1911: Waldheim was a reform idea
There are still some Native American families in Waldheim. They are a minority in the district and in the former "Waldheim Colonists' Association", which has long been known as the "Waldheim Residents' Association". The pioneers were absorbed into a more colorful community. But they were honored when the association celebrated its anniversary in the fire station on Mühlheimer Straße. The centenary of both this Offenbach district and its association was to be celebrated.
Both stories begin with the food merchant Jakob Latscha from Frankfurt, who was associated with the Bund Deutscher Bodenreformer. From 1904 to 1912, the Buchschlag villa colony in the west of the Offenbach district was his first attempt to lead people out of the confines of the big city to a life in air and greenery. When he realized that the housing needs of a broad class could not be solved with villa projects, he turned his attention to the border area of the Rumpenheim and Mühlheim communities.
Latscha founded a "Marioth Society" named after his son-in-law, which acquired the land on which Waldheim stands today, as well as the areas of the New Cemetery and the "Marioth Estate", which were later sold to the city of Offenbach and have since given way to the new residential area "An den Eichen".
Jochen Wege was the name of the "colonist" who moved into the first house on the property at Bischofsheimer Weg 18 in September 1911. The next one was completed three days later at Am Klingenrain 10. It was an extremely hot summer in 1911 when the settlers built with mutual help. The wells dried up. Work came to a standstill until Jakob Latscha had the necessary water brought in by wagon. When the First World War paralyzed everything in 1914, there were 25 houses on Bischofsheimer Weg and Klingenrain.
A "Gemeinnützige Kleinwohnungsbaugesellschaft für Offenbach und Umgebung" (non-profit small housing association for Offenbach and the surrounding area) now took on the project. However, the half-hour walk from the colony to Offenbach deterred many people from settling there. It was not until after the Second World War that refugees, displaced persons and people who had been bombed out began to build again. The Friedrich Ebert School was opened in 1952. Two churches were built in 1955 and 1958.
The "Rumpenheim sub-settlement" only became part of Offenbach in 1942 when its mother was incorporated. Since then, and even more so since 1911, a lot has changed there. The forest that once actually surrounded Waldheim no longer exists. All that remains of the Latscha idea of self-sufficiency from one's own garden are fruit trees. The goats, chickens and rabbits of the first colonists have been eaten and forgotten. The square concerts of the "Eintracht" music association in spring and fall are a thing of the past. The feeling of togetherness has also eased. But there is still a sense of neighborly closeness and a willingness to help.
"People are more open-minded here than in Rumpenheim, for example," says the free-religious pastor Heinrich Keipp, who serves as the association's secretary. Perhaps this is one reason why residents of the neighboring Mühlheim settlement "Rote Warte" also belong to the association. What else makes living in Waldheim so pleasant? "The short distances to the countryside, with quick transport links to the city. You're outside, but not isolated," says Keipp. This is probably exactly what the life reformer Latscha meant a hundred years ago. Lothar R. Braun
