Send Gift Baskets to Gießen / Giessen, Germany

In 1152, Count Wilhelm von Gleiberg built a moated castle at Giessen, though the community in the northeast and the suburb called Wieseck dates back to 775. In 1567, the town became part of Hesse-Marburg, and in 1604 it passed to Hesse-Darmstadt. Founded in 1607, Giessen University is the oldest university in Germany. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, the Grand Duchy of Hesse included Giessen, and it became part of the People’s State of Hesse after the First World War.

Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Licher Straße served as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp during the Second World War. In 1944, heavy bombing destroyed about 75 percent of Giessen, including most of its historic buildings. After the war, it became part of the modern state of Hesse.

The city of Giessen and the neighboring city of Wetzlar were merged in 1977 to form the new city of Lahn. It was reversed in 1979, however, and the administration was reorganized. The region was a part of Darmstadt (Regierungsbezirk) between 1945 and 1981 when the Giessen (area) was formed.

After the Second World War, Giessen was home to a U.S. military base. Approximately 10,000 American soldiers and their families lived in the U.S. Army Garrison of Gießen. In addition to the central U.S. army depot for all of Europe, Gießen also housed a particular ammunition depot. The base was formerly a German Army Air Field, as evidenced by some buildings, including the housing area. It is a converted German Army Officers’ Club that serves as a theatre known as the Keller Theatre. The Giessen Depot and all other U.S. facilities in the greater Giessen area were returned to German authorities on 28 September 2007. After the large influx of refugees in 2016, former U.S. Army buildings were used to house them.