Gedern

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Gedern
Coat of arms	Location
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Wetteraukreis
Town subdivisions	6 districts
Mayor	Stefan Betz (Ind.)
Basic statistics
Area	75.24 km² (29.1 sq mi)
Elevation	357 m  (1171 ft)
Population	7,796  (31/12/2006)
- Density	104 /km² (268 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	FB
Postal code	63688
Area code	06045
Website	www.gedern.de Coordinates: 50°25′28″N 9°11′59″E / 50.42444, 9.19972

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Geographic Location 1.2 Neighboring Towns 1.3 City Organization 2 History 3 Politics 3.1 City Council 3.2 Mayor 3.3 Coat of Arms 3.4 Partnerships 4 Economy and Infrastructure 4.1 Local Companies 4.2 Educational Facilities 4.3 Free Time and Recreational Facilities 5 External links

[edit] Geography

[edit] Geographic Location

Gedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located 38 km northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, once the largest active volcano in Europe.

[edit] Neighboring Towns

Gedern is bordered by Schotten (Vogelsbergkreis) in the north, by Grebenhain (Vogelsbergkreis) in the northeast, by Birstein (Main-Kinzig-Kreis) in the east, by Kefenrod in the south, by Ortenberg in the southwest, and Hirzenhain in the west.

[edit] City Organization

Gedern is divided into the towns of Gedern, Mittel-Seemen, Nieder-Seemen, Ober-Seemen, Steinberg, and Wenings.

[edit] History

• The first records of Gedern come from the year 730 AD.
• City rights were given to Gedern on January 10, 1356, by Kaiser Karl IV -- 20 years after Wenings, a current district of Gedern, received its city rights by Kaiser Ludwig of Bavaria.
• After the Congress of Vienna, command of Gedern passed to Hesse-Darmstadt.
• Many zoning reforms have taken place in Gedern since then. In 1852 Gedern was placed into the Kreis Nidda district. Then, when this district was removed in 1874, Gedern was placed into the Schotten district. There was yet another reform in 1936, and Gedern was placed into Landkreis Büddingen. After the last reorganization in 1972, Gedern, along with five other towns, was incorporated into Wetteraukreis.

[edit] Politics

[edit] City Council

The city council consists of the mayor, Stefan Betz (independent), and the aldermen Klaus Hein, Walter Lutz and Barbara Gundlach (CDU), Klaus Bechthold and Andreas Steder (SPD), Reinhold Landmann and Irmtraud Köhler (FWG) and Willi Herbst (Bürgerliste Gedern).

[edit] Mayor

The last election for mayor was held in 2005 in which Stefan Betz was elected to replace Wolfgang Zenkert (CDU) who retired for health reasons.

[edit] Coat of Arms

The city coat of arms shows two trout on a red and silver striped background. These represent the copious amounts of fish that were caught in and around Gedern in its history. The silver stripes stand for the two creeks that run through Gedern "Mühlbach" and "Gänsbach".

[edit] Partnerships

Gedern is affiliated with Columbia, Illinois; and Polanov, Poland through the Sister Cities Program. The village of Wenings is also partnered with Nucourt, France.

[edit] Economy and Infrastructure

[edit] Local Companies

Measured by its size, Gedern was an important industrial hub during the 1980s in the industrially weak area around the Vogelsberg. There were several textile, wood, rubber, and metal refining factories. Today only a large metal-refining company is still active.

Today Gedern is economically unimportant. Retail, manual labor, and trade work that make up the core of the economic activities are done on a very small scale. The vast majority of the inhabitants of Gedern commute to other areas in the Rein-Main and Gießen regions.

[edit] Educational Facilities

• Gedern has a comprehensive school (Gesamtschule)) with the levels Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium up to tenth grade.
• Several elementary schools are also found in Gedern and the surrounding area.

[edit] Free Time and Recreational Facilities

• The Gederner See attracts many campers and swimmers every summer.
• Gedern also has a heated indoor pool in the recreation center (Sportzentrum) on Schmitterberg--the hill that separates the village from the lake area.
• Around the lake, there is also a glider runway. On weekends with nice weather one can see the gliders in the sky all around Gedern.
• The Volcano Bike Path runs from Stockheim to Lauterbach along the old train tracks.
• Ober-Seemen is also home to the county youth summer camp Groß-Gerau.

[edit] External links

• Official Website of Gedern (German)
  
• Gedern.com (German)

v • d • e Towns and municipalities in Wetteraukreis district Altenstadt | Bad Nauheim | Bad Vilbel | Büdingen | Butzbach | Echzell | Florstadt | Friedberg | Gedern | Glauburg | Hirzenhain | Karben | Kefenrod | Limeshain | Münzenberg | Nidda | Niddatal | Ober-Mörlen | Ortenberg | Ranstadt | Reichelsheim | Rockenberg | Rosbach vor der Höhe | Wölfersheim | Wöllstadt