Lahn, Hesse
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Lahn (German pronunciation: [laːn] ⓘ) was a district-free city in the state of Hesse, which was created on January 1, 1977 during the Hessian administrative reform when the two cities of Gießen and Wetzlar were merged. It was named after the river Lahn to make the merger one of equals. However, as the merger was very unpopular as well as inefficient—it had been imposed on the cities against the will of almost all inhabitants—it was rescinded on July 31, 1979; so the city Lahn only existed for two and a half years.
The creation of the city was supported by then-Minister-President of Hesse Albert Osswald, who had been the Lord Mayor of Gießen from 1957 to 1963 and saw the new city as "work of the century" (Jahrhundertwerk), believing that it would strengthen central Hesse against the two major population center of Kassel in the north and Frankfurt in the south of the state.
The new city was created out of the then district-free city of Gießen, the municipality of Heuchelheim from the Giessen district, and fourteen municipalities from the Wetzlar district - Wetzlar, Atzbach, Dutenhofen, Garbenheim, Hermannstein, Krofdorf-Gleiberg, Launsbach, Lützellinden, Münchholzhausen, Nauborn, Naunheim, Steindorf, Waldgirmes and Wißmar. At the time of creation (January 1, 1977), the city had an estimated population of 156,000 on an area of 225.57 km² (73,600 in Lahn-Gießen, 49,600 in Lahn-Wetzlar, 10,400 in Lahn-Wettenberg, 7,800 in Lahn-Lahntal, 8,100 in Lahn-Dutenhofen and 7,100 in Lahn-Heuchelheim). The city was assigned the Gemeindeschlüssel 06 1 17 000 and license plate area code L. Originally, L was planned for Leipzig, then in the East Germany; at the time, however, chances for reunification seemed slim. Some critics saw it as provocation by the federal level social-liberal coalition, some even as a de facto recognition as the division of Germany. According to the 31 December 1977 estimates, the city's population was 154,089 (73,501 men and 80,588 women) on 225.57 km² area; and by 31 December 1978 153,678 (73,332 men and 80,346 women).[1]
