When midnight struck on December 31, 1974, all German young people who were already 18 but not yet 21 suddenly became adults. A corresponding law was passed by the Bundestag in Bonn in March 1974. The municipal reorganization of the Ruhr area also came into force on January 1, 1975, including Wattenscheid becoming part of Bochum. As in many parts of (West) Germany, there was a lot of anger surrounding these regional reforms that were common at the time. In 1975 the merger of Gladbeck, Bottrop and Kirchhellen was abolished. Hesse remembers: In 1979, the city of Lahn (Wetzlar, Gießen and 14 other places), which was created on a desk, failed completely.
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