Gettenbach is a forest road village without a through road, which lies between Gelnhausen and Büdingen. Many know the hotel restaurant "Gut Hühnerhof" in the neighborhood and the golf course.
The paths "Köhlerkopf" and "Kohlplatte" branch off from Eichelskopfstraße, which runs through the entire village. In the 17th century there was an iron hammer in Gettenbach that manufactured cannonballs and cannon barrels for the Thirty Years' War and the Palatinate War of Succession. Large amounts of charcoal were needed to harden and forge the brittle pig iron, as well as split logs for the smelting furnaces.
In 1692, Meyer zur Weißen Rose, a highly talented engineer of Jewish faith, took over the Eisenhammer, which had previously been personally managed by the princely house, on lease and successfully developed it further.
From 1695, the Wenzel & Sons glassmaking dynasty based in Breitenborn set up a branch in Gettenbach, where large quantities of drinking glasses were manufactured that were to be sold as far away as Holland.
Only a few years later, an additional paper mill was set up, in which high-quality writing paper was produced, which was also used by Goethe and exported to New York.
Eisenhammer, Glashütte and Papiermühle all had the same problem. They needed dealers who could sell far into the country and, if possible, also abroad. Citizens of the Jewish faith assumed this role competently and successfully, as they had extensive networks at their disposal.
From 1692 more and more Jewish families settled in Gettenbach. Around 1710 the Jewish cemetery and a synagogue were built. With the Gettenbach alliance of production and trade, it was possible to keep the local economic boom going for almost 100 years. In 1786, the Jewish citizens already made up two thirds of the entire population.
But then the Gettenbach prosperity structure collapsed. In 1790 the glass factory closed. Wood-fired businesses were no longer competitive. The entire Gettenbach industrial area was deserted.
In their distress, many Jewish families decided to emigrate to the up-and-coming Prussia or to America. In the period between 1790 and 1890 the population of Gettenbach was halved.
After a brief upswing in the Prussian era, when Jewish citizens were granted new freedoms and were able to exercise their civil rights, the Jewish era finally came to an end in the era of the brown mob. In 1941 the last Jewish citizens had to leave Gettenbach.
The Gettenbach Castle was built on the former industrial site, which is now a care facility for people in need of mental care.