Huguenot and Waldensian Trail
The European cultural hiking trail Huguenot and Waldensian Trail follows the historic escape route of the Huguenots and Waldensians for over 1,800 kilometers - 800 kilometers of which are in Germany. Coming from France and Italy, the trail leads through Switzerland to Baden-Württemberg and on to Hesse as far as Bad Karlshafen. Around 16 kilometers of the Huguenot and Waldensian Trail lead through Offenbach.
Offenbach is colorful, diverse and full of ideas. People from near and far bring these ideas with them. This has a long tradition in Offenbach. Offenbach also owes the emergence of manufactories and its development into an industrial city to the influx of Huguenot religious refugees in the 17th and early 18th centuries. They were accomplished merchants and skilled craftsmen. Granted special privileges by the Isenburg sovereign Count Johann Philipp, the immigrants developed their trade and brought about an economic miracle in Offenbach.
A look into history
Since around the middle of the 16th century, the term Huguenot has been used to describe those French Protestants whose beliefs were strongly influenced by the teachings of the reformer John Calvin. From the 15th century onwards, these dissenters were persecuted in France. Their situation improved with the Edict of Nantes in 1598, in which King Henry IV guaranteed them religious tolerance. However, the absolutist King Louis XIV revoked this regulation with the Edict of Fontainebleau on October 18, 1685.
The Huguenots were deprived of all religious and civil rights. Around 250,000 Protestants therefore left France and fled to other Protestant countries. Many French Waldensians also fled north from the Chisone Valley in the Alps. This pre-Reformation religious group, which originated in the 12th century, embraced the Reformation in the 16th century and later joined the German Lutheran denomination.
Still visible today
The influence of the Huguenot immigrants is still visible in Offenbach today. A number of buildings in the city tell their story. They are part of the transnational Huguenot and Waldensian Cultural Trail. Follow the signposted route and you will learn lots of interesting facts about our city.
In the city center, seven information boards mark places worth seeing that represent the influence of Huguenot immigrants on Offenbach's city history: the French Reformed Church and the associated vicarage in Herrnstraße, the Büsingpalais, a memorial stone for the former André printing works in Domstraße, the current headquarters of the André music store at Frankfurter Straße 28, the former André textile factory in Bieberer Straße and Isenburger Schloss.
The long-distance Huguenot and Waldensian Trail aims to preserve awareness of the historical cultural heritage of the Huguenots and Waldensians and link it to current issues such as exile, migration and integration.
