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Full of energy: Ulrich Hahn in his new office in the town hall. The 60-year-old gave up his job as a lawyer and his mandate as Green Party parliamentary group leader to work in the administration. © Strohfeldt
New addition to the Egelsbach town hall: Ulrich Hahn is strengthening the administration as cultural representative. The 60-year-old, who will primarily be responsible for the 750th anniversary celebrations and the town twinning, is no stranger to the community.
Egelsbach – Ulrich Hahn had long wanted to “do something completely different”. In the last phase of his professional life, to do something for the community, to give something back, as he says. He has therefore scaled back his work as a lawyer over the past two years and kept his eyes open for a suitable opportunity. When he discovered a job advertisement from the municipality of Egelsbach in the spring, one thing led to another. “I thought to myself: man, that’s a 100 percent fit! Just apply,” says Hahn. The application was well received at the town hall: since July 15, the 60-year-old has been the municipality’s new cultural representative. His two main tasks: coordinating the town twinning and the 750th anniversary celebrations, which are due to take place in 2025.
Ulrich Hahn, whom everyone calls Uli, is no stranger in Egelsbach. As a member of the volunteer core team, he played a key role in the renovation of the home and is secretary on the board of the Pro Saalbau association. Since its founding in 2022, he has also been the chairman of the new town twinning association, and for the past two years he has also led the Green Party faction in the municipal council as chairman.
Since studying law in Frankfurt, Hahn has worked continuously as a lawyer, and now, at the age of 60, he is starting anew in the administration of his hometown, where the Marburg native settled in 1994 with his wife Christiane. He is tackling the task with great enthusiasm: “I like planning and organizing. I have always enjoyed things like cost calculations and Excel tables,” he says. “I am delighted to now be able to do this profitably for the citizens.” He found it easy to start, as he already knew many of the people in the town hall through his political involvement and work in the twin town association. “There was no need to get to know each other, and my colleagues have been incredibly welcoming,” he says happily.
Musical reading in your own home
The position became vacant because Anke Dimitriou had taken over the management of the music school in addition to the adult education center and had given up her second role as cultural representative. And because an important topic had arisen: the 750th anniversary celebrations, for the preparation of which the local council had passed a resolution in November last year calling for a “permanent contact person in the town hall”. “That contact person is now me,” says Hahn. He takes care of appointments, rooms, the flow of information, and applying for funding. “It’s a mammoth task; you have to get all the clubs on board,” explains Hahn. On his desk is a seven-page list with the collected ideas for the big anniversary celebrations. The festival committee would like to determine the exact program soon.
When it comes to town twinning, the municipality does not want to take the work away from the association. “We provide organizational support and the association provides the manpower,” Hahn emphasizes. His task now is, for example, to prepare the official ceremonies. The father of two grown-up daughters is happy with the start of the association, of which he intends to remain chairman: “It was a leap into the deep end because hardly any of us had any experience with it. But it has developed wonderfully.” In addition to mutual visits, traditions from Pont-Saint-Esprit and Haynau are also to be cultivated more in Egelsbach. A family afternoon with “Galette des Rois” (“Cake of Kings”) and a boules tournament with French food have already been well received. An event is now planned for the Polish St. Andrew’s Night in November.
Change at the top of the parliamentary group
With Ulrich Hahn’s withdrawal, the Greens have to reorganize themselves in the local council. The group unanimously elected the previous deputy Tobias Jäger as their new chairman. His deputy will be the former long-standing group chairman and current local association spokesman Harald Eßer. Matthias Reinhold will take over the role of the retiring Hahn in the group. (msc)
And if there is still time, the cultural representative would of course also like to advance the cultural program in Egelsbach. “The municipality does not really have its own budget for this. That’s why I see myself more as someone who coordinates and initiates things,” explains Hahn. On October 9, for example, there will be a musical reading in the home, organized by the district. Hahn also wants to set up a round table where all the cultural workers in the town can exchange ideas, and introduce an events calendar. “On some Sundays there is nothing going on at all, on others there are four events. That way the clubs take each other’s bread and butter,” says Hahn.
He has since resigned from his position as a local councillor – with a heavy heart. “That was a bitter pill to swallow,” admits the Green Party member. “But I am of the opinion that the executive and legislative branches of government do not get along.”
