Former Darmstadt mayor Horst Knechtel has died

Knechtel was “always a pillar of our municipal democracy and urban society” in all his functions, as mayor of Darmstadt, as a member of the magistrate and head of the city council, as a principal and administrative clerk. “With his enthusiasm for education and politics, with his foresight and willingness to compromise, he shaped Darmstadt’s local politics for years away from party lines, filled them with life and changed so permanent urban landscape of Darmstadt.