If you really want to understand Hesse, then you have to be acquainted with this state’s special ethnic make-up. The people of Hesse are surrounded by masses of Germans. They have no direct access to the sea, the Alps or foreign countries, so they don’t have any contact with freedom,” wrote political cabaret artist Matthias Beltz. “If you want to visit Hesse, you first have to survive the hell of Germany’s autobahn, rail and airport culture. Very few visitors who come here actually want to stay. The situation was just the same during the ancient migration of peoples. What more can I add to that!”

It’s a young state, round about a hundred years old. I’ve never heard anyone saying: I’m Hessian. I’m a Frankfurter, I’m a native of Kassel, Romrod or the Odenwald forest, yes, people do say that. All of them come from Hesse, and they have thousands of different identities as well. They all wanted and were able to maintain these identities. Hesse unites them in a gentle embrace. It overburdens no one with the weight of history or urban vanities. It’s simply there. It’s fairly successful among the federal states, but it has no cravings for status or secret desires to lead. Hesse is neither glamorous nor tragic. As the much-missed Beltz quite rightly observed, Hesse has no coastline or sea, but maybe it has a yearning for them.