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The Roman in times gone by. © Jörg Koch
Cabinet, choir, stamp motif: Jörg Koch has published a city guide with 55 milestones in Frankfurt’s city history, from which you too can learn something new.
Frankfurt -Frankfurt certainly has the potential to be a capital, at least of Hesse. “But after the Second World War it was so destroyed that it lacked all the prerequisites for a government city,” says Jörg Koch. In contrast to Wiesbaden or Bonn, which were less destroyed or had special advocates. And yet Frankfurt has blossomed into an international economic metropolis, which Koch presents in his city guide “Frankfurt am Main, 55 milestones in history.”
Not funny at all: Taking public transport to Bergen-Enkheim
After the capitals and residential cities of Wiesbaden, Mainz and Mannheim as well as Rheinhessen and Saarland, Frankfurt is now the first major city that the Worms German and social studies teacher describes for the Suttonverlag series, which has been running since 2018. “And if you travel by public transport and then travel as far as Bergen-Enkheim, you can really feel the distances and the reliability of the buses and trains,” admits the 56-year-old with a wink.
But the journey out towards the outskirts of the city is not too far for him when he describes “the most beautiful town writer’s prize” in Bergen-Enkheim or the difficult relationship between Bismarck and Frankfurt in Höchst based on the monument there and sets out on the trail of the “white gold” in the Höchst porcelain factory.
Frankfurt has one of the oldest choirs in Germany
But he also sets accents with the Frankfurter Schrank, the Cäcilien Choir as one of the oldest choirs in Germany and Frankfurt’s history on postage stamps that are not found in every Frankfurt city guide.
First, Koch begins literally at the source, which is characteristic of many historic cities: He describes the Main as an important transport route for the commercial and industrial location, on whose banks former ports are developing into attractive residential areas, and the Nidda and the many streams as inviting natural and recreational areas.
The most famous town hall in Germany
The Frankfurt Synod of 794, the Imperial Cathedral, “Germany’s most famous town hall” Römer and the Paulskirche are further milestones on the historical path of the free (imperial) city, which has repeatedly fulfilled capital-like functions as the headquarters of the East Frankish Empire, as an election and coronation site, as well as a free city and seat of the Bundestag in the Palais Thurn und Taxis and the Paulskirche Parliament.
The Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister Otto Graf Bismarck is said to have not particularly liked Frankfurt, which was annexed by Prussia in 1866. While the Bismarck monument in the Gallusanlage, which was only erected in 1908, fell victim to a metal collection campaign during the war, he still stands larger than life in front of the western old town of Höchst, where he was awarded honorary citizenship as early as 1895, as Koch notes.
A time in which Judaism also grew stronger: “The Börneplatz Synagogue, built in 1882, was a representative building in the style of the Italian Renaissance and the spiritual centre of the Jews and was deliberately destroyed during the pogrom night of 1938,” he explains, and explains the eventful history of Börneplatz with its constantly changing street names from the Middle Ages to the excavations preserved in the “Museum Judengasse”.
A city between monumental and modern
While the Frankfurt cupboard appears powerful and baroque, the Frankfurt kitchen, the Ernst May settlements and the wholesale market hall are examples of progressive architecture of the 20th century. “The Frankfurt kitchen became the epitome of objectivity and functionality, and its uniformity was also intended to level out class differences,” emphasises Koch.
But in the 1970s, the people of Frankfurt had had enough of modern objectivity: Koch documented the reconstructions of the Ostzeil and the Dom-Römer quarter in text and images – there and in Sachsenhausen, Frankfurt also presented itself culinary with Frankfurt sausages, apple wine, green sauce and Frankfurter Kranz.
Koch also dedicates a separate chapter to the strong women of Frankfurt: Anne Frank, to whom a special stamp is dedicated, and the actress Gaby Reichardt are among them, as are the writer Bettina von Arnim and the naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, who once adorned the 5 and 500 mark notes.
Little-known historic quarters
In the end, Koch is amazed by today’s Main metropolis, which has become an international economic metropolis thanks to its diversity. “The cultural offering is also remarkable, and is also enjoyed by people from Rheinhessen or the Rhine-Neckar region,” Koch emphasizes.
Also remarkable is the often little-known number of historical quarters and memorials that are part of the old town centers of the districts, as well as the burial chapels in the main cemetery: “This cemetery is an oasis in the middle of the big city, the grounds are full of cultural and historical treasures, it is astonishing who has found their final resting place here, including many nationally and internationally known artists, politicians, philosophers and writers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Ricarda Huch, Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Theodor W. Adorno,” says Koch. He pays particular attention to the remarkable mausoleum of Emilie von Reichenbach-Lessonitz, the mistress and later wife of Elector Wilhelm II of Hesse-Kassel.
Where Frankfurt is disturbing
“On my walks and tram rides between the main station, the city center and the football stadium, I came across a surprising amount of historical buildings,” says Koch. Sometimes this juxtaposition of old town and Wilhelminian-era buildings, Art Nouveau buildings and modern high-rises seems harmonious, sometimes disturbing, says Koch. It’s typical Frankfurt.
The book
“Frankfurt am Main, 55 Milestones in History” was published by Sutton Verlag and costs 24.99 euros.
