On the way to the big city

A significant period of population influx was in 1953, when the "Aktion Notunterkunft Ost" ("Action Emergency Accommodation East") had already begun on March 24 with the increased arrival of refugees from the GDR.

On August 18, 1954, Offenbach already had 100,000 inhabitants and had thus, as the "Offenbach Post" proudly reported, become the 48th German city to join the ranks of major cities. The main focus of urban planning after the end of the Second World War was therefore the creation of sufficient living space.

It was not until the 1950s that an urban planning strategy was developed that included the centralization of administrative buildings. However, it would take until 1971 before the construction of a modern administrative center in the city center was completed: After the foundation stone was laid in 1968, the new town hall on Berliner Strasse was formally inaugurated on July 10, 1971.

The idea of a corresponding "cloverleaf" - implemented by the "Offenbach building lion" Heinz Reese - envisaged four "Cs" (i.e. centers) for Offenbach. In addition to the high-rise town hall building, these were commercial buildings and the "Berlin Center", which housed the Offenbach district administration from 1977 to 2002. With this ensemble of several high-rise buildings, Offenbach floated on a wave of the zeitgeist that sought to realize the maximum of those concrete buildings.

In the meantime, Offenbach's cityscape has continued to change, whereby many developments must be seen in the context of changing lifestyles and needs. An oversupply of "adventure pools" in the Rhine-Main region was the decisive factor in the closure of first the Stadtbad in Herrnstraße and then the Parkbad in 1992.

On the other hand, with the rock musical "Tommy", which had its Offenbach premiere in the former Theater an der Goethestraße in 1995, the city had an outstanding cultural event to offer for many years.

In the same year, new mobility options were opened up with the city center-oriented S-Bahn line, in addition to the railroad line. Innovations in the transport infrastructure, changes in the economic situation and, above all, the transformation of "Germany as a business location" continue to shape the face of the city.

Although the post-war period was characterized by great hopes for economic growth, which were initially fulfilled, Offenbach's economic image changed permanently in the 1950s and 1960s. Although a migration of the leather goods industry to the surrounding area had already begun after the First World War, Offenbach's status as a "leather goods town" was initially maintained through specialization.

After the Second World War, however, the industry that had so characterized the city began to decline. Cheap imports, management errors and, above all, structural crises were responsible for the decline of the leather and engineering industries. According to the "Address Book of Leather Goods Manufacturers", there were still 414 companies in the leather processing industry in Offenbach in 1947, but by 1981 there were only 56.

The death of factories continued and numerous traditional companies filed for bankruptcy over the years. In the recent past, the death of traditional manufacturing companies has been countered by an upswing in service companies. A growing number of office buildings also document this trend of recent economic development in Offenbach.

The development of the Kaiserlei area or the construction of the City Tower in 2003 took place against this background. A current urban development challenge of a special kind is the redevelopment of the port area, which has also gradually lost its economic significance over the years. A completely new district with offices, apartments, shops and leisure facilities is currently being built on the site.