Greater Hesse - The New Hessian Capital

The New Hessian Capital

While Proclamation No. 2 of the Allied Control Council declared the territory that would comprise Greater Hesse, no capital was specified. Four cities were considered for the new capital:

• Frankfurt, the former Imperial city (annexed by Prussia in 1866, see Free City of Frankfurt), was by far the largest city in the new region. Given its role as locale for imperial elections during the Holy Roman Empire and as federal council seat of the German Confederation (see Frankfurt Parliament), Frankfurt was considered to be an ideal candidate for a future national capital of West Germany in the absence of a united Berlin. However, Frankfurt declined the position of Hessian state capital since it had never been part of any Hessian territory during its history and it was thought that the city could not identify enough with the new region. Another reason for Frankfurt's unsuitability as state capital was the fact that most of the city had been destroyed by Allied bombing during the war.
• Darmstadt, the former Hessian capital, was also considered unsuitable due to its war damage.
• Kassel, the capital of the Prussian province of Hesse was considered unsuitable, not only due to its war damage, but also due to its peripheral location in the north of the new region.
• Wiesbaden, the capital of the Prussian province of Nassau, suffered relatively minor damage from the war. This, combined with its location within the Rhine-Main metropolitan area and the fact that it was already a regional seat of the US military administration, made Wiesbaden the best choice.

On 12 October 1945, the first organisational directive for Greater Hesse (Organisationsverfügung Nr. 1) was announced. Point number one of this directive stated that the civilian capital for Greater Hesse would be Wiesbaden, effective from noon on that day.