tower
Orangery in the Bessungen district
Forest spiral
Russian Chapel, Mathildenhöhe
On the Mathildenhöhe (2008)

During the Second World War , the building fabric was severely damaged by acts of war and almost completely destroyed in the city ​​center . After the end of the war, most of the ruins were demolished, which, with a few exceptions, practically all historical buildings of art-historical value - including all noble and town houses, the casino, the small theater, the estate house, the barracks, the new Fürstenhof, the old and the new Palais - were lost. Most of the rest of the buildings were restored in a simplified form with a modern interior design.

Downtown

In the city center are

Darmstadt-East

Qualifications

Others

  • Waldspirale , a residential complex designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser
  • Forest cemetery in the west of the city
  • Hofgut Oberfeld formerly Hofmeierei, Grand Ducal Court Domain in Hessen-Darmstadt and State Domain of the State of Hesse is under ensemble or monument protection. Since 2006, the non-profit foundation Hofgut Oberfeld has owned the estate and leaseholder of the domain land. Organic agriculture is being built. An initiative “Lernort Bauernhof” has started work. The association Lebensweg e. V. wants to create living and working places for disabled people on the farm.
  • Art nouveau bath, opened in 1909 as "Volksbad", later called "Zentralbad", 2005–2008 renovation and restoration in accordance with listed buildings , reopened in 2008 as "Art Nouveau"
  • The former Kyritz School now serves as a women's center and daycare center.

Parks

Nature and protected areas

In the area of ​​the city of Darmstadt there are 13 nature reserves with an area of ​​823 hectares. 9 of them are also Natura 2000 areas. Most of them are in the east of the city. There is also a conservation area "Darmstadt" with an area of 7,121.5 hectares.

Sports

The best-known Darmstadt sports club is SV Darmstadt 98 , which plays in the 2nd Bundesliga and plays its home games in the stadium at Böllenfalltor . Other well-known Darmstadt sports clubs are the DSW 1912 Darmstadt , one of the most successful swimming and triathlon clubs in Germany with many German championships, and the Darmstadt Diamonds , one of the first American football teams in Hesse (stadium at Böllenfalltor and stadium in Bürgerpark Nord , grass field ) . The RSC Darmstadt is the only southern German representative in the top division of roller hockey . There are also two baseball clubs in Darmstadt that play or played in the Bundesliga, the Darmstadt Rockets and the Darmstadt Whippets .

Two leading associations of the German Sports Confederation have their headquarters in Darmstadt, namely the German Athletics Association and the German Association for Modern Pentathlon .

The WV Darmstadt'70 is one of the traditional clubs of the Hessian water ball sport. After the merger of the three large swimming clubs in Darmstadt in 1970, the club quickly developed into a guarantee of success and quickly rose to the Regionalliga Süd, in which the WVD'70 can still be found today without interruption. In addition to its men's teams, the club is proud of its women's team, which was founded in 1986.

The Darmstadt run-Treff has more than 60 coaches not only the largest, but with the foundation in 1974 and one of the oldest in Germany. The running group is organized on a voluntary basis and not a club, everyone can run for free.

On June 28, 1980, the 2nd stage of the Tour de France 1980 (cycling race) ran through Darmstadt. That stage started in Frankfurt am Main and ran over 276 km to Metz .

The Darmstadt prison marathon has been held since 2007 on the grounds of the Darmstadt correctional facility as a marathon for prisoners and external recreational athletes with over 100 participants.

The Datterich Ultra - named after Ernst Elias Niebergall's dialect - is a popular triathlon with a high entertainment value, in which each member of the eleven-person teams accomplishes a tenth of the ultra triathlon routes 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42.195 km running got to. Due to the large crowd, the Datterich has now been divided into two sporting events, first the event for hobby teams of all kinds, then a few weeks later that for company teams.

The Darmstadt-Starkenburg section of the German Alpine Club is one of the largest sports and cultural associations in Darmstadt with 11,814 members (as of January 2018) . It was created on January 1, 2013 from the Darmstadt (founded 1870) and Starkenburg (founded 1884) sections . It offers a wide range of training events with over 60 specialist training managers. The club's own sports facilities include a climbing hall and a quarry in Heubach (Odenwald) . In addition, a leased quarry near Hainstadt (Breuberg) is maintained for climbing. The section operates two alpine refuges in Tyrol , Austria : Darmstädter Hut in the Verwall Group in the area of Sankt Anton am Arlberg and Starkenburger Hut in the Stubai Alps near Neustift in the Stubai Valley .

The sports offered by the University Sports Center of TU Darmstadt are wide-ranging . In addition to students and employees of the TU, the program is also available to interested parties via membership in the Association for the Promotion of Darmstädter Hochschulsports e. V. open.

The city of Darmstadt is also regularly represented at the International School Games. The president of this organization, Torsten Rasch, also comes from Darmstadt, as does the general secretary, Richard Smith.

Since 1999 there is again a cricket club in Darmstadt, Darmstadt Cricket Club (TU and FH Darmstadt). This cricket club was founded by students and takes part in the Hessian league every year.

Regular events

  • January: Rhine-Mainische Guard meeting
  • April: Spring fair on the measuring site
  • April: Garden fun in the orangery
  • May: Darmstadt Art Nouveau Days
  • May: WingsForLife World Run
  • May: Schlossgrabenfest , Hesse's largest open-air city center around the Darmstadt Castle with over 400,000 visitors
  • June: Darmstadt city run; a sporting event in downtown Darmstadt
  • June: Fête de la Musique
  • June: School theater days
  • June: Nach (t) klänge, Long Night of New Music
  • June: Sports and games festival, a sports and games event in the Herrngarten
  • June – July: City cycling campaign
  • July: “ Heinerfest ”, the largest folk festival in South Hesse and the second largest city center festival in Germany with around 700,000 visitors
  • July – August every two years: Kranichstein Summer Courses for New Music , also known as International Summer Courses for New Music
  • July – August: Darmstadt Residence Festival
  • August: Darmstadt craft market (3rd weekend in August)
  • August: Christopher Street Day Darmstadt
  • August: Darmstadt Long Night (every 2 years)
  • August: Just for Fun , street theater festival with international artists on Darmstadt's streets and squares
  • September: Darmstadt Wine Festival on Wilhelminenstrasse
  • September: Darmstadt farmers' market on Wilhelminenstrasse
  • September: Lappingskerb in Bessungen and Martinskerb on Riegerplatz
  • September: Autumn fair at the Messplatz
  • November, December: Darmstadt Christmas market around the castle
  • December: Darmstadt Guitar Days
  • Summer: artist picnic in the plane tree grove

Economy and Infrastructure

In 2016, Darmstadt generated, within its city limits, a gross domestic product of € 11.742 billion, placing it 31st in the ranking of German cities by economic output . In the same year, GDP per capita was € 75,085 per capita (Hesse: € 43,496, Germany € 38,180) and is thus well above the regional and national average. The GDP per labor force is € 89,585 and is one of the highest in Germany. In 2016, around 131,100 people were employed in the city. The unemployment rate in December 2018 was 4.7% (in the neighboring district of Darmstadt-Dieburg it was 4.3%). Darmstadt is part of the Rhine-Main metropolitan area, which is one of the most economically powerful regions in the country and generates a GDP of more than € 250 billion.

In the Future Atlas 2016, the urban district of Darmstadt ranks 9th out of 402 districts, municipal associations and urban districts in Germany and is therefore one of the regions with "very high future prospects". According to the study, demographics and the strong job market are considered particular strengths. In the 2019 edition, it was ranked 4th out of 401. According to the 2018 city ranking by Wirtschaftswoche, Darmstadt was in 1st place among all German cities in the Cities of the Future category. Darmstadt achieved this place for the fourth time in a row.

Established businesses

Merck KGaA on Frankfurter Strasse
Office building on Deutsche-Telekom-Allee

The core sectors of Darmstadt's economic life are: the IT sector, chemicals / pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering / mechatronics, hair cosmetics as well as space and satellite technology. Its technology and research orientation characterizes the city's economy. The proximity to the numerous research and development institutes is a central location factor, in addition to the proximity to the Frankfurt International Airport. In total there are almost 130,000 jobs in Darmstadt, of which 80,000 to 100,000 are in-commuters.

The largest company in the city is the chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck with more than 53,000 employees worldwide, including around 10,000 employees and over 500 trainees at the headquarters in Darmstadt. Merck KGaA is the oldest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world. Other important industrial companies are Röhm GmbH (part of Degussa GmbH or now Evonik Industries ), Carl Schenck AG , Wella (today part of the Coty Group ), Döhler GmbH and Goldwell GmbH (part of KAO Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). All of these companies have distinct research or development departments in Darmstadt. Software AG , which was founded in Darmstadt in 1969 and is now the second largest German software company after SAP AG, wrote its own success story .

On the site of the former central telecommunications office (FTZ) “Am Kavalleriesand”, several parts of Deutsche Telekom's company are now located. A large T-Systems building complex was built here, and in 2005 the T-Online headquarters was relocated to Darmstadt and in 2006 the subsidiary T-Online International AG was reintegrated into the parent company Deutsche Telekom. In 2015, Telekom spun off the division and sold it to the external marketer Ströer in 2016 . As a result, management was relocated to Frankfurt and the editorial department to Berlin, and over 100 employees lost their jobs at the Darmstadt site. Telekom and its subsidiaries are the second largest employer in the city.

The German Post AG maintains in Darmstadt her trust center , responsible for the electronic signature , and the mail center 64. The HEAG AG is known as the local operating companies (trams and buses of HEAG mobilo GmbH) and as a regional Südhessischer utilities (electricity, water and gas of ENTEGA AG).

The Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft is a publishing house based in Darmstadt.

The TÜV Hessen has its headquarters in the district Bessungen.

Darmstadt has a high-performance waste-to-energy plant and a gas turbine power plant .

There are three breweries in Darmstadt ; the Ratskeller Hausbrauerei (since 1989), the Grohe brewery (since 1838) and the Darmstadt private brewery (since 1847). The Ratskeller is the only house brewery whose beer can only be consumed and bought on site. The Grohe brewery is more traditional and also sells its beer in selected beverage markets. The most economically successful brewery, however, is the Darmstadt private brewery, whose beer can be obtained regionally.

Europe's largest IT rental company, Xchange Technology GmbH, has had its German headquarters and the European logistics center in Darmstadt-Arheilgen since 1996.

Another company in the pharmaceutical industry is Steigerwald Arzneimittelwerk GmbH .

Darmstadt is the seat of Volksbank Darmstadt-Südhessen eG and Sparkasse Darmstadt .

The Technology and Innovation Center Darmstadt (or TIZ Darmstadt) is a start-up center in Darmstadt's Europaviertel , 111 companies currently have a seat there. This also includes cesah GmbH - "Center for Satellite Navigation Hessen" with over 30 startups. In 1998 the city of Darmstadt, the Technical University of Darmstadt , the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Sparkasse Darmstadt merged to form Innovationsgesellschaft Darmstadt mbH. After the conversion in 2009, the Technical University of Darmstadt has been the sole shareholder of TIZ Darmstadt GmbH since the beginning of 2012.

media

Since the 1950s and 60s , a large number of publishing houses and printing houses have been represented in Darmstadt in the so-called publishing district , which was newly founded with the idea of ​​mixing smokeless industry and living. The more than 50 companies include companies such as A. Springer-Tiefdruck (dissolved), Verlag Hoppenstedt (dissolved in 2013) and ABC der Deutschen Wirtschaft-Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.

Current reporting in Darmstadt takes place mainly in the Darmstadt-based daily newspaper Darmstädter Echo , as well as in the regional editions of the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . Since 2013, a new free Darmstädter Zeitung has been published as a weekly under the title Darmstädter Tagblatt . In addition, weekly and monthly newspapers appear in some districts, such as the “Bessunger Neue Nachrichten” in Bessungen, the Woogsviertel and the Heimstättensiedlung, the “Lokalanzeiger” in Eberstadt and Mühltal, the Arheilger Post and the local newspaper in Bessungen, the Woogs- and composers' quarter and Eberstadt and Mühltal. As a free, monthly city magazine there Frizz - The Magazine , curtain on the cultural news as well as the urban culture magazine P . The women's magazine Mathilde appears every two months .

The non-commercial local radio Radio Darmstadt ( Radar ) broadcasts from Darmstadt . The Hessischer Rundfunk and Radio FFH are each represented with a regional studio in Darmstadt.

The cinema operator Kinopolis with 17 cinema centers throughout Germany has its headquarters in Darmstadt and operates 3 cinemas on site.

education

Honor

The Johann Heinrich Merck Honor is an undoped regional honor for the City of Science Darmstadt. The honor, awarded for the first time in 1955, can be given to personalities who have made unique or recurring outstanding scientific, artistic or economic achievements in their profession to promote the well-being of the city and increase its reputation. It is given irregularly by the founder and holder of the award, the city's magistrate.

Colleges

View of the Residenzschloss, which houses the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences and the Institute for Economics

Not least because of its universities, the city of Darmstadt was able to achieve the title “City of Science”. Universities with a total of around 41,000 students are located in Darmstadt. The most prominent of these is the Technical University of Darmstadt, founded in 1877, with around 26,000 students. With around 13,000 students based in Darmstadt, the second largest university is the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da). It was called the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences until 2006 and emerged from the former Landesbaugewerkschule founded in 1876, the Werkkunstschule and the municipal mechanical engineering school. In addition to the Darmstadt locations, the h_da is also represented by the “Dieburg Campus” in the district with around 3,000 students.

Besides the two large Darmstadt universities exist in 1971, founded and sponsored by the Evangelical Church in Hessen and Nassau located Protestant College of Darmstadt (EHD), which was founded in 1997 Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule and in 1851, founded as a private music school Academy of Musical Art , which the more technical focus of the major universities. Around 1700 students study at the EHD.

The International University of Cooperative Education conducts dual courses of study with degrees that are equivalent under university law . Darmstadt is also a “corporate sponsoring member” of the Max Planck Society .

Adult education

The Katholisches Bildungswerk Darmstadt / Dieburg is responsible for the Catholic adult education in the diocesan education center Mainz in the districts Darmstadt and Dieburg.

schools

There are many schools and high schools in Darmstadt. This is also due to the fact that many students from the Darmstadt-Dieburg district go to school in Darmstadt every day. However, conflicts also arise again and again when the Darmstadt high schools cannot accept all students from the district at the beginning of the school year.

Vocational schools

Vocational schools

High schools

Cooperative comprehensive schools

Integrated comprehensive schools

Free and private schools

  • Pedagogical Academy Elisabethenstift Darmstadt
  • Private Vocational School Dr. Angel Darmstadt
  • Sabine Ball School / Free Christian School Darmstadt e. V.
  • Marienhöhe school center

Special schools

  • Christoph Graupner School
  • Ernst Elias Niebergall School
  • Herderschule

Institutes and research facilities

European Space Flight Control Center (ESOC), ESA control room in Darmstadt

dishes

Darmstadt is the seat of courts in various jurisdictions.

As courts of general jurisdiction are the district court of Darmstadt , whose district includes the city of Darmstadt and the surrounding communities, and the Darmstadt District Court , the District Court districts south of the Main, including the city of Offenbach are assigned, a resident of the Justice Center, Mathildenplatz.

The labor jurisdiction is with the Labor Court Darmstadt represented, from the social justice that are Social Court in Darmstadt and the Hessian Social Court in Darmstadt resident.

With the Darmstadt Administrative Court , one of the five Hessian administrative courts is also based here.

In Darmstadt there are also outsourced civil senates of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main .

Healthcare

police

Fire brigade and THW

The Darmstadt fire brigade consists of the guard of the professional fire brigade at Bismarckstrasse 86, which employs around 160 people, including around 110 officers on duty, spread across three guard departments. The professional fire brigade is supported by the four volunteer fire brigades Arheilgen , Eberstadt , Innenstadt and Wixhausen .

The Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) is represented in Darmstadt with two institutions, a full-time regional office entrusted with administrative tasks and a voluntary local association with emergency services.

Military facilities

The Darmstadt garrison of the Grand Duchy of Hesse housed around 5000 soldiers in several barracks in Bessungen at the beginning of the 20th century. It comprised the Leibgarde Infantry Regiment (1st Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 115 , the Guard Dragoon Regiment (1st Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 23 , the Leib-Dragoon Regiment (2nd Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 24 , the 1st Grand Ducal Hessian Field Artillery Regiment No. 25, a division of the 2nd Grand Ducal Hessian Field Artillery Regiment No. 61 and the Train Battalion No. 18. The old barracks were built over after the Second World War. In addition, there was the Griesheim military training area in the west of Darmstadt - at that time on the Griesheim district . The site became Darmstadt's urban area in 1937.

The Bundeswehr maintains two barracks in Darmstadt :

  • the Major Karl Plagge barracks , which was called Frankenstein barracks before 2006 and is largely located in the Pfungstadt district
  • The Starkenburg barracks , which was built in the 1950s on the site of the former locomotive repair workshops , has been used as a system repair center since it was privatized by Heeresinstandsetzunglogistik GmbH.

The district military replacement office with 38 employees was dissolved in the course of the Bundeswehr reform in 2011.

Map from 1980 with the facilities of the US armed forces in Darmstadt and the surrounding area

The US armed forces officially closed the Darmstadt site in 2008. Up to 10,000 GIs were stationed here. A number of facilities were maintained in Darmstadt, particularly in barracks from the 1930s.

A training complex near the airfield was not abandoned, but expanded into the Dagger Complex .

The former Ernst Ludwig barracks was cleared in the 1990s and demolished in 2003. As part of the Eigenheim 2004 project , the site was redesigned into a residential area, Ernst-Ludwig-Park. The St. Barbara settlement has since been renovated and is now used for civilian purposes. The Lincoln settlement, Cambrai-Fritsch barracks and Jefferson settlement in Bessungen are conversion areas and are to be converted into civil residential areas.

Other authorities

Darmstadt is the seat of the Hessian Court of Auditors , the Darmstadt Regional Council and an office of the social insurance for agriculture, forestry and horticulture (SVLFG).

traffic

Road traffic

Environmental zone in Darmstadt since November 1, 2015

The federal highways 5 (Karlsruhe – Frankfurt) and 67 (Mannheim – Rüsselsheim) run through the western part of the city . Both meet at the Darmstädter Kreuz .

The following federal highways run through the city: B 3 (Heidelberg-Frankfurt), B 26 (Wolfskehlen-Bamberg), B 42 (Bonn-Darmstadt), B 426 (Obernburg-Gernsheim) and B 449 (Darmstadt-Mühltal).

The city is connected to the domestic and international long-distance bus network by Flixbus , Ecolines and Eurolines .

As part of the clean air plan , Darmstadt introduced an environmental zone on November 1, 2015 and expanded the passage ban for trucks. According to this, only cars with a green pollutant sticker or a special permit are allowed to enter the city. Exceptions to this are the sections of the B 3 from Wixhausen to the B 42 in the direction of the A 5 motorway junction in Weiterstadt, the A 672, the sections of the A 5 in the urban area and the B 426 as a southern bypass. Diesel driving bans have been in effect on Hügelstraße at the Citytunnel and Heinrichstraße since June 2019 . In addition, lanes are to be reduced and the maximum permissible speed limited to 30 km / h.

Planning

Following the B 26 from the east, the north-east bypass was planned for a long time . The construction project was stopped in May 2011 and it is not expected to be implemented anytime soon.

In addition, a continuation of the B 3 (Arheilger bypass) through the western forest to the Eifelring is planned. The Eifelring is to be continued later to Eschollbrücker Straße.

Rail transport

Darmstadt main station
Darmstadt-Eberstadt train station: this is where the Pfungstadtbahn meets the Main-Neckar Railway

The Darmstadt main station located on the route of the Main-Neckar Railway and is the terminus of Odenwaldbahn . In addition, the Rhein-Main-Bahn touches the Darmstadt main station. Regional connections exist to Frankfurt am Main , Wiesbaden , Aschaffenburg , Mannheim , Heidelberg as well as to Erbach and Eberbach . There are regular IC direct connections in the direction of Karlsruhe / Konstanz , Stuttgart / Munich / Salzburg and in the north to Hamburg , via Kassel , Göttingen and Hanover . Currently, only a few ICE trains stop in Darmstadt; a regular connection as part of the planned new line between the Rhine-Main area and the Rhine-Neckar region is currently (2019) under discussion.

With the timetable change on December 11, 2011, the Pfungstadtbahn was reactivated for passenger traffic. The branch line branches off at the Darmstadt-Eberstadt train station and leads to Pfungstadt . The trains ending in Pfungstadt drive back to Darmstadt main station. Sometimes they are tied through to the Odenwaldbahn.

In the rail freight sector, Darmstadt is no longer a rail hub since the Darmstadt-Kranichstein marshalling yard was closed .

Transportation

Local public transport is supplied by several tram and bus lines from HEAG mobilo GmbH , a subsidiary of HEAG AG, as well as bus lines from other transport companies. The share of public transport in the city's modal split was only 13.3% in 2008, despite the relatively close-knit network and a high proportion of students with a mandatory semester ticket, while some other cities of comparable size achieved values ​​of over 20%. Darmstadt is connected to the Rhein-Main S-Bahn . The S3 line runs from Darmstadt via Frankfurt am Main to Bad Soden am Taunus . The uniform prices of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) apply to all rail and bus routes in the city .

Bicycle traffic

The proportion of cycling in Darmstadt is around 15%. In the 2012 ADFC bicycle climate test , Darmstadt achieved 14th place among the cities examined with a population of between 100,000 and 200,000 with a grade of 3.8. The cycling facilities in Darmstadt are 137 km long - 118 km of which are mandatory for cyclists . Between 1997 and 2006, the obligation to use routes with a total length of 8.4 km was lifted because the local road traffic authority did not see the requirements of the administrative regulation on road traffic regulations being met.

There is a bicycle station (bicycle parking garage) with 540 spaces at the main train station .

The Bergstrasse cycle path begins at Luisenplatz and leads to Heidelberg . The Hessian long-distance cycle route R8 from Frankenberg (Eder) to Heppenheim leads through the eastern part of the city.

The death of two cyclists within a week, who were caught by trucks turning right on Bismarckstrasse in the city center, sparked a debate about cycling safety in the city. Every year there are around 200 injured cyclists, which in relation to the population is the highest among the major Hessian cities. On many important connections (e.g. main train station - city center) the cycle path infrastructure is in insufficient condition and is limited to subsequently marked narrow areas of roadways or sidewalks without any structural implementation. Due to the tight budget situation in Darmstadt, structural improvements are only making very slow progress, most recently on western Bismarckstrasse and on Heidelberger Strasse to / from Eberstadt.

Air traffic

Darmstadt is conveniently located to the international airport Frankfurt am Main , about 25 kilometers away. There is a bus connection from the main train station to Frankfurt Airport, the Airliner . There is also the Frankfurt-Egelsbach airfield as a commercial airfield for smaller aircraft around 15 kilometers away .

Personalities

various

  • Darmstadt residents are also called "Heiner" (hence the name " Heinerfest "). A Bessunger is also called "lapping"; a corruption of the French lapin , meaning rabbit . An Eberstädter (resident of Eberstadt ) is a "Gaasehenker" (goat hangman) and an Arheilger (resident of Arheilgen ) is a "Mucker" - derived from the verb "aufmucken".
  • The theater play “ Datterich ”, a local farce by Ernst Elias Niebergall in Darmstadt dialect, is the story of the “genius Schnorrer” Datterich, a drunk and dismissed tax officer, and undisputedly the most important piece of Darmstadt local culture.
  • The chemical element Darmstadtium with the ordinal number 110 is named after the city because it was discovered in the Darmstadt GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research . Darmstadt is the only German city after which an element was named. The previously discovered Hassium with the ordinal number 108 was named after the state of Hesse. The new science and congress center (opened in December 2007) was also named “ darmstadtium ” after the element .
Two fragments (2.6 g and 10 g) of the Darmstadt meteorite in the HLMD
  • A meteorite weighing 100 g fell in Darmstadt “before 1804” (→ List of Germany's meteorites ); he was given the name "Darmstadt".
  • From 1872 to 1882, the coins of the Empire (1871–1918) with the mint mark H were minted in the Grand Ducal Hessian Mint in Darmstadt . At that time, the Darmstadt mint stood on the site of today's district court building on Mathildenplatz. With mostly low minting numbers, the rare Darmstadt Kaiserreich coins are in great demand with coin collectors and numismatists .
  • The evening song (“The moon has risen”) by Matthias Claudius is said to have been written in Darmstadt on Schnampelweg (near the Botanical Garden) in 1776, but this is not proven.
  • The world-famous mare Halla was born in 1945 on the Darmstadt Hofgut Oberfeld and received the bread of grace there after her career as a jumping horse until her death in 1979.
  • Darmstadt is one of the few major German cities without direct access to a river.
  • The minor planet (241418) 2008 UX201, discovered on October 31, 2008, has been officially named Darmstadt since July 2010 .
  • The Darmstadt was the fifth steamship in the city class and was put into service in 1890.

literature

  • Heinz Biehn: Darmstadt. (= German Land - German Art ). Munich / Berlin 1970, DNB 456109404 .
  • Erco von Dietze: Adoration of the Schiller and the Schiller Foundation in Darmstadt. In: Michael Krejci (Ed.): German Schiller Foundation from 1859 - Honors, Reports, Documentations 1999 . Kester Haeusler Foundation, Fürstenfeldbruck 2000, OCLC 830699229 .
  • Roland Dotzert (Red.): Stadtlexikon Darmstadt. Edited by the Historical Association for Hesse on behalf of the City of Darmstadt City Administration. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-1930-3 .
  • Ingeborg flag : Darmstadt Starkenburg (FSB architecture guide. City guide for contemporary architecture) . Verlag Das Example, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-935243-50-2 .
  • Karl-Eugen Schlapp (ed.): The great book of Darmstadt humor. 1978 and 1979, DNB 550443541 .
  • Hessian town book; Volume IV 1st sub-volume from “German City Book. Handbook of urban history “- On behalf of the working group of historical commissions and with the support of the German Association of Cities, the German Association of Cities and the German Association of Municipalities, ed. by Erich Keyser, Stuttgart 1957.
  • Eberhard Jaekel: Chronicle of the Darmstadt church events. A look back at the past 90 years of Darmstadt church history 1900–1989. Evangelical Community and Dean's Association Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1992, DNB 920812457 .
  • Manfred Knodt : Protestant Darmstadt in the past and present: For the 625th anniversary of Darmstadt. Waitz, Darmstadt 1955, DNB 452471737 .
  • Wolfgang Löckel: Darmstadt and its railways . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-232-4 .
  • Literature on Darmstadt in the catalog of the German National Library
  • Literature about Darmstadt in the Hessian Bibliography

Web links

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Individual evidence

  1. Hessian State Statistical Office: Population status on December 31, 2019 (districts and urban districts as well as municipalities, population figures based on the 2011 census) ( help ).
  2. 1.1 Urban area (data report 2018, direct as PDF). Downloadable under Climate and Geographical Information. City of Science Darmstadt, accessed on December 29, 2019 (under "1. Climate and geographic information").
  3. ^ Population: Darmstadt. 2.13 Development of the population according to statistical districts and city districts . City of Science Darmstadt, accessed on March 4, 2018 .
  4. Heimstättensiedlung ( Memento from January 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  5. Climate information 1981–2010. German Weather Service, accessed on January 29, 2016 .
  6. Climate data 1961–1990. for humidity. wetterkontor.de, accessed on January 29, 2016 .
  7. ^ Darmstadt, City of Darmstadt. Historical local dictionary for Hesse (as of May 2, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on July 9, 2014 .
  8. Karl Knapp: Griesheim: from the Stone Age settlement to the lively city. Bassenauer, Griesheim 1991, DNB 940368986 , p. 327, lines 13-17.
  9. Law on the reorganization of the districts of Darmstadt and Dieburg and the city of Darmstadt (GVBl. II 330–334) of July 26, 1974 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1974 No. 22 , p. 318 , §1 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 1.5 MB ]).
  10. a b Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality register for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes for municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 345 .
  11. ^ Magistrate of the City of Darmstadt, Press and Information Office
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  13. Numbers in brief 2019 . Science City Darmstadt, p. 2, accessed on May 10, 2020
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  17. Monument Preservation & Cultural History. 2/2002.
  18. Donation: Christian Häussler hands over the synagogue model to Lord Mayor Walter Hoffmann - the Jewish community becomes the custodian of the model. ( Memento from June 30, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  19. FAZ. October 29, 2010, p. 61: The Jewish community as custodian.
  20. ^ Result of the municipal election on March 6, 2016. Hessian State Statistical Office, accessed in April 2016 .
  21. Hessian State Statistical Office: Results of the municipal elections of 2011 and 2006
  22. Hessian State Statistical Office: Results of the municipal elections of 2006 and 2001
  23. ^ Hessian State Statistical Office: Groups of voters in the district and municipal elections in 2001 and 1997
  24. Full-time magistrate of the city of Darmstadt. Retrieved June 2, 2020 .
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  29. Technische Universität Darmstadt: University group of the month: TUD Schauspielstudio e. V. In: Technical University of Darmstadt . ( tu-darmstadt.de [accessed on January 9, 2018]).
  30. Exercises & Rehearsals - TUD Acting Studio. Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  31. Hinkelsturm, city wall and old town museum. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
  32. Georg Dehio (ed.): Handbook of German Art Monuments. Band Hessen. 2nd Edition. Munich 1982, p. 141.
  33. History of the Art Nouveau Bath. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 30, 2008 ; Retrieved March 16, 2008 .
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  37. Darmstadt running meeting
  38. Mention of the Committee of the International Children's Games. In: www.dosb.de
  39. Darmstädter Echo, Thursday, January 17, 2019, p. 12
  40. Bettina Bergstedt. In: Darmstädter Echo , June 17, 2019, p. 12.
  41. Current results - VGR dL. Retrieved January 7, 2019 .
  42. State of Hesse. Federal Employment Agency, accessed on January 7, 2019 .
  43. Gross domestic product in the metropolitan regions in Germany 2014 | Statistics. Retrieved January 7, 2019 .
  44. Zukunftsatlas 2016. Archived from the original ; accessed on March 23, 2018 .
  45. Future Atlas 2019 | Handelsblatt. Retrieved December 10, 2019 .
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  47. DarmstadtNews.de: Series winner Darmstadt: For the fourth time in a row “Top Future City in Germany”. In: DarmstadtNews.de. Retrieved June 22, 2019 (German).
  48. Traffic problems are extreme from October 11, 2016, Interview of the Frankfurter Rundschau with Darmstadt's Mayor Jochen Partsch (Greens). Accessed October 11, 2016.
  49. Merck KGaA: Merck - about us. Retrieved June 28, 2018 .
  50. a b TIZ: New shareholder structures. Technical University of Darmstadt, January 20, 2012, archived from the original on January 25, 2012 ; Retrieved January 11, 2013 .
  51. List of companies in the TIZ Darmstadt Internet presence of TIZ Darmstadt GmbH. Accessed January 11, 2013.
  52. Sabine Gerbaulet: Expansion of the technology and innovation center (TIZ) secured. Technische Universität Darmstadt, press release from 2001-01-09 at Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw-online.de), accessed on 2014-12-20.
  53. Publication by the Darmstadt District Court on February 19, 2009, announced on February 23, 2009.
  54. tu-darmstadt.de
  55. a b Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden 2016
  56. eh-darmstadt.de
  57. see list of corporative sponsoring members of the Max Planck Society ( Memento from January 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  58. bistummainz.de
  59. ^ Christoph Graupner School
  60. ^ Ernst Elias Niebergall School
  61. Herderschule
  62. Fraunhofer LBF integrates German Plastics Institute DKI , accessed on April 24, 2014.
  63. Starkenburg barracks. In: dfg-vk-darmstadt.de. German Peace Society, archived from the original ; accessed in April 2018 .
  64. ^ District military replacement office in Darmstadt is closed. (No longer available online.) In: Echo-Online. Archived from the original on December 27, 2011 ; accessed on May 7, 2017 .
  65. Farewell under a blue sky. In: FAZ.net . August 5, 2008, accessed December 20, 2014 .
  66. "Answer it as soon as possible". (No longer available online.) In: Echo-Online . Archived from the original on July 16, 2011 ; accessed on May 7, 2017 .
  67. The state's new clean air plan for Darmstadt. In: darmstadt.de. October 13, 2015, accessed March 26, 2017 .
  68. Hessen and Umwelthilfe agree on driving bans. In: saarbruecker-zeitung.de. December 14, 2018, accessed December 15, 2018 .
  69. Many traffic offenders in Heinrichstrasse. In: echo-online.de . July 6, 2019, accessed July 8, 2019 .
  70. Mobility in Darmstadt. ( Memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 293 kB). P. 6.
  71. City of Darmstadt: Mobility Study, 1999 Darmstadt Traffic Development Planning> State Analysis> Bicycle Traffic. In: vep.darmstadt.de. Retrieved March 26, 2017 .
  72. ADFC: Fahrradklima-Test 2012 The city ranking at a glance ( Memento from November 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 570 KB)
  73. ^ Melanie Kipp: Darmstadt station test: A parking garage for bicycles. In: fr-online.de . April 3, 2010, accessed December 20, 2014 .
  74. Semi-trailer truck runs over a 38-year-old woman at the intersection of Bismarckstrasse / Kasinostrasse , Echo online , November 28, 2017.
  75. Heiner & Co: Cult terms around Darmstadt. ( Memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 143 kB). on: vorhang-auf.com , May 7, 2017.
  76. "Darmstadt" hovers between Mars and Jupiter. ( Memento from August 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Echo-Online.de , August 4, 2010.