Editing Offenbach am Main (section)

==History==
[[File:Offenbach (Merian).jpg|thumb|Offenbach in 1655]]
[[File:Frankfurterstr-of.jpg|thumb|The main street ''Frankfurter Straße'' around 1900]]
The first documented reference to a suburb of Offenbach appears in 770.<ref>{{cite web|last=Braun|first=Lothar|title=Offenbach und seine Vororte|url=http://offenbach.de/offenbach/themen/unterwegs-in-offenbach/stadtinfo/stadtteile/article/Vororte.html?pdfurl=http://offenbach.de/offenbach/themen/unterwegs-in-offenbach/stadtinfo/stadtteile/article/Vororte.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221201536/http://offenbach.de/offenbach/themen/unterwegs-in-offenbach/stadtinfo/stadtteile/article/Vororte.html?pdfurl=http%3A%2F%2Foffenbach.de%2Foffenbach%2Fthemen%2Funterwegs-in-offenbach%2Fstadtinfo%2Fstadtteile%2Farticle%2FVororte.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 February 2014|publisher=City of Offenbach|access-date=4 February 2014|date=12 February 2004}}</ref> In a document of the Holy Roman [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Otto II]] dating to 977 exists the first mention of the place of Offenbach.<ref name="factsfigures">{{cite web|title=Offenbach – Facts and Figures|url=http://www.offenbach.de/stepone/data/pdf/67/22/00/of-in-zahlen-2012_final_engl.pdf|publisher=City of Offenbach|access-date=4 February 2014|page=2|year=2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130822010347/http://www.offenbach.de/stepone/data/pdf/67/22/00/of-in-zahlen-2012_final_engl.pdf|archive-date=22 August 2013}}</ref>  During the Middle Ages Offenbach passed through many hands. Only in 1486 could the Count Ludwig of [[County of Isenburg|Isenburg]] finally take control of city for his family, and 1556 Count Reinhard of Isenburg relocated his Residence to Offenbach, building a palace, the Isenburger Schloß (Isenburg Palace), which was completed in 1559. It was destroyed by fire in 1564 and rebuilt in 1578.

In 1635, Offenbach was given to the [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt|Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt]], but it was returned to the Isenburg-Birstein Count (later Prince) in 1642. It remained in that principality until 1815, when the [[Congress of Vienna]] gave the city to the Austrian Emperor, [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis I]]. A year later it was given to the [[Grand Duchy of Hesse|Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt]].

Always very close to the city centre of Frankfurt, Offenbach was a popular location for business. The town has its own trade fair, and many companies have opened facilities here because there are fewer restrictions and no closed businesses. French Protestants ([[Huguenot]]s) came in the 17th century and settled in Offenbach and contributed to making Offenbach a prosperous city, e.g., bringing knowledge of tobacco with them and turning Offenbach into a centre for rolling cigars. The town was more cosmopolitan than Frankfurt; famous people such as [[Goethe]] and [[Mozart]] visited it several times.

The Rumpenheim Palace and its park were a popular destination for monarchs in the 19th century. The city was thereafter ruled by [[Rulers of Hesse|Grand Dukes of Hesse and by Rhine]] until the monarchy was abolished in 1918. Offenbach became the center of the traditional design with figures such as the architect [[Hugo Eberhardt]], the typographer [[Rudolf Koch]], the bookbinder and designer [[Ignatz Wiemeler]] and [[Ernst Engel]] and the painter [[Karl Friedrich Lippmann]].

During the [[Second World War]], a third of the city was destroyed by Allied bombing, which claimed 467 lives. With the new district [[Offenbach-Lauterborn|Lauterborn]] the city was expanded to the south in the 1960s. On the border with Frankfurt, the office district Kaiserlei was built. Offenbach is a so-called "Sozialer Brennpunkt" (deprived area) because of unemployment, poverty, gang related crime and migration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fnp.de/rhein-main/Gangster-Ghetto-Offenbach-was-ist-dran;art801,1166004|title=Nach dem Tod von Tugce A.|first=Frankfurter Neue|last=Presse|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080441/http://www.fnp.de/rhein-main/Gangster-Ghetto-Offenbach-was-ist-dran;art801,1166004|archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Before its eradication in the [[Holocaust]], the city had a Jewish population. Jews settled in the city as late as the late 16th century, and it is believed that out of the 871 residents of the town as of 1829, the 40 Jewish families accounted for nearly a quarter of the town's population. They also established [[Jewish cemetery Offenbach-Bürgel|their own cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ehemals große jüdische Landgemeinde mit langer Tradition |url=https://www.offenbach.de/kultur-und-tourismus/stadtgeschichte/veranstaltungen-27/juedisches-buergel.php |website=offenbach |access-date=29 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914034729/https://www.offenbach.de/kultur-und-tourismus/stadtgeschichte/veranstaltungen-27/juedisches-buergel.php |archive-date=14 September 2016 |language=de}}</ref>