Roßdorf

the municipality near Darmstadt

Roßdorf is a municipality in the district of Darmstadt Dieburg, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of 12,619 (as of 2020). It is situated 8 km east of Darmstadt.

Roßdorf borders in the north and east on the municipality of Groß Zimmern, in the southeast on the town of Reinheim, in the south on the town of Ober Ramstadt, and in the west on the city of Darmstadt.

The Municipality of Roßdorf is divided into two parts: Gundernhausen and Roßdorf.

The first official mention of Roßdorf is in the year 1250. At this time, Abbot Heinrich vested Counts Diether and Eberhardt I of Katzenelnbogen with the villages of Roßdorf and Gundernhausen. In 1479, the family line died out and the inheritance went to Landgrave Heinrich III of Hesse. In 1621, Bavarian soldiers took up quarters in Roßdorf and plundered the town. In addition, witch hunts took place, during which the inhabitants were accused of witchcraft. The worst period for Roßdorf was in the years 1634/35, during the Thirty Years' War. The forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden opposed each other in the region, each in turn laying waste to and scavenging the entire countryside and heavily decimating the population. In the summer of 1635, the plague broke out, reducing the number of inhabitants to 50. In 1672, during the Franco Dutch War, Louis XIV's troops took up quarters. In 1814, Russian soldiers passed through on their way to France. In 1852, Roßdorf was incorporated into the district of Darmstadt. Since 1977, amalgamated with its neighbour Gundernhausen, it has belonged to the district of Darmstadt Dieburg.

The coat of arms consists of a shield with blue background. At the centre is a silver moon, over which a golden horseshoe hangs. Underneath these, there is a silver rose, the centre of which is blue. The remaining free space is taken up by seven golden stars (five in the upper area, two in the lower area). The coat of arms was approved by the president of the regional government in 1952. The coat of arms is based on the seal of the combined village court of Roßdorf and Gundernhausen. An imprint of this seal can be found on the so called "Mansfeld Catalogue of Damages" from 1625, which is kept in the National Archive in Darmstadt. This Catalogue lists the losses suffered by the subjects of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen during the Thirty Years' War. In the 1950s, a face was added to the moon on the coat of arms, a move which has been criticised by many of Roßdorf's inhabitants.

The largest club in Roßdorf is the Sport and Cultural Association (Sport und Kulturgemeinde SKG Roßdorf 1877 e. V.)

Roßdorf is also the headquarters of the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP; "Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences"), the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) and the Center for Inquiry Europe.