The new year 1996 begins with a "Happy New Year". Slippery ice on the roads, with the traditional New Year's Eve balls in the Dudenhofen community centre - male voice choir - at the TGS Jügesheim and a "Go 96" rock party in the Nieder-Roden community centre.
30 runners had left the old year behind them the day before at the 18th New Year's Eve run organised by TG-Nieder Roden.
On 2 January, Maria Waldinger in Jügesheim, the oldest citizen of Rodgau, celebrated her 101st birthday.
Thieves at the beginning of the year: break-in at the Turmstraße kindergarten in Nieder-Roden.
Freezing rain causes problems on 3 January and brings the municipal building yard and its gritting service to its first major assignment.
Another winter forest festival organised by the old men's footballers of the Weiskirchen sports club in the freezing cold.
Accidents on icy roads on the first weekend of the New Year.
Ice and cold also at the mulled wine meeting of the Dudenhofen Nature Conservation Association at the Gänsbrüh.
The 21-year-old student Sergej Chaveko from Ukraine, a short-term guest student at the Claus-von-Stauffenberg-Schule in Dudenhofen, has no problem with the cold.
The Rodgau Adult Education Centre presents its new programme: More than 160 courses in the first half of 1996 (including 58 language courses, 53 hobby courses and 40 health courses).
Labour market remains tight: Almost 2000 unemployed in Rodgau and Rödermark. Unemployment rate in Rodgau 6.2% (e.g. Offenbach 8.7%).
1995 annual balance sheet of Vereinigte Volksbank: The year after the merger brought a plus of 5.3%. (Rodgau/Rödermark/Babenhausen) with total assets of DM 1.65 billion. New Protestant pastor in Jügesheim: Andreas Goetze (31 years old), successor to long-serving pastor Gerhard Roth, who retired.
Another big crowd at the historical timber auction in Dudenhofen at the Gänsbrüh with a vintage tractor show (MGV Germania).
The series of carnival events in all parts of the town begins in mid-January with the first external session organised by TGS Jügesheim.
Hesse's Minister of the Interior Gerhard Bökel was a guest at the SPD Rodgau New Year's reception in the Weiskirchen community centre.
The first sad news of the new year: the Rodgau Animal Welfare Association is disbanding. Following the departure of Mr and Mrs Beyer, no successor has been found to head the board. The Seligenstadt animal welfare organisation also takes over responsibility for Rodgau. The Rodgau Animal Welfare Association, which had existed since 1987 with Gert Beyer at the helm, had been taken over from a previous animal welfare organisation that had already been dissolved.
Israelite author Lea Fleischmann at the Christian-Jewish dialogue of the Protestant community of Nieder-Roden. She reads from her new book "Shabbat" and, to her surprise, meets three former pupils that evening, including the educator Christine Raab from Nieder-Roden.
New regulation of wastewater charges in the city of Rodgau is introduced with the dispatch of around 10,000 notices and explanatory letters (for the first time, this also includes rainwater that runs off properties into the sewage system). This change had been explained in public meetings the year before.
The number of inhabitants at the end of 1995 is announced: 43,475, an increase of 629 compared to 1994.
The Weiskirchen Catholic kindergarten in Werrastraße celebrates its 35th anniversary.
Emil Kratz, community elder of Dudenhofen, celebrates his 75th birthday.
Tragic fatal accident in the underground car park of a new commercial building in Jügesheim: a three-year-old girl is crushed by the bars of the entrance gate.
Successful team from Rodgau at the "Histo Monte" classic car rally: 3rd place for Dr Jürgen Moog, Stephan Ganss/Reinhard Rebel, Werner Junghans/Franz Müller, Peter Godehardt, Alfred Böhm (MB 219, MB 220s and Jaguar MK VIII)
Finally a place of honour in the Jügesheim local history museum, the old local bell, presented to museum director Günter Zierz by former mayor Wilhelm Albert.
At the end of the month, the CDU held its traditional New Year's reception in the Bürgerhaus Dudenhofen with Chancellery Minister Friedrich Bohl as guest of honour and around 1,000 visitors.
The new postal freight centre in the Nieder-Roden industrial estate has passed its test. It provides work for 570 people and can process up to 300,000 parcels a day (200 lorries per day).
A plan takes shape: the "Multi-Social Centre" for young and old on Frankfurter Strasse in Nieder-Roden. The project (day care centre, social centre, day care and physiotherapy) is presented to the public for the first time in the youth and social committee. (4,000 square metres of building space, construction costs DM 25 million.) An investor is still to be found.
As always, welcome guests in Rodgau: members of the Nieuwpoort swimming club, Dudenhofen's twin town, whose children want to spend their Easter holidays in Dudenhofen (Wanderheim Edelweiß) for the fifth time. Mayor Scherer hosts a reception for the guests in the town hall.
On Wednesday, 7 February, it's "ice free" at the Nieder-Roden bathing lake. At 15 centimetres, the ice has reached the necessary thickness to allow access.
Adoption of the 1996 budget in the municipal council assembly with votes from the CDU and SPD against Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, a balanced budget. (DM 107 million in the administrative budget and DM 30 million in the capital budget) without borrowing and without raising taxes and fees.
Long-serving parliamentarian Hans Seum (CDU) receives the State Certificate of Honour, presented by District Administrator Josef Lach.
Annual balance sheet of the public order office in 1995: 6,300 traffic offenders paid DM 150,000 in fines, mostly for speeding.
Honouring of long-standing active members of the Catholic parish by Father Engel: Edith Sahm, Rupert Paul.
Highlight of the carnival with the storming of the town hall by the TGS and the prince and princess and a carnival procession with around 50 parade numbers through Jügesheim. The motto in 1996: "Even if the mark is no longer so loose, the Giesemer Fastnacht will sweep us off our feet".
Bad news from Dudenhofen: the metal construction company Versbach has financial problems. Around 250 employees are waiting for their wages. Mayor Scherer involved in reorganisation negotiations in Wiesbaden due to state guarantee. Presentation of a resolution to preserve jobs at Versbach to the Hessian Minister of Social Affairs Barbara Stolterfoth, guest at the traditional herring dinner after Shrove Tuesday at the SPD Rodgau in the TGM hall in Jügesheim.
The "end" for a number of speed bumps on Rodgau's roads following a new decree from the Ministry of Transport: Mayor Scherer sees his reservations about this type of traffic calming, which he has been expressing for years, confirmed. Only pavements with "gentle" ramps are still tolerated and will be left in Rodgau.
CDU herring dinner in the packed community centre in Dudenhofen to kick off the local election campaign - demand for the Rodgau ring road to be continued - with CSU General Secretary Dr Bernd Protzner as guest speaker: seven hundredweights of herring for the guests.
After a very cold winter, the first snowdrops and Easter flowers were discovered at the end of February, for example in Kirstin Reichenbach's garden in Nieder-Roden.
The local history museum in Jügesheim has gained two new attractions: a clay jug and a ball made of fasting stone from the late Middle Ages - found on Alter Weg - found their way into the local history museum after a diversion. They are the oldest artefacts found to date (14th/15th century).
Ernst Höhnlein, in whose parents' house at Alter Weg 7 the two artefacts were unearthed over 30 years ago and who now lives in Leverkusen, presented them to the museum.
Rolf Leinhos becomes the new chairman of DLRG Rodgau. His long-serving predecessor Artur Altenau becomes an honorary member.
Opportunity for the Versbach company in Dudenhofen: the state's promise of a guarantee means that the metal construction company and its approximately 250 jobs (200 at the main plant in Dudenhofen and 50 at the branch in Thuringia) are secure for the time being.
Topping-out ceremony for the new kindergarten in Binger Weg in Dudenhofen (construction costs around 3 million marks).
Small (one-year) anniversary of the new postal freight centre in Nieder-Roden: 180 people from Rodgau are already employed there.
Dieter Löbcke died at the age of 58 from the late effects of a road accident. In the mid-1970s, he founded the first citizens' initiative in Rodgau, which successfully pushed through the construction of the noise barrier on the Spessartring in Dudenhofen at federal expense.
Robbery at the branch of the Vereinigte Volksbank in Weiskirchen with DM 15,000 as loot by two masked men who fled on foot.
Once again, the town honours its successful athletes, breeders and cultural figures. Breeder of the Year 1995: Günther Dries from the Nieder-Roden Poultry Breeding Association. Willibald Sahm, Werner Witschel, Walter Müller, Herbert Legel and Dieter Schüler receive letters of honour for special services to the club.
The 10th Easter Exhibition of the Rodgau Adult Education Centre was once again held at the Georg Büchner School with a large number of visitors and the participation of the Flower Queen from the Old Country on the Lower Elbe.
Special campaign by the Protestant church in Rodgau "Art and Church" with exhibition, theatre and concert series in Dudenhofen and Jügesheim.
A well-read citizen, Anton Kohler, leaves around 400 books to the town, which are sorted in the town hall room and distributed from there to municipal and community libraries.
French pupils from Meaux visit the Claus-von-Stauffenberg School and are welcomed by Mayor Paul Scherer in the town hall.
Instead of receiving gifts, the Dudenhofen Nature Conservation Association is once again giving away fruit trees in its 10th anniversary year, including the 2,500th fruit tree since the introduction of this campaign.
The special early spring concert, the children's concert of the Rodgau Free Music School with 80 performers in the Dudenhofen community centre.
Unusual: The Hesse competitions in New Dance and Team Aerobics in the Hainhausen sports hall, which also included groups from Rodgau, with the Weiskirchen Sports Association taking first place in their competition group and TGS Jügesheim taking first, third, fourth and fifth place.
"Unlimited" athletes and sponsors donate sports equipment for school playgrounds in Rodgau.
Annual general meeting of the Rodgau fire brigades in the Weiskirchen community centre with around 200 active members. 5100 hours of service were provided in 1995.
The Dudenhofen Red Cross honours more than 90 blood donors at its traditional spring ball, including Reinhold Mai, Hans-Joachim Wilhelm and Otto Zilch for 75 blood donations (gold pin with gold wreath).
The Weiskirchen gymnastics club celebrates its 110th anniversary with an academic celebration in the club hall - Jahnhalle - and at the same time 30 years of friendship with Donja Stubica and 25 years of the "Auerhahn" shooting section.
The premiere of the play "Hannes is the best" by the Nieder-Roden amateur theatre in the community centre was met with great applause.
The Nieder-Roden/Dudenhofen Workers' Welfare Association has had a good response to its Easter bazaar at St Matthias Church in Nieder-Roden, which is celebrating its anniversary. For the first time in 50 years, it plans to stage the historical play "The Great World Theatre".
Three Rodgau residents - Manfred Resch, Werner Stolzenburg and Udo Krieger - are publishing a book about the 100-year history of the Rodgau railway this year.
The festive conclusion to the events in March is the academic celebration of the 120th anniversary of the "Sonntagverein" Nieder-Roden choral society.
At the head of the honourees: Josef Wade, the oldest singer in the choir at 81, and Michael Wade, the oldest member at 89.
The residential and nursing home for the elderly currently under construction in Dudenhofen - scheduled to open in autumn - is named "Gretel-Egner-Haus" in memory of the deaconess of the Elisabethenstift Darmstadt, who provided home nursing care in Dudenhofen from 1945 to 1969.
The 19th Easter Run of the Jügesheim gymnastics club with over 850 starters over 25 and 10 kilometres The Offenbach-Post recalls in a large report 50 years ago in April, when the local councils in today's districts resumed their work - now democratically elected. The main problem at the time was the accommodation of almost 4,000 refugees, as Richard Wimmer's Rodgau Chronicle notes.
Students from the French town of Mauze visit the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Hainhausen. The Rene Caillie College has been twinned with the comprehensive school in Hainhausen for three years.
The cool start to spring leads to a delayed start to the asparagus harvest season in Rodgau.
On her 70th birthday, Karoline Riedmayer is presented with the citizens' medal of the town of Rodgau by Karl Erb, head of the town council, in the twin town of Hainburg for her services to the partnership and international understanding in general.
Dudenhofen is "top" in terms of political commitment: the CDU local association has now taken the lead in Germany with 300 members. Nicole Reining is welcomed as the 300th member by local association chairman Hans-Jürgen Lange. The local organisation celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
But the Dudenhofen SPD is also making headlines: It is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an academic celebration on 20 April.
Councillor Edeltraud Zintel, first for the Greens in the municipal council, then independent, is accepted by the CDU parliamentary group.
The general meeting of TGS Jügesheim gives the board the planning contract for a new club hall (multi-purpose hall) to replace the old hall on the Ostring site. To finance this, part of the sports ground is to be sold as a residential building site.
At the top of the list of long-standing members of the Dudenhofen SPD to be honoured are Emil Kratz with 50 years of membership and Adam Gotta (83) with 65 years, as well as Günter Hindel (last mayor of Dudenhofen) and Willi Walter, who were also awarded the SPD's letter of honour.
Helmut Simon wrote the chronicle for the double anniversary of the parish of St Matthias Nieder-Roden (100 years of the parish church of St Matthias and 650 years of the parish).
The "Rodgau Tramps" singing group from the Eintracht Hainhausen choral society celebrates its 30th anniversary with a colourful evening in the Weiskirchen community centre.
The CDU Jügesheim celebrates its 50th birthday in the Haus der Begegnung. TGS Jügesheim welcomes its 1,500th member, seven-year-old Christian Friedrich.
50 young people from France - partner school in Rodez - visit the Heinrich Böll School in Nieder-Roden.
To mark its 25th anniversary, the Georg Büchner School in Jügesheim - the largest school in Rodgau with 1300 pupils - publishes a comprehensive commemorative book.
At the end of April, there is a serious accident at a construction site in Hintergasse in Jügesheim: a 72-year-old falls into the excavation pit and is seriously injured. As one of the builders, he had slipped off the ladder in the secured construction pit.
The newly built parish centre in Nieder-Roden is inaugurated, offering 1,200 square metres of space for an active parish life. It was built in Schulstraße on the site of the former sisters' house. The architectural references to the past are striking. The old sisters' house dates back to 1898 and the old façade was faithfully rebuilt and harmoniously integrated into the new building.
The Nieder-Roden/Dudenhofen Workers' Welfare Association celebrates its 50th anniversary in the Nieder-Roden community centre. The workers' welfare organisation, which has 168 members, was merged with the association in Dudenhofen in 1984.
Anniversaries also took place at the end of the month in Weiskirchen, where the music association is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Albert Busch, who has been a member of the association for 70 years, as well as Willi Klohocker and Alfred Sahm for 50 years, lead the list of those honoured.
Appointed honorary members: Wilhelm König, Franz Ricker, the former local priest Albert Rißberger and Johann Rohfuß.
At the annual general meeting of the SPD Rodgau, Chairwoman Rosemarie Wendel is confirmed in office.
The women's choir "Sängerkranz Polyhymnia" wins the first class prize and the conductor's prize at the cup performance singing in Mainaschaff.
The Jewish author Niza Ganor reads from her book "Who are you, Anuschka", the story of a Jewish girl's survival in a concentration camp, at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Hainhausen.
The couple Albert and Annemarie Wagenblast celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary in Dudenhofen.
For the first time again, the DGB local cartel in Rodgau held its May Day celebration in the well-attended SKV-Halle in Hainhausen.
The Rodgau Square Dancers celebrate Walpurgis Night with 300 participants in the Nieder-Roden community centre to the sound of western music.
The theatre group of the Kolpingfamilie Jügesheim celebrates a successful premiere with the play "Barefoot in the Park" in the Haus der Begegnung. The "Interessengemeinschaft Puiseauxplatz" organises another well-attended car show entitled "Auto 1996".
A small but - for young people - important anniversary also at Puiseauxplatz: the youth centre "Calvins Cafe" is celebrating its fifth anniversary.
The municipal council postpones the decision in principle on the conversion of the municipal social centre into a limited company, as there are still too many unanswered questions.
Success for the trampolinists of the Weiskirchen Sports Association: Christian Massoth (13) becomes Hesse champion in the school class.
Three founders, Heinrich Böres, Heinz Werner and Josef Bihn, are also honoured at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the CDU local association in Hainhausen.
The still young club for fun and trend sports "Unlimited Rodgau Sports" experienced an unusually large response in the Hainhausen sports hall during the weekend of 11/12 May: around 2,000 visitors and active participants.
The sports bowlers of the RKC - Rodgauer Kegel-Club - and the SKV Hainhausen, who have been playing together for five years, merge under the SKV Hainhausen after the dissolution of the RKC.
Plans to build a Jügesheim sports centre in the Westgemarkung - on the extended Alter Weg - are discussed with representatives of the Jügesheim clubs SV, TGS and TGM in the sports facilities committee of the town council.
A former Jewish citizen, Gertrud Schuster, née Wachenheim, visits her birthplace again as a guest of the Weiskirchen local history association after emigrating to Argentina with her family in 1937, who lived in Falltorstraße at the time.
The Catholic church choir "Cäcilia" Nieder-Roden celebrates its 125th anniversary with a big concert in the parish church "St. Matthias".
The Culture Prize of the town of Rodgau, again awarded during the culture week at the ceremony in the town hall, goes in equal parts to the pianist and founder of the Ton-Art chamber music evenings Klemens Althapp from Weiskirchen, and the young choir of the AGV Jügesheim called "Mixed Voices".
Two TGN gymnasts from Nieder-Roden, Jessica Stapp and Eleonora Krist, become Hessen champions (Olympic octathlon and freestyle pentathlon respectively).
20 young guests from Poland are staying in Rodgau for the first time as part of the student exchange programme of the Georg Büchner School in Jügesheim, which began in 1995, and are experiencing a ten-day programme with excursions and participation in lessons.
The SPD receives a thank you from Belarus from the folklore group "Radunita" for the donation of DM 1000 collected for medical care for Chernobyl children at the "Dance into May".
Turngemeinde Nieder-Roden celebrates its 90th anniversary with a big weekend of festivities.
Another inauguration at the end of the month: the redesigned square at the Bodelschwingh School in Weiskirchen - costing DM 190,000 - is officially opened.
A "month of anniversaries", as the town's cultural calendar indicates for June, because the academic celebrations - already mentioned - will be followed this month by the major festive weekends to mark the anniversaries of "100 years of the Dudenhofen SPD", 110 years of the Weiskirchen gymnastics community", 25 years of the Protestant kindergarten at Birkenhain Nieder-Roden and 90 years of TG Nieder-Roden. One of the highlights of the SPD anniversary celebrations in Dudenhofen is the exhibition on the history of the SPD in the community centre foyer. The announced festive guest, parliamentary party leader Rudolf Scharping, who wanted to come to the Sunday morning pint, had to cancel due to a bicycle accident. Instead, Franz Müntefering, the leader of the federal government, came. At the end of the 110th anniversary celebration, TG Weiskirchen honours its jubilarians, with a special tribute to honorary member Adam Josef Göbel (91), who has been loyal to the club for 75 years.
Topping-out ceremony for the Catholic kindergarten in Jügesheim, which is built on the site of the former building that was built in 1961 and demolished. Costs around 3.2 million marks.
Alexander Berker celebrates his first mass in Nieder-Roden. This is the fourth time in ten years that a young man from this neighbourhood has been ordained a priest.
The Dudenhofen volunteer fire brigade receives a new fire engine, which is ceremoniously handed over by Mayor Paul Scherer to mark the 20th anniversary of the youth fire brigade. The purchase cost DM 370,000.
At its 110th anniversary celebration, the Hainhausen gymnastics club honours deserving jubilarians, headed by Johann Manus, 70 years with the club, Walter Bremke, Martin Ott, Alfred Kleinhenz and Rudolf Girz for 50 years, and Hans Löw for 60 years, as well as honorary members Heinrich Böres and Josef Bihn.
Mayor Paul Scherer announces that he will not be standing for re-election, but will retire for reasons of age at the end of his third term of office in mid-1998. Hans-Jürgen Lange and Thomas Przibilla are already named as candidates by the CDU and SPD respectively. The direct election - for the first time in Rodgau - is to take place at the beginning of 1998.
Reason to celebrate at TSV Dudenhofen, as the first football team is crowned champions of the Kreisliga A Offenbach-Ost and is promoted to the Bezirksliga Offenbach.
The Cultural Summer 1996, the city's almost two-week cultural week, offers a varied programme with over 50 events.
The almost 500-strong workforce of Rodgau City Council and Stadtwerke Rodgau once again elects a joint staff council, which is again chaired by the city's press spokesman, Klaus Kölpin.
Vereinigte Volksbank presents its successful 1995 annual report, which is approved by the 419 representatives present at the delegates' meeting - this year in the Urberach hall - (for 25,000 members) and adopted with a dividend of 7.04%.
Roman Horch, long-standing local councillor and town councillor as well as SPD chairman of Hainhausen, is awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, which is presented by Mayor Paul Scherer at a ceremony in the SKV-Heim.
The small Holy Cross Church in the Rollwald district turns 25, an event that is celebrated with a "Rollwald Festival" by the community and the local population.
25 years of the Wilhelm Busch School, a primary school in Jügesheim, another anniversary that is celebrated with a school party.
The IBM Club in Nieder-Roden, a leisure community of the IBM distribution centre in this district with 350 members, also celebrates its 25th anniversary.
In Rodgau, she received the culture prize for her chronicle in Nieder-Roden, where she lives and also worked as a journalist for the local news for many years, and as head of the public relations office in the neighbouring town of Dietzenbach, she is retiring after ten years of service: Gisela Rathert.
An unusual visit to Rodgau: a group of Japanese youngsters visited TGS Jügesheim as part of the German-Japanese simultaneous exchange programme organised by the German Sports Youth.
SKV Hainhausen is delighted as both the men's and women's teams celebrate the championship and promotion to the next higher class of sport bowlers.
The new motorway overpass of Daimler Straße in Weiskirchen over the A3 motorway - a project as part of the expansion of the Rodgau/Hanau motorway junction - is opened to traffic and once again enables the Weiskirchen industrial estate to be directly connected to the supra-local road network. The municipal parliament develops the initiative that the junction area being expanded should be labelled "Rodgau", as it is located on Rodgau territory, and not "Hanau".
Pastor Nikolay Kopf succeeds the pastor couple Kautzmann-Paulmann in the Protestant parish of Nieder-Roden as one of two pastors.
The colourful programme of the Rodgau Culture Week - "Cultural Summer 1996" - reaches one of its high points with the ceremonial presentation of the 1995 Culture Prize in the town hall to the pianist and initiator of the "Ton-Art" series, Klemens Althapp, and the young choir "Mixed Voices" from the AGV Jügesheim under the direction of Roman Zöller.
The cycling club "Germania" Jügesheim celebrates its 85th anniversary with a sports promotion week in the cycling centre.
133 school-leaving certificates are awarded at the Claus-von-Stauffenberg-Schule in Dudenhofen at the end of the school year.
The male choir of the Sängerkranz-Polyhymnia Nieder-Roden celebrates two victories in the compulsory folk song competition in Bad Camberg with conductor Gottfried Kärner and the 1st master prize.
Before the start of the summer holidays, the Georg Büchner School in Jügesheim, the largest school in Rodgau, is celebrating a double anniversary: 25 years of existence and 20 years of the Jügesheim Cooperative Comprehensive School, which was under the management of Günter Zierz until 1992.
23 disabled athletes from the Weiskirchen Sports Association also took part in the 1996 Hessentag in Gelnhausen.
Six months after its foundation, the new association for multinational understanding in Rodgau, "munaVeRo", which has members from 11 nations, has been recognised as a registered association.
The handball players of SG Nieder-Roden have achieved their goal: the young team has won the district league championship.
Two major festival weekends will be held in Rodgau on 12/14 July to mark the 75th anniversary of the Weiskirchen Music Society and the 120th anniversary of the "Sonntagverein" Nieder-Roden choral society with a marquee programme and parades on Sunday.
The sun is shining - even at the museum festival with a ceramics exhibition organised by the Jügesheim local history association.
Another delay to the S-Bahn project in Rodgau is on the cards: the supplementary financing agreement for the double-track extension of the S-Bahn line is not expected to be signed in the summer, as first announced, but only in December.
An athlete from Dudenhofen, Harald Schäfer, is representing Germany at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as head of the German Olympic beach volleyball delegation.
After 35 years of teaching, the Georg Büchner School is bidding farewell to the headmaster of the secondary school branch, Karl Hegner, who is retiring. As a caricaturist with the column "Kallche und Willy" once a week in the Offenbach-Post, Karl Hegner is and remains connected to public life.
The delegates' meeting of the Rodgau CDU nominates Hans-Jürgen Lange, longstanding parliamentary group leader in the town council and CDU chairman in Dudenhofen for 25 years, as candidate for mayor.
Franz Schmitz from Hainhausen, long-standing chairman of the "Eintracht" choral society, receives a letter of honour from the state of Hesse, as does his club colleague and member of SKV Hainhausen and leader of the "Rodgau Tramps" choral group, Wilhelm Ott.
Stephanie Binder, an 18-year-old student from Hainhausen, receives a prize from the federal jury at the 43rd European competition for her analysis of German and French television coverage of the US presidential visit, presented by Bundestag President Rita Süßmuth in Bonn.
Start of the Rodgau holiday games with 290 children. With "Rock am Wald", the "Hell Dogs" celebrate their 10th birthday as initiators of rock events on the "Outland" grounds in Dudenhofen.
The women's team - boys' seniors - of TC Rodgau - Dudenhofen becomes district tennis champions.
Farewell to Pastor Albert Rißberger, who died at the age of 75 and will be buried in the cemetery in Weiskirchen on 30 July with a large turnout from the local population. Albert Rißberger, who came from Hirschhorn am Neckar, worked as a priest in Weiskirchen from 1975 to 1990 and was very popular with the local population. During his time in office, the interior and exterior of the parish church were renovated and the ST. Peter.
Sportvereinigung Weiskirchen celebrates the 90th anniversary of its football team in a very sporty way. Among the highlights of the club's development were the 1986 championship in the district league and promotion to the national league, which the club was able to maintain until 1990. In 1994, the first team again won the district championship and was promoted to the national league.
A sad conclusion to an eventful month of July: a horse is tortured to death in a paddock in Jügesheim. Horses had previously been tortured and killed in a similarly cruel manner in the region and throughout Hesse.
And on 31 July, the time has "finally" come: the town of Rodgau is also represented on the "Internet" with information on its economic structure, worldwide at http://www.region-frankfurt.de.
The Nieder-Roden youth fire brigade team is unlucky. Only three millimetres short of the German championship at the national competition. So they finish as runners-up.
The Rodgau Adult Education Centre presents its programme for the second half of 1996 in the town hall: 183 courses starting on 9 September.
Good news for young people looking for an apprenticeship: According to the Jügesheim Labour Office, many apprenticeship positions are still open. On the other hand, 312 training places in Rodgau/Rödermark were reported to the labour office by the end of June, compared to 421 applicants to date.
The end of the city of Rodgau's attempt to use an electric vehicle in the city's courier and transport service means that the city council has announced that it will sell its "Solarmobil" to the highest bidder. The repairs and costs, especially for the regular replacement of the expensive batteries, had been too high, especially as the bankruptcy of the manufacturer made it almost impossible to obtain spare parts.
The town run organised by SV Jügesheim to celebrate the club's 80th birthday attracted almost 100 participants over a distance of 10 kilometres, with Rodgau-Lauftreff (18 participants) and Turngemeinde Jügesheim (15 participants) receiving the extra prize for the number of participants.
The cultural initiative "Maximal" in Jügesheim presents a further expanded cultural programme for the second half of 1996.
Worries at the company Seufert-Verpackungen in Hainhausen. The former Rodgau flagship company with almost 100 employees is in financial difficulties. Only 10 years ago, the modern company - specialising in plastic packaging - moved into a new factory and administration building on Hans-Sachs-Straße in Hainhausen. The former company premises in Alfred-Delp-Straße have since been demolished.
15 young people are spending two weeks' holiday in Nieder-Roden at the invitation of the Puiseaux twinning group. They are traditionally accommodated in local families.
Discussion about the "Generation Centre" planned in Nieder-Roden on Frankfurter Strasse after the municipal council rejected an initial plan.
140 visitors from Dudenhofen are preparing for the reunification celebrations in Nieuwpoort. The partnership was sealed there 20 years ago.
The first senior citizens move into the new retirement and nursing home in Dudenhofen.
The diamond couple of the month: Else and Adolf Werner, married for 60 years, both of whom have been associated with TGS Jügesheim for many years.
Ralph Möbius, stage name Rio Reiser, well-known pop star who lived in Dudenhofen in the 1960s, dies at the age of just 46.
Rodgau gave him the artistic impetus to write the first opera in rock history.
After German championships, two silver medals at the World Unicycling Championships in England: Anke and Meike Schwardtmann and Thorsten Klein from the "Smiling Faces" unicycling section of TSV Dudenhofen.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the parish church of St. Matthäus in Nieder-Roden following its new construction, the parish is keeping a promise made 50 years ago to perform Calderon's "Great World Theatre" again after its great success back in 1946, using the original manuscripts that Hannelore Weise, who was there 50 years ago as a prompter, has kept until now. The five performances, each lasting around two hours and 40 minutes, on the open-air stage by the church are a huge success with the audience. Over 4,000 visitors give a huge round of applause.
At the re-twinning celebration to mark the 20th anniversary of the town twinning between Rodgau /Dudenhofen and Nieuwpoort in Belgium, not only is the striving for international understanding reaffirmed, but particularly deserving personalities are also honoured, including the long-serving Nieuwpoort town councillor Willy Vermote as one of the "first men", Dudenhofen's then mayor Günther Hindel and his predecessor Ludwig Kratz IX (20 years mayor in Dudenhofen) and Horst Günther, one of the initiators of the partnership, as well as Ursula Klein, Phillip Heckwolf, Willy Walter, Heinz Koop, Karlheinz Berndt and the current mayors Roland Crabbe (Nieuwpoort) and Paul Scherer (Rodgau) and First Councillor Thomas Przibilla as longstanding supporters at the level of the partnership association and local council.The "Fountain of Youth", a bronze sculpture by the Düsseldorf artist Hermann König, is ceremoniously inaugurated on the last weekend in August as part of the new local fountain on Puiseauxplatz. Over DM 100,000 of the total costs of around DM 250,000 were raised through donations from the public and companies.
Outstanding at the TGM Jügesheim's jubilee honours at the Jügesheim Kerb ball were Thomas Glab and Theodort Wilhelm, who have been members of the club for 70 years.
A total of around 2100 Rodgau residents of retirement age take part in the 5 senior citizens' excursions organised by the town of Rodgau with the "Frankonia" on the Main towards Volkach.
The 120 or so employees of Seufert Verpackungen, which has run into financial difficulties, can breathe a temporary sigh of relief as the sequestor will be able to pay their July and August salaries at the beginning of September.
After a year of operation, the new large postal freight centre in Nieder-Roden opens its doors to the public at an "Open Day". Over 2000 people from Rodgau already work there. The Gretel-Egner-Haus residential and nursing home for the elderly in Dudenhofen, built privately but on municipal land, is inaugurated at the beginning of September. It will provide space and care for over 120 elderly residents.
The 15th 24-hour run organised by the "Gemeinsam mit Behinderten e.V." association at the Dudenhofen sports centre raises around DM 200,000 in donations. 44 teams take part in the running event, including wheelchair users once again. The team from TGS Jügesheim wins.
With the "Binger Weg" daycare centre in Dudenhofen's western development area (formerly Kögelgelände), the city of Rodgau is opening its 11th kindergarten. Including the seven denominational nursery schools, which are also financially supported by the town, there are now 18 nursery schools in Rodgau.
Hesse's Minister President Hans Eichel was also welcomed to the inauguration.
The Wasserturmfreunde Jügesheim association celebrates its 10th anniversary "at the foot" of the water tower.
10th birthday at the Rodgau/Rödermark Lions Club, which has been heavily involved in social and humanitarian activities during this time.
The famous Althoff Circus makes a guest appearance at the Nieder-Roden fairground.
There is no water for two days at the school at the Nieder-Roden community centre because a sewer pipe was mistakenly connected to the drinking water network during construction work.
A combined heat and power plant is put into operation at the municipal sewage treatment plant in Weiskirchen, in which the operating electricity for the entire plant is generated by utilising the digester gas produced during the treatment process. Costs around DM 1.7 million. This plant marks the successful conclusion of the expansion project carried out in the previous years with a total volume of around DM 20 million.
The successful youth book author Frederik Hetmann starts work as a school writer at the Georg Büchner School and gives an overview of the activities he has planned with and in co-operation with the school. The "School Writer" project is financed by a Rodgau foundation.
The Musikverein Weiskirchen starts the programme for its 75th anniversary and the 20th birthday of the "Rhein-Main-Bigband" with singer-songwriter Wolfgang Hering.
There are problems with mould in the still new Wilhelm Busch School in Jügesheim. The school has to be closed for a few days due to the necessary renovation work, especially as the parents organised a two-day boycott.
The 100th anniversary of the Rodgaubahn in Rodgau and beyond, honoured by the book "Vom Bummelzug zur S-Bahn - 100 Jahre Rodgaubahn" by Rodgau local historians and authors Manfred Resch, Werner Stolzenburg and Udo Krieger, passes without a "big station". But on 30 September, exactly on the same day, a steam train will run as a special train towards Breuberg and also through Rodgau.
The "Margarete-Bonifer-Stiftung" support association is involved in the town's new kindergarten on Alter Weg, donating DM 50,000 to enable the installation of a large climbing frame on the playground of the day-care centre with after-school care.
Decision in the town council meeting: a clear majority still in favour of the "Generation Centre" in Nieder-Roden, albeit modified, "slimmed down", as the press put it, compared to the draft initially rejected by the municipal council in the summer.
For the 33rd time, the Hainhausen Fruit and Horticultural Association is organising its unique exhibition in Rodgau and beyond at the end of the harvest season, this time in the very well-attended SKV hall.
At the folk song competition in Wixhausen, the Dudenhofen male choir with its 70 singers wins all first prizes - three trophies - in its class under the proven choir direction of conductor Winfried Siegler.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Rodgau railway, Winfried Sahm from Hainhausen is organising a poetic bicycle tour along the track in Rodgau under the motto "Rhymes roll to Ober-Roden".
The "Frauen helfen Frauen" association in Rodgau is delighted to receive a minibus as a donation from Aktion Sorgenkind.
The rear of the Dudenhofen youth centre, since then an unadorned concrete wall, is imaginatively and colourfully designed by young graffiti artists: "The dreariness has disappeared", the press is also pleased to report.
After 37 years of service as caretaker, Helmut Schwab bids farewell to the Georg Büchner School in Jügesheim and retires with the words: "I will go, the school will continue to exist".
City athletics championships: 49 titles for the Weiskirchen Sports Association.
Residents of Flachsberg in Dudenhofen, who are plagued by noise from the nearby B45 motorway, can breathe a sigh of relief as, after years of waiting, the preparatory work for the noise barrier has begun.
Protestant pastor Gudrun Olschewski is leaving the parish of Dudenhofen after more than 3 years of service.
A new task for Ralf Ackermann, the district fire inspector and chairman of the Hessian State Fire Brigade Association, who lives in Jügesheim and is active in many different areas: the association meeting of the German Fire Brigade Association elects him as one of the five vice presidents.
The Auerhahnschützen of TG-Weiskirchen celebrate their 25th anniversary. Albert Ricker is crowned king of marksmen in the anniversary year.
In the Dudenhofen sports hall, the "Männerchor" Dudenhofen choral society presents a magnificent operetta concert under the overall direction of Winfried Siegler, with the participation of the Dudenhofen women's choir and international vocal soloists
To mark Thanksgiving, the Jügesheim local history association is organising an exhibition in its museum in the former nurses' house, including an exhibition of old agricultural machinery from the collection of Rudi Keller from Nieder-Roden.
The autumn figures from the Rodgau job centre: 58 young people and 600 older jobseekers among Rodgau's unemployed.
In Schulstraße in Nieder-Roden, construction work begins on the reconstruction of the street as part of the renovation of the town centre in the area of the church and parish centre.
Dudenhofen is a "teacher centre" for one day with 400 teachers at the primary school day at the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Schule for the Offenbach district.
A new business park is opened in Jügesheim's industrial estate, with which the company Goldbeck-Bau has relocated its Frankfurt branch from Dreieich to Rodgau: space for 4,000 square metres of offices and showrooms and 3,500 square metres of hall space.
The Rodgau branch of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe with its rescue centre and social station in the new building in Nieder-Roden celebrates its 20th anniversary.
During excavation work in the course of renovating the church, Jakob Beck and his helpers discover the grave slab of the cent and courtier Nikolaus Neel, who died in 1747, in the Jügesheim parish church of St. Nicholas.
Planning experts and politicians discuss district development in the town hall in Jügesheim.
At the invitation of the Sonntagverein, the five "Öfner choirs" will meet and sing in Nieder-Roden the choirs of the region, led by conductor Erwin Öfner.
SKV Hainhausen celebrates its 50th anniversary and 85 years of football, after the club was founded in 1900 but was dissolved by the Nazis in 1933 and only re-established in 1946. Erwin Neuhäusel and Reinhold Stäbner are made honorary members, and Roman Horch, a member for 49 years, including 25 years on the board and 10 years as chairman, is made honorary chairman.
A great carnival fan dies, Heinz Mark, long-time president of the TGS carnival and honorary member of the association. He led the carnival events for over a quarter of a century and supported many initiatives and clubs, such as the Friends of the Water Tower, of which he also became an honorary member.
A German-Polish association is founded and initiated with a student exchange programme between the Georg Büchner School in Jügesheim and a grammar school in Ilawa/Masuria.
At the TGS Jügesheim club gala at the head of the jubilarians: Josefine Braun and Eugen Ring, both of whom have been members of the club for 65 years.
To celebrate its 110th anniversary, the Catholic church choir "Cäcilia" Weiskirchen organises a sonorous Vivaldi and Mozart concert in the parish church.
The good news at the end of the month when the draft budget for 1997 was presented: waste and sewage charges could be reduced by 10% and personnel costs cut from DM 33.7 million to DM 33.6 million. With a total volume of 135 million DM, the budget can be balanced without new borrowing and the total debt can be reduced from 50.5 to 48 million DM.
The audience's expectations were also exceeded at the guest performance by the men's choir from Moscow Technical University at the invitation of the Sängerkranz Polyhymnia Nieder-Roden choral society in the community centre.
The Wiesbaden band "The Heremit" wins the state rock festival at the Bürgerhaus Dudenhofen with eight Hessen bands and qualifies for the German final. The local band "Grand Dads Dad" did not make it to the top three.
With two races and a total of 500 participants, the winter running series 96/97 of TGM Jügesheim starts at the forest leisure centre in Jügesheim.
Gerd-Joachim Braun, a long-serving local politician from Weiskirchen, and his wife Christa, bid farewell to their retirement from Rodgau with the best wishes of Mayor Paul Scherer and local councillor Helmut Sattler.
Rodgau once on television, namely on ZDF on the subject of new shop closing times with recordings and interviews in the Rodgau Passage in Jügesheim.
The youth centre in Dudenhofen presents a colourful folklore evening as examples of Turkish, Greek and Bosnian culture.
In the parish church of St. Nicholas in Jügesheim, the Jügesheim Singers' Association organises a large concert under the overall direction of Matthias Herr to mark its 115th anniversary.
In the Rollwald district, the city completes the third phase of the sewer renovation there and hands over the new large rainwater pumping station for use. A total of around DM 12 million has been invested in the new sewerage system so far. The fourth phase, starting in spring 1997, has a contract volume of six million DM.
18 teams from the district took part in the open city championship in streetball, which was once again organised by the Dudenhofen youth centre in the sports hall. The local "White Magics" and the "Powergirls" achieved top places, but were unable to jeopardise the victory of Dietzenbach's "Stabu".
Rodgau is not an island when it comes to juvenile delinquency, and this is not just a problem for this urban centre: five young people were arrested after a street robbery in Weiskirchen. They are accused of numerous offences in and around Rodgau.
The first new road bridge over the Rodgaubahn and future two-lane S-Bahn line on the extended Udenhoutstraße in Weiskirchen has been completed, but will not be opened to traffic until the Weiskirchen roundabout is closed as part of the conversion work at the Rodgau/Hanau motorway junction.
This road extension in the west of Weiskirchen with a railway overpass is intended as a replacement measure for the roundabout connection to Udenhoutstraße in the east, which was discontinued in 1997.
From 22 November to 1 December, Rodgau's first radio station, "Radio Ear", a radio initiative of the Protestant youth of the Rodgau deanery, will go on air. It broadcasts from the studio in the Protestant community centre in Jügesheim via the Nieder-Roden Telekom antenna on VHF 91.2 MHz. Even if limited in time - the first church event radio programme in Hesse. And another milestone in the new media age in Rodgau: from mid-November, Rodgau is also represented worldwide on the Internet with information about the town, its culture and its economy.
The guesswork has come to an end: two Dudenhöfers have been chosen by the carnivalists of the TGS Jügesheim as the new prince and princess of the 96/97 campaign, namely Matthias I and Sabine II, known as Mr and Mrs Quell. Both gained their first carnival experience at TSV Dudenhofen and the former Weiberfastnacht before they were discovered by TGS.
Federal Minister Seehofer is the star guest at the CDU's traditional pig dinner in the Dudenhofen community centre and offers "health policy for dessert", as the Offenbach Post puts it.
TGM Jügesheim will more than fulfil its role as host of this year's Rodgau Gymnaestrada in the Jügesheim sports hall. It will be a great show of all the gymnastics groups from the clubs active in Rodgau. The oldest participant: Rose Wagner at the age of 76.
The exhibition organised by the Weiskirchen local history association with photos from the early post-war years attracts over 500 visitors. The town of Rodgau also feels the effects of the general economic downturn, as the supplementary budget for 1996 has to make up for millions in lost tax revenue - DM 2.5 million. The municipal council had already imposed a budget freeze on pending expenditure for 1996.
Gartenstadt School, the district's primary school, celebrates 10 years of afternoon supervision, which was initiated by the school support association and is also supported by the town of Rodgau.
The women's choir in the AGV Volkschor Dudenhofen celebrates its 50th anniversary in the community centre with 14 guest choirs. Active since the beginning - 50 years - and honoured for it: Gisela Walter, Erika Hitzel, Marie Kratz, Marianne Walter and Mariechen Giar.
87 artists from Rodgau take part in the town's annual art exhibition, which has been held in the Nieder-Roden community centre since 1976.
A support group is founded at the Friedrich-von-Bodelschwingh-Schule, a school for the practically educated in Weiskirchen, which receives a large donation of DM 4,500 from a company.
Another small gem in the centre of Nieder-Roden, the redesigned Bahngässchen with an extension of the paving over Schulstraße with a connection to Turmstraße/Kirchenplatz is inaugurated and recognised as an impetus for further urban renewal.
The Christmas month of December, with its many concerts and Christmas parties as well as Christmas markets organised by local trade associations, begins with a very well-attended Advent stroll in Jügesheim. This Christmas market is being organised around the town hall and church for the 15th time.
At the 25th SOS Bazaar in aid of the SOS Children's Villages, the crowds also flocked to the Bürgerhaus Nieder-Roden, honouring the dedicated work of the SOS Helpers' Circle on the threshold of its 30th anniversary year.
The Protestant Women's Aid organisation in Dudenhofen raises DM 8,200 at its annual Advent bazaar in the parish hall.
A memorial plaque in the new Nieder-Roden parish centre commemorates the blessed work and achievements of the Sisters of Divine Providence in Nieder-Roden during the period from 1898 to 1983. It is unveiled by the long-standing Kolping Chairman Franz Reichenbach as the highlight of the ceremony in the presence of Sisters from the Marienhospital in Darmstadt.
Last report for 1996 from the labour office in Jügesheim: 2,805 people from Rodgau/Rödermark are looking for work. This means that the unemployment rate has risen from 6.8% in the summer to 7.8% (previous year 6.2%)Hans Gruber, caretaker at the Wilhelm Busch School in Jügesheim since 1971, retires.
Manfred Schubert (SPD) from Jügesheim has been honoured for his many years of voluntary work with the State Certificate of Honour. The lawyer, who has been a local politician for 24 years, received the honour from District Administrator Josef Lach.
On the second weekend of Advent, the Christmas markets in Nieder-Roden on Puiseauxplatz and on Ludwig-Erhard-Platz in Dudenhofen shine once again, with a laser show in the evening for the first time.
Sadness at the Claus-von-Stauffenberg School in Dudenhofen and beyond at the death of its long-serving caretaker Norbert Eisner, who retired in 1992.
The Nieder-Roden community centre is once again full to capacity at the Herdt family's annual benefit concert in aid of the Frankfurt Children's Aid Foundation, which raises around DM 15,000.
In its last meeting of 1996, the city council adopts the 1997 budget with a balanced total budget of DM 134 million with the votes of the CDU and SPD. The CDU Rodgau launches a citizens' petition for the continuation of the Rodgau-Ring-Straße in the north, after its application in the town council meeting to draw up a corresponding development plan was rejected by 22:22 votes.
Tower brass players open the Christmas market in Weiskirchen, once again organised by the Weiskirchen/Hainhausen trade association in the area of the church and the old fire station.
A man from Rodgau is elected as the new mayor of the town of Amoeneburg (Marburg-Biedenkopf district), namely Oliver Haupt, a civil servant from Rodgau town council, who will take office in mid-1997.
The regional council has given the go-ahead for the project to create a sports centre in the Jügesheim West area "Im Weichsee", with a possible three pitches.
The Dudenhofen CDU celebrates the 25th anniversary of its local organisation, which has been led by Hans-Jürgen Lange since the beginning. The Weiskirchen Singers' Association honours its jubilarians at its Christmas party, including Erhard Brückner for 50 years of active singing and Josef Sahm for 60 years of active singing.
The Musikverein Nieder-Roden traditionally closes the series of major concerts by Rodgau orchestras and choirs with its big concert on Christmas Day in the sold-out community centre.
At the turn of the year, the press refers to a historic event that took place 20 years ago: The establishment of the then large municipality and later town of Rodgau on 1 January 1977 as a result of the major territorial and administrative reform in Hesse.
Weiskirchen, Hainhausen, Jügesheim, Dudenhofen and Nieder-Roden became Rodgau, which at the time had a combined population of just over 30,000. Despite many reservations at the time, Mayor Paul Scherer recognises the result as positive and "we can all be a little proud of the development of our young town", which now has a population of around 43,000.
