Gedern | |
Gedern Castle | |
Gedern
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Location of the town of Gedern within Wetteraukreis district
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Coordinates | |
Administration | |
Country | Germany |
State | Hesse |
Admin. region | Darmstadt |
District | Wetteraukreis |
Town subdivisions | 6 districts |
Mayor | Stefan Betz (Ind.) |
Basic statistics | |
Area | 75.24 km2 (29.05 sq mi) |
Elevation | 357 m (1171 ft) |
Population | 7,493 (31 December 2010)[1] |
- Density | 100 /km2 (258 /sq mi) |
Other information | |
Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
Licence plate | FB |
Postal code | 63688 |
Area code | 06045 |
Website | www.gedern.de |
Gedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located 38 kilometres (24 mi) northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, once one of the largest inactive volcanoes in Europe.
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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.
Gedern is divided into the districts of Gedern, Mittel-Seemen, Nieder-Seemen, Ober-Seemen, Steinberg, and Wenings.
The town 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).
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.
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 throughout its history. The silver stripes stand for the two creeks that run through Gedern "Mühlbach" and "Gänsbach".
Gedern is twinned with Columbia, Illinois, and Polanów, Poland, through the Sister Cities Program. The village of Wenings is also partnered with Nucourt, France.
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 Rhein-Main and Gießen regions.
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