Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (German pronunciation: [ˈɡiːsn̩] ), is a town in the German state (Bundesland) of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students.
The name comes from Giezzen, as it was first referred to in 1197, which refers to the position of the town between several rivers, lakes and streams. The largest river in Giessen is the Lahn, which divides the town in two parts (west and east), roughly 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Frankfurt am Main. Giessen is also home to the University of Giessen.
In 1969, the town hosted the ninth Hessentag state festival.
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History
Giessen came into being as a moated castle in 1152 built by Count Wilhelm von Gleiberg, although the history of the community in the northeast and in today's suburb called "Wieseck" dates back to 775. The town became part of Hesse-Marburg in 1567, passing to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1604. The University of Giessen was founded in 1607. Giessen was included within the Grand Duchy of Hesse created in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. After the First World War, it was part of the People's State of Hesse.
During the Second World War, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was in the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Licher Straße. Heavy bombing destroyed about 75 percent of Giessen in 1944, including most of the town's historic buildings. It became part of the modern state of Hesse after the war.
The city's civilian regional airport, having opened in 1924, was militarized following the establishment of the National Socialist Government in Germany in 1933, and became the founding place of the infamous Kampfgeschwader 55 Luftwaffe bomber unit during World War II. Closing the end of the European theatre of World War II, units of the 1st US Army reached Giessen by early April 1945. The captured airfield would be classified as "Advanced Landing Ground Y-84", briefly used for casualty evacuation and combat resupply by the X Air Service Command, Ninth Air Force. Following German capitulation on May 8, 1945, it was re-designated as "Army Air Forces Station Giessen" until June 1945, whereas the Ninth Air Force vacated the premises to allow the 56th Quartermaster Battalion of the United States Army Quartermaster Corps to converted it to the Giessen Army Depot. The Giessen Army Depot had a population of up to 10,000 American soldiers and their families. Gießen was also the site of the central US army depot for all of Europe as well as the site of a special ammunition depot. The base is a converted German Army Air Field which is reflected in some of the buildings including the housing area. A theatre, known as the Keller Theatre, is a converted German Army Officers' Club. As of 28 September 2007, the Giessen Depot and all other U.S. facilities in the greater Giessen area were returned to local German authorities. The former U.S. Army housing buildings were converted for civilian use.
In 1977, Giessen was merged with the neighbouring city Wetzlar to form the new city of Lahn. However, this attempt to reorganize the administration was reversed in 1979, due to unpopularity by both cities' population. It was then part of the Darmstadt region (Regierungsbezirk) between 1945 and 1981, until the Giessen (region) was founded on 1 January 1981.
International relations
Giessen is twinned with:
Points of interest
Akademischer Forstgarten Gießen, botanical gardens
Botanischer Garten Gießen, established in 1609, is the oldest botanical garden in Germany still at its original location.
Old Cemetery, (German: Alter Friedhof), is the resting place of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, his wife Anna Bertha Röntgen, and Hugo von Ritgen.
Liebig-Museum was established in 1920 to honor the chemist Justus von Liebig.
Mathematikum was established in 2002, offering a wide variety of mathematical hands-on exhibits.
University of Giessen
Rubber Island is a residential area near the Lahn River.
Sport
Giessen is home to the basketball club Giessen 46ers, five-time champion of the Basketball Bundesliga. Its home games take place at the Sporthalle Gießen-Ost.
Also, Giessen has an American football team called Giessen Golden Dragons.
The handball club TV Lützellinden has won the women's Bundesliga several times, but was disbanded in 2006.
Religion
The Catholic Scouts of Europe were founded in Giessen in 1975.
Notable people
Samuel Adler (1809–1891), noted rabbi in the United States, attended the University of Giessen
Werner A. Baum (1923–1999), meteorologist and college administrator
Annika Beck (born 1994), professional tennis player
Stefan Bellof (1957–1985), Formula One and World Sportscar Championship driver, who was killed during a race held in Spa-Francorchamps
Christa Blanke (born 1948), theologist, founder of Animals' Angels e.V.
Volker Bouffier (born 1951), politician (CDU)
Helge Braun (born 1972), politician (CDU)
Georg Büchner (1813–1837) studied two years at the University of Gießen
Daniel Davari (born 1988), Iranian footballer.
Ernst Dieffenbach, born Johann Karl Ernst Dieffenbach (1811–1855), German physician, geologist and naturalist
Georg Christian Dieffenbach (1822–1901), German poet and theologian
Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach (1792–1847), German surgeon
Eduard Dingeldey (1886-1942), lawyer and politician
Walter Dornberger (1895–1980), rocket scientist
Paul Karl Ludwig Drude (1863–1906) physicist specializing in optics
Education
MBML: The International Graduate Programme "Molecular Biology and Medicine of the Lung" of the University of Giessen Lung Center
University hospital Giessen und Marburg
Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences
University of Giessen
Manisch
Manisch is a dialect of rotwelsch spoken in and around Giessen by people in lower income neighbourhoods, some of which are known as "Eulenkopf", "Gummiinsel", "Heyerweg" and "Margaretenhütte". Approximately 700–750 residents spoke the dialect fluently as of 1976. Although the dialect still influences the Giessen vernacular, it is nearly extinct in terms of fluent speakers.
Geography
Climate
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate).