Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area. Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse after Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, and Kassel.
Darmstadt holds the official title "City of Science" as it is a major centre of scientific institutions, universities, and high-technology companies. The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites and the European Space Agency's European Space Operations Centre are located in Darmstadt, as well as GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research, where several chemical elements such as darmstadtium, roentgenium, and copernicium were discovered. The existence of several elements was also confirmed at the GSI Centre. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research is an international accelerator facility under construction. Darmstadt is also the seat of the world's oldest pharmaceutical company, Merck, which is the city's largest employer.
The Mathildenhöhe, including the Darmstadt artists' colony, a major centre of the Jugendstil artistic movement, referring both to the group of artists active in the city in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as the buildings which they designed, together with the Russian Chapel in Darmstadt, were recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2021.
Darmstadt was formerly the capital of a sovereign state, the Grand Duchy of Hesse and its successor, the People's State of Hesse, a federal state of Germany. As the capital of an increasingly prosperous duchy, the city gained some international prominence and remains one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. In the 20th century, industry, as well as large science and electronics sectors became increasingly important, and are still a major part of the city's economy. It is also home to the football club SV Darmstadt 98. Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas II of Russia, as well as Maria Alexandrovna, the wife of Alexander II of Russia, who were related, were born in this city.
History
Origins
The name Darmstadt first appears towards the end of the 11th century, then as Darmundestat.Darmstadt was chartered as a city by the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1330, at which time it belonged to the counts of Katzenelnbogen. The city, then called Darmstait, became a secondary residence for the counts, with a small castle established at the site of the current, much larger edifice.
When the house of Katzenelnbogen became extinct in 1479, the city was passed to the Landgraviate of Hesse, and was seat of the ruling landgraves and thereafter of the grand dukes of Hesse.
Industrial age
The city's population grew during the 19th century, from a little over 10,000, to 72,000 inhabitants. A polytechnical school, which later became a Technical University now known as TU Darmstadt, was established in 1877.In the early 20th century, Darmstadt was an important centre for the art movement of Jugendstil, the German variant of Art Nouveau. Also during this period, in 1912 the chemist Anton Kollisch, working for the pharmaceutical company Merck, first synthesised the chemical MDMA in Darmstadt. Darmstadt's municipal area was extended in 1937 to include the neighbouring localities of Arheilgen and Eberstadt, and in 1938 the city was separated administratively from the surrounding district.
Nazi Germany
Darmstadt was the first city in Germany to force Jewish shops to close in early 1933, shortly after the Nazis took power in Germany. The shops were only closed for one day, for "endangering communal order and tranquility". In 1942, over 3,000 Jews from Darmstadt were first forced into a collection camp located in the Liebigschule, and later deported to concentration camps where most eventually died. In 1944, the city was also the location of a subcamp of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.Several prominent members of the German resistance movement against the Nazis were citizens of Darmstadt, including Wilhelm Leuschner and Theodor Haubach, both executed for their opposition to Hitler's regime.
Darmstadt was first bombed on 30 July 1940, and 34 other air raids would follow before the war's end. The old city centre was largely destroyed in a British bombing raid on 11/12 September 1944. This attack was an example of "area bombing" using high explosive and incendiary bombs, which combined in that attack to create a firestorm, a self-sustaining combustion process in which winds generated by the fire ensure it continues to burn until everything possible has been consumed. During this attack, an estimated 11,000 to 12,500 of the inhabitants were killed, and 66,000 to 70,000 were left homeless. Over three-quarters of Darmstadt's inner city was destroyed. Post-war rebuilding was done in a relatively plain architectural style, although a number of the historic buildings were rebuilt to their original appearance following the city's capture on 25 March 1945 by the American 4th Armored Division. Today around 30% of Darmstadt consists of buildings from before World War II.
Post–World War II
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Darmstadt became home to many technology companies and research institutes, and has been promoting itself as a "city of science" since 1997. It is well known as a high-tech centre in the vicinity of Frankfurt Airport, with important activities in spacecraft operations, chemistry, pharmacy, information technology, biotechnology, telecommunications and mechatronics. In 2000, its region also scored Rank 3 amongst 97 German regions in the WirtschaftsWoche test ranking Germany's high-tech regions.The roots of Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences goes back to 1876 along with Technische Universität Darmstadt, when both these Universities were an integrated entities, a need for a separate industry based research educational institution was felt in the early 1930s, finally University of Applied sciences emerged as a separate industry based research educational institution in 1971 and is the largest University of Applied Sciences in Hesse with about 16,500 students.
The TU Darmstadt is one of the important technical institutes in Germany and is well known for its research and teaching in the Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering disciplines. Together with other tertiary institutions, the TU is responsible for the large student population of the city, which stood at 33,547 in 2004.
Boroughs
Darmstadt has nine official 'Stadtteile'. These are:- Darmstadt-Arheilgen
- Darmstadt-Bessungen
- Darmstadt-Eberstadt
- Darmstadt-Kranichstein
- Darmstadt-Mitte
- Darmstadt-Nord
- Darmstadt-Ost
- Darmstadt-West
- Darmstadt-Wixhausen
Population development
| Rank | Nationality | Population | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  TurkeyPoliticsMayorThe current mayor of Darmstadt is Hanno Benz of SPD, who was elected in 2023.The following is a list of mayors since 1945:
City councilThe Darmstadt city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 14 March 2021, and the results were as follows:! colspan=2| Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 60,815 ! 96.6 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 2,141 ! 3.4 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Total ! 62,956 ! 100.0 ! ! 71 ! ±0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 115,119 ! 54.7 ! 6.9 ! ! TransportRoadsDarmstadt is connected to a number of major roads, including two Autobahnen. The main road passing west–east is the Bundesstraße 26, the Bundesstraße 3 runs north–south. The rural areas east of the city in the Odenwald are accessed by several secondary roads.National rail linksDarmstadt is connected to the rest of Germany and Europe through its main railway station, Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof, which is located in the western part of the city centre. The station is part of the Intercity-Express network and also served by other long-distance trains. It is a busy station with 12 platforms and serves as a transportation hub for the southern Hesse/Odenwald region.Regional rail linksis the terminus of of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn, which connects the city to Frankfurt. Within Darmstadt the S6 also stops at stations in Darmstadt-Arheilgen and Darmstadt-Wixhausen. Regional trains also connect six secondary railway stations within Darmstadt, and stations in the surrounding region, with Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof.Public transport in DarmstadtThe extensive public transport system of Darmstadt is integrated in the RMV. The backbone of public transport in Darmstadt is the tram system with 10 lines. Local bus lines also serve all parts of the city and the city is served by regional bus lines.AirportsThe historically important local airfield August Euler Airfield is closed to aviation at large, being reserved for the use of the Technische Universität Darmstadt.
Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport is a busy general aviation airport located 5 km north of Darmstadt, near the town of Egelsbach. Despite the name, Frankfurt Hahn Airport is located far outside the Frankfurt Metro Area, approximately to the west in Lautzenhausen. Hahn Airport is a major base for low-cost carrier Ryanair. This airport can only be reached by car or bus. |