Typically Gießen!
Foto: Sebastian Ringleb
Giessen does not stand out for its beauty. So what is it that makes the city appealing and worth living in? Giessen has the highest student density in Germany, making it the youngest city in Hesse. University and college buildings and many young people characterize the city – for a long time, much of the focus here has been on research and teaching.
However, it is not only Justus von Liebig and Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen who belong to the history of the university and the city. Psychology also has a long tradition in Giessen: as early as 1904, Robert Sommer, Professor and Director of the newly founded Psychiatric Clinic at the University, organized the first congress for experimental psychology in Giessen. This was the beginning of the annual conference of experimental psychologists, which still takes place today, and also the starting signal for the Society for Experimental Psychology, which was renamed German Society for Psychology in 1929.
Kurt Koffka, perhaps the best-known German psychologist, habilitated, taught and researched in Giessen from 1911 to 1927, until he moved to Smith College in the United States. In his honor, the Department of Psychology annually awards the Kurt Koffka Medal to top international researchers in the field of perceptual or developmental psychology.
Psychosomatics and psychoanalysis are also firmly anchored in Giessen: in 1962, the physician, psychoanalyst and social philosopher Horst Eberhard Richter was appointed to the then second new German Chair of Psychosomatics. He established an interdisciplinary center for psychosomatic medicine here and founded a psychoanalytical institute. He was a pioneer of psychosomatics, an internationally renowned psychoanalyst and peace activist – he was a leading figure in many areas of society. In Giessen, he was strongly committed to the people living in a homeless settlement and remained close to them throughout his life.
Foto: Katrina Friese
And what is typical of Giessen apart from the universities: lots of ceramic tiles, a highway ring, a copy of the Klagenfurt municipal theater, an »elephant loo«, an Oscar winner, Schlammbeiser (sounds like »mud eater« in german, but was a professional title), geotopes from 11 geological eras, a watering can museum, Przewalsky horses, living in the slaughterhouse, Mathematikum, a car mile, a mining tradition, Bellschuh (a traditional dish from Giessen), a language called Manische Sprache, Unterer and Oberer Hardthof (old courtyards), Gießen 46ers, Middelhessian clay, Eulenkopf and Gummiinsel (Owl's head and rubber island, name of two residential areas), Lungenstein (Lungstone), Men's swimming club, registry office in a »Loire Castle«, Market arbors, paddling – rowing – pedal boating, MUK; Ulenspiegel and Scarabée (traditional pubs and music cellars), high bunker type Winkel, a philosopher's forest.
Giessen also offers everything that a regional center needs for living, working and living. And despite all the diversity in Giessen, the distances are not far and you are sure to meet people you know at the weekly market. Even today, there are still areas that are really beautiful: the Botanical Gardens, the Old Cemetery, the Brandplatz with the Old and New Castle and Armory, the southern quarter in Wilhelminian style, the Bruchstrasse, the Lahn river. And the magnificent Central Hessian countryside all around with castles, monasteries and forests.
Foto: Michael Schepp
Giessen began in 1152 with the moated castle »Zu den Giezzen« of Wilhelm von Gleiberg. The castle was located in the delta of the Wieseck, which at that time flowed into the Lahn in the form of many streams. The surrounding countryside at that time was water-rich and swampy – the paths were correspondingly difficult. The Leib'sche Haus (formerly built for the Burgmannen) and later the Wallenfels'sche Haus were built within the castle and are the oldest remaining houses today. Over time, Giessen grew beyond the castle: town rights were granted from 1248 and the Landgraviate of Hesse built the Old Castle around 1300. Shortly afterwards, the new town was founded, with mayors appointed from 1370. The university was founded in 1607. War and plague followed later in the 17th century, and the 18th century was also full of wars and occupations.
In 1803, Giessen became the administrative seat of the new province of Upper Hesse in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The industrial revolution then came to Giessen: in 1848, the city was connected to the German railroad network with the Rhine-Weser Railway, and manganese ore was mined underground and above ground. The architectural ceramics produced in Giessen from 1891 onwards were exported to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Brussels, among other places. Wealthy industrialists built new villas. The Johanniskirche (St. John's Church) was consecrated in 1893. From 1894, Giessen had public transportation with horse-drawn buses and later a streetcar. In 1907, the municipal theater, largely donated by citizens, opened.
The First World War changed the city, the Second World War almost destroyed it: on a night of bombing in 1944, the medieval heart of the city was destroyed in a firestorm. Today, Giessen is not characterized by half-timbered houses, but by post-war architecture. The city grew during reconstruction, villages were incorporated, houses, schools, streets and baths were built. For many years, Giessen was the only port of call for refugees from the GDR (today it is refugees from other parts of the world who come here to the initial reception center). In 1977, Giessen even became a major city for a year and a half: together with Wetzlar, 15 km away, the city of Lahn was founded – and dissolved again shortly afterwards. Until 2007, Giessen was the central goods distribution center of the American armed forces in Europe. Now the depot is home to nature conservation areas, residential quarters and commercial areas. Other areas in Giessen are also changing and filling up with new – typically Giessen – life.