Rockenberg

Basic data
State :	Hesse
Administrative region :	Darmstadt
County :	Wetteraukreis
Height :	152 m above sea level NHN
Area :	16.14 km 2
Residents:	4339 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	269 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	35519
Area code :	06033
License plate :	FB, BÜD
Community key :	06 4 40 022
LOCODE :	DE ROC
Community structure:	2 districts
Address of the ; municipal administration:	Obergasse 12 ; 35519 Rockenberg
Website :	www.rockenberg.de
Mayor :	Manfred Wetz ( independent )
Location of the municipality of Rockenberg in the Wetterau district

Rockenberg is a municipality in the Wetterau in Hesse .

geography

Geographical location

Rockenberg is located in the northwestern part of the Wetteraukreis in central Hesse. The river Wetter , which rises in the Vogelsberg, flows through the municipality . Rockenberg is about five kilometers from the federal highway 5 and about eight kilometers from the federal highway 45 . Rockenberg is on the northern edge of the Rhein-Main area . It is 25 km to Giessen, 35 km to Marburg and 40 km to Frankfurt. The next train station with passenger traffic is in Butzbach .

Neighboring communities

Rockenberg borders the city of Münzenberg in the north, the municipality of Wölfersheim in the east, the city of Bad Nauheim and the municipality of Ober-Mörlen in the south and the city of Butzbach in the west .

Community structure

The community consists of the districts Oppershofen and Rockenberg. The OT Rockenberg has 2,297 inhabitants, the OT Oppershofen 1,940 (as of 12/2013). The municipal administration is located in the Rockenberg district.

Infrastructure

State roads lead to Bad Nauheim, Munzenberg, Södel and Griedel . The Butzbach-Licher railway is only used as a museum railway . There are regular bus connections to Butzbach and Bad Nauheim. Rockenberg owns a primary school ( Sandrose School ) with a branch in Oppershofen. There are daycare centers in both districts. There are diverse retail establishments and there are several health care practices. Both Rockenberg and the district of Oppershofen have grown significantly due to new development areas.

economy

The economy is characterized by medium-sized companies. Agriculture, once the most important economic factor, now only plays a subordinate role. The Rockenberg correctional facility (JVA) , which has existed since the 19th century, is a major economic factor . Many residents regularly commute to the Rhine-Main area and Gießen.

history

middle Ages

Rockenberg was first mentioned in 1191 as Roggenberch .

The following names of the knight family named after Rockenberg appear in documents: Henricus de Rocgenberc, 1229. 1237. Johannes de Rochenburg 1324–1326. Mr. Johann von Rockenberg, the father of the knight Wernher von Rockenberg, 1329. 1334.

The enclosed castle was the center of the village. It was built by Johannes von Bellersheim around 1317. After the village was fortified in the 15th century, Rockenberg Castle was also expanded. Until the 17th century, the owners changed again and again, and the castle served as a residence until then. As a result, stables and camps were set up there. Rockenberg was in changing hands in the Middle Ages. It belonged to the Munzenberg rule until 1255, then to Falkenstein, Eppstein and in 1535 to the Counts of Stolberg-Königstein . From 1581 Rockenberg including the Marienschloss monastery belonged to the spa town of Mainz in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation .

19th century

Only the rule of Napoleon in Germany changed the situation fundamentally. After the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, the Marienkloster was secularized and the nuns had to leave it. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1806, Rockenberg was assigned to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. The castle became the property of Freiherr von Wiesenhütten, who managed the complex as an estate until 1915. In 1811 the former Marienschloss monastery became a prison. The connection of Rockenberg to the Main-Weser Railway was prevented in 1847 by resistance from the property owners. From around 1870 various companies began to build quartzite quarries on the Rockenberg site, and the cigar factory founded around 1854 was converted into a suitcase factory.

20th century

From 1906 the construction of the Butzbach-Licher railway took place. Rockenberg has had electric light since 1913.

The imprisonment of various personalities in the prison also makes the regime of the Third Reich visible in Rockenberg. From 1933 to 1938, Wilhelm Hammann , a member of the state parliament of the KPD, sat there. The most prominent inmate was the trade unionist and Social Democrat Wilhelm Leuschner in 1933. Another inmate in 1944 was Jean Jülich ( Edelweisspiraten resistance group ). In the attack by an Allied low-flying aircraft on March 27, 1945, two buildings were totally and two partially destroyed. There were six fatalities. American forces entered Rockenberg on March 29, 1945.

On December 31, 1971, the previously independent municipality of Oppershofen was incorporated into the neighboring municipality of Rockenberg.

politics

Community representation

The local elections on March 6, 2016 produced the following results, compared to previous local elections:

Distribution of seats in the municipal council 2016 A total of 23 seats SPD : 4 Greens : 2 CDU : 10 Village Party : 7	Parties and constituencies		% 2016	Seats 2016	% 2011	Seats 2011	% 2006	Seats 2006	% 2001	Seats 2001
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	41.6	10	42.5	10	47.8	11	49.0	11
	DP	Village party	29.4	7th	24.7	6th	13.4	3	7.5	2
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany	18.5	4th	18.3	4th	21.9	5	27.5	6th
	GREEN	Alliance 90 / The Greens	10.4	2	14.5	3	7.2	2	-	-
	UWG	Independent voter community	-	-	-	-	9.7	2	15.9	4th
	total		99.9	23	100.0	23	100.0	23	100.0	23
	Voter turnout in%		57.7		58.9		57.2		49.9

Chairman of the municipal council : Berthold Wild (CDU)

mayor

Schultheiße:

1654–1684: Johann Heinrich Streb
1684–1710: Hans Kaspar Windhäuser
1711–1737: Johann Enders Heinstadt
1737–1755: Johann Heinrich Jakobi
1755–1781: Jakob Weckler
1782–1793: Johann Jakob Dietz
1794–1821: Franz Dietz
1821–1822: Philipp Dietz

Grand Ducal Mayors:

1822–1842: Anton Dietz
1842–1849: Philipp Streb
1849–1864: Adam Wettner
1864–1878: Georg Krämer
1878–1884: Johann Georg Landvogt
1884–1901: Karl Wolf
1902–1919: Anton Wettner

Mayor:

1919–1938: Peter Landvogt
1938–1945: Reinhold Preuss
1945–1958: Heinrich Weckler III (CDU)
1958–1984: Josef Weckler (CDU)
1984–1990: Karl Maria Weckler (CDU)
1990–2003: Patrick Bingel (SPD)
since 2004: Manfred Wetz (independent)

The past mayoral elections produced the following results:

year	Candidates	Political party	% Result
2015	Manfred Wetz	independent	77.0
	Ralf Koch	CDU	15.4
	Alexander Gnau	independent	7.6
Voter turnout in%		65.2
2009	Manfred Wetz	independent	89.4
Voter turnout in%		80.7
2004	Manfred Wetz	independent	50.4
2004	Karl Maria Weckler	CDU	49.6
Voter turnout in%		69.2
2001	Patrick Bingel	SPD	73.7
Voter turnout in%		61.0
1995	Patrick Bingel	SPD, UWG, FDP, GLUK	68.1
1995	Albert Langsdorf	CDU	31.9
Voter turnout in%		75.7

The last mayoral election took place on November 8, 2015.

Culture and sights

Geology / environment

Rockenberger sand rose

Rockenberg has a sand pit on the northern outskirts . The pit is an important location for sand roses , which are formed by barite instead of gypsum . One area, the "Hell of Rockenberg" has been a nature reserve since 1993. The water area has been a protected area for the European pond turtle since 1999 . The project is supervised by the Frankfurt Zoo and volunteer biologists. Other protected areas are the "Klosterwiesen" in Rockenberg and the "Wingertsberg" in the OT Oppershofen.

Buildings

Marienschloss , a former monastery of the Cistercians , which today functions as a correctional facility for young people. It was probably built as the successor institute of a hermitage and was converted into a nunnery in 1337/38 with a deed of foundation from 1338 by knight Johann von Bellersheim called von Rockenberg and his wife Gertrud, called Gezele von Düdelsheim . The Marienkirche Rockenberg with completely preserved interior was completed in 1749.
Rockenberg Castle ; Tower built around 1317
Kurmainzisches cellar building , added to the castle complex in 1719
Swiss house , built around 1870. Listed residential building in the castle complex.
Old town hall Oppershofen , built 1725–29
Gustav-Adolf-Kirche , Evangelical Church, built in 1908
Catholic church St. Gallus in Rockenberg from 1754 with a medieval tower
Weather bridge in Oppershofen
Old train station , which in the summer months serves as a station for the museum trains of the Wetterau Railway Friends on the Butzbach-Licher Railway .

Regular events

Ascension Day: Spring Festival of the Rockenberg Volunteer Fire Brigade
1st weekend in October: fun fair

Sons and daughters of the church

Bardo von Mainz (* around 980–1051), born in the district of Oppershofen, Archbishop of Mainz and Arch Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
Franz Adam Landvogt (1889–1953), charitable pastor
Heinrich Weckler (1894–1958), farmer and politician, member of the state parliament (center)

literature

Johann Jakob Gesser: Rockenberg - A Wetterau village in the mirror of history. Rockenberg 1950
Dieter Wolf : On the building history of the medieval church of Rockenberg and its steeple. In: Catholic parish of St. Gallus Rockenberg (ed.): 1250 years of St. Gallus Rockenberg. A parish through the ages. 1754-2004. Rockenberg 2004, pp. 49-66, note pp. 309-312.

Individual evidence

↑ 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 ).
↑ Rockenberg, Wetteraukreis. Historical local lexicon for Hesse (as of September 1, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on November 4, 2014 .
^ Georg Wilhelm Justin Wagner (Grand Ducal Hessian Geometer): Statistical-topographical-historical description of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . Third volume, Province of Upper Hesse, Darmstadt 1830, on Rockenberger people in documents, p. 240
^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 360 .
^ Result of the municipal election on March 6, 2016. Hessian State Statistical Office, accessed in April 2016 .