Darmstadt was the first city in Germany to force Jewish shops to close in early 1933, shortly after the Nazis took power in Germany (during this first incident, shops were only closed for a day, for "endanger[ing] communal order and tranquility") In 1942, over 3,000 Jews from Darmstadt were first forced into a collection camp located in the Liebigschule, and then later deported to concentration camps where most eventually died.
Some prominent members of the German resistance against the Nazis were citizens of Darmstadt (e.g. Wilhelm Leuschner and Theodor Haubach, both executed for their opposition to the regime).
Darmstadt's old city centre was largely destroyed in a British bombing raid on Darmstadt on 11 September 1944 (Darmstadt had first been raided on 30 July 1940, one of 35 attacks to come). This attack on Darmstadt was an early use of the firestorm technique � subsequently used on the city of Dresden in February 1945 � where a number of incendiary bombs are dropped around the city before explosive blast bombs are dropped to begin a self-sustaining combustion process where the winds generated by the fire are sufficient to ensure it continues to burn. Darmstadt was selected as the secondary target for the raid, but promoted to primary target after cloud over the primary would have obscured reconnaissance view of the after-effects. During this worst attack an estimated 11,000�12,500 inhabitants died, and 66,000�70,000 were rendered homeless. Over three quarters of Darmstadt's inner city area was destroyed in the raid, leading to a relatively architecturally plain style of post-war rebuilding, although a number of older buildings were rebuilt in their original styles.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Darmstadt became home to many technology companies and research institutes, and has been promoting itself as a "city of science" since 1997. It is well known as a high-tech centre in the vicinity of Frankfurt Airport, with
