Oberursel overcame WW II. with only minor destructions. This was due to the location of the „Durchgangslager Luftwaffe“ in the northern part of town, which was located on the territory of the former „Reichssiedlungslehrhofs“ (later called „Camp King“). Also called “DuLag Luft”, it formed the transit camp of officers from the Allied Forces who had been shot down over the “Westfront“. German interrogators were questioning the Allied soldiers for important information concerning the war.
Although it was known to the British and American troops that there was war supporting industry (motor factory) close-by, they considered it to be too dangerous to bomb these places, for the internment camps could have been hit.
On March 30th 1945 the war was finally over for Oberursel. While the town surrendered without a fight, American troops moved into Oberursel via „Königsteiner Chaussee“. It is due to mayor Kappus and the Catholic priest Josef Hartmann that the town refused the official order to resist the US Army.
In the years to follow „DuLag Luft“ became an Air Force Base of the US American Forces. From 1946 on, it was renamed „Camp King“ after Colonel King, who had been killed during the invasion of France in 1944. In Camp King, high ranking Nazi officials were questioned by American Special Forces before they were handed over to the International War Tribunal in Nürnberg.
Later Camp King was reconstructed into a residential area by the municipal subsidiary SEWO www.sewo.de after the US troops had left Oberursel in 1993; it is now part of Oberursel.
As the tension eased between Germany and France, in 1964 Epinay-sur-Seine (a suburb of Paris) became the first sister city - and more were to come: Ursem/ Wester-Koggenland (Netherlands, 1971 with Stierstadt), Rushmoor (Great Britain, 1989) and Lomonossow (Russia, 2004).
After Bommersheim became part of Oberursel in 1929, on April 1st, 1972 the formerly independent districts of Oberstedten, Stierstadt and Weißkirchen followed on the basis of the great Hessian regional reform.
While the town now counted 37.000 residents, it had to improve its municipal infrastructure; this happened by
1972 Begin of the restoration of the old town (almost finished by 1992)
1976 Reconstruction of the city hall and merging of the administration in one building
1977 Completion of the new fire brigade location for the voluntary fire department (FFW) of Oberursel-Mitte
1978 Opening of the lower pedestrian zone („Bärenkreuzung“ to Kumeliusstr.)
1984 Opening of the city hall Oberursel
1985 Opening of the upper pedestrian zone (up to „Unteren Hainstr.)
In 1991 the “1200 Year Anniversary” of the first official record had been celebrated with plenty of festivities. In 1994 it was followed by the anniversary of “550 years of municipal law” -the festivities were rather large since the 500 year celebration had not taken place in 1944 due to WW II.
Today, in 2004 Oberursel (Taunus) presents itself as a lovely town worth living in between the banking metropolis of Frankfurt and the nature park Hochtaunus: The Gate to the Taunus Mountains!
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Camp King was reconstructed into a residential area by the municipal subsidiary SEWO after US troops had left Oberursel in 1993.
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The Mayors of Oberursel (Taunus) - after WW II.
1946-1960
Heinrich Kappus (CDU)
1960-1972
Heinrich Beil (CDU)
1972-1978
Karlheinz Pfaff (SPD)
1978-1990
Rudolf Harders (CDU)
1990-1996
Thomas Schadow (CDU)
1996-2003
Gerd Krämer (CDU)
since 2003
Hans-Georg Brum (SPD)
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