A World War II bomb weighing 250 kilograms was detonated in the Darmstadt city forest on Tuesday evening.
The police announced this via Twitter.
The explosive ordnance disposal service came across the dud on Tuesday morning during exploratory measures.
Before the controlled demolition, a safety radius of 1000 meters around the site was set up.
Between 7000 and 7500 people had to be brought to safety, it was said.
Contact points have been set up for the citizens affected by the evacuation: in the youth center on Lake Brentano and in front of the sports hall on Alsfelder Straße.
Mayor Jochen Partsch (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) said he was relieved "that the whole thing went so well - also because of the acute risk of forest fires and the risk of flying sparks."
Airspace over the area had to be closed
Police asked motorists to avoid the area.
According to the transport company HEAG mobilo, bus traffic also had to be restricted.
Some stops around the safety radius were eliminated without replacement.
The blast went according to plan.
So it was deliberately put on the evening.
The closure of the airspace over the area had become necessary for security reasons.