Marietta (USA)

The connection between Linz and Marietta, a town near Atlanta in the US state of Georgia, was created by a real "Linz girl". Christine Holmes, née Lück, sister of the long-time local mayor Theo Lück, had married there. From a visit to her hometown on the Rhine in 1964, she brought back a greeting address from the mayor of Linz, Leo Thönnissen, to his counterpart in Marietta. People there were so enthusiastic about this gesture that an official delegation travelled to Linz the following year to seal the partnership between the two cities. On 16 June 1965, the deed was signed in Linz City Hall.

Twenty years after the end of the Second World War, this connection was seen as an expression of friendship between nations and the preservation of world peace. Against this background, the city council also sent a telegram to the honorary citizen of Marietta, General (ret.) Lucius D. Clay, former military governor of Marietta, who was still very well known among the German population at the time. Clay, former military governor of the American occupation zone in Germany, in which the everlasting bond of friendship was invoked. Since then, the partnership has been filled with life through mutual visits by official delegations, but also by private individuals, and through regular student exchanges.