Friedberg, Hesse

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Friedberg


Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Administrative region	Darmstadt
District	Wetteraukreis
Population	27,142 x (2005)
Area	50.17 km²
Population density	541 /km²
Elevation	140 m
Coordinates	50°7′ N 8°45′ E
Postal code	61169
Area code	06031
Licence plate code	FB
Mayor	Michael Keller (SPD)
Website	friedberg-hessen.de

Friedberg (Friedberg in der Wetterau) is a town near Frankfurt am Main (about 30 km north of Frankfurt) and has about 29,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the district Wetteraukreis. It has 5 suburbs, Bruchenbrücken, Dorheim, Ockstadt and Bauernheim and Fauerbach.

Friedberg castle

The old city was refounded by the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, conveniently located at important trading routes. The city initially rivalled Frankfurt am Main economically, with an important annual trading fair, and initial rapid expansion, though its economic fortunes soon dwindled.

City tranquility was hampered by continuous rivalry between the two entities that made up Friedberg : The city and the castle of Friedberg that were politically independent from each other and in permanent competition, often quite maliciously, resulting in bitter rivalry that culminated once in the ransacking and destruction of the castle by angry citizens. In central Italy and Lombardy similar struggles between count and commune fuelled the politics of Guelf and Ghibelline parties.

The city became a Free Imperial City (Freie Reichsstadt) of the Holy Roman Empire with a charter given in 1211. Under Napoleon, it was incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, until it was annexed by the Prussians in the nineteenth century.

Friedberg sits atop a basalt plateau overlooking the Usa and has been populated at least since Roman times. In Friedberg's suburb Bruchenbrücken, the relicts of a Mesolithic settlement were found. The little hillock under the castle was the location of a Roman castle, part of the limes or border fortifications and presumably identical with the castellum in monte tauno that is quoted in Roman records, though this is still under discussion. Ruins of the castle as well as other Roman ruins have been found and conserved, such as the remains of Roman public baths (thermae). The crown and ports atop the Adolfsturm (the most prominent feature of the Friedberg castle) was restored during the 1980's.

Friedberg's old town quarter once housed a prosperous Jewish community that was totally wiped out during World War II. Many of Friedberg's Jews fled to South Africa and the United States before the Holocaust, but all remaining Jews were shipped to Buchenwald. The Judenbad (Jewish bath) contains a memorial to the fallen Jewish soldiers who fought for their fatherland during WWI. Today, only the medieval Jewish ceremonial bath, old synagogue arson memorial, and memorial plaque at one of the city's secondary schools are reminders of this part of the city's past. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, diamond mining entrepreneur and former owner of De Beers was born and raised in Friedberg.

Friedberg is the home to the U.S. Army installation Ray Barracks. Currently, the 1st Brigade 1st Armor Division is located here as well as in Gießen, Germany. The 1st Brigade (otherwise known as Ready First) has been located at Ray Barracks since 1997 and is projected to leave by 2010 when the installation is closed permanently. The base is notable as the duty station of Elvis Presley during his military stint in Europe, who lived in nearby Bad Nauheim. Elvis Presley Platz was named for the American star and is in the main shopping center of the town.

Erasmus Alberus, German humanist, religious reformer and friend of Martin Luther was born in Bruchenbrücken in 1500.

Friedberg's main station is the terminal stop of Frankfurt's suburban railway line "S 6" and also a stop for German Intercity Trains and several regional railway lines.