Stadtroda (; Roda until 1925) is a town of 6,653 people (2017), located in Thuringia, Germany. Stadtroda lies on the river Roda, a tributary of the Saale. The former municipalities Bollberg and Quirla were merged into Stadtroda in January 2019.
History According to the Faust legend, Johann Georg Faust was born in Roda in 1480, though there is no historical evidence for this. A plan to sell the house said to have been his birthplace to Chicago for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fell through after the town requested $100,000; the building was subsequently demolished. Press reports in 1897 stated that it had been condemned by the town and sold at auction to a local junk dealer for $25.
Within the German Empire (1871–1918), Roda was part of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg.
Mayors
Mayors since 1886Utz Möbius: Chronik der Stadt Stadtroda. Geiger, Horb am Neckar 2003, . 1886–1892: Gottfried Knoch 1892–1898: Friedrich Goedel 1898–1906: Hermann Loeser 1906–1908: Wilhelm Dieterici 1908–1928: Rudolf Goedecke 1928–1934: Ernst Paul Schönherr 1935–1938: Franz Degen 1938–1941: Gerhard Wunderling 1941–1942: Max Oswald (acting) 1942–1945: ? Horn 1945: Max Oswald (acting) 1945–1946: Wilhelm Meier 1946–1950: Otto Seifarth 1950–1953: Ernst Klinger 1953–1954: Theo Wurlitzer 1954–1955: Rudolf Pabst (acting) 1955: Georg Vater 1955–1958: Walter Hilbert 1959–1961: Kurt Krüger 1961–1965: Günter Hoppe 1965–1972: Kurt Neugebauer 1972: Volkmar Ernst 1972–1984: Heinz Rosenkranz 1984–1986: Kurt Halbauer 1986–1990: Rainer Haufe 1990–1992: Karl-Heinz Herrmann 1992: Harald Reuter (acting) 1992–2012: Harald Kramer (CDU) since 2012: Klaus Hempel (Free voters)
Notable people
Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1756–1808), Princess of Sachsen-Gotha, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, wife of the regent in the same place Paul Leopold Friedrich (1864–1916), surgeon Joachim Erwin (1949–2008), jurist and CDU politician, mayor of Düsseldorf 1999–2008
References