Following the example of the Swiss Henry (Henri) Dunant, who, after the Battle of Solferino on June 24, 1859, called for help for victims in times of war, regardless of which party to the conflict they belonged to, the first associations also emerged on German soil, from which the German Red Cross developed.

In Wiesbaden, a relief association of volunteers was founded in 1866 and three years later a branch of the Vaterländischer Frauenverein (Patriotic Women's Association), which was to care for the wounded in times of war and the sick in times of peace. In January 1921, the women's association and other aid associations merged to form the German Red Cross. After the Second World War, three regional associations were established in the newly founded state of Greater Hesse, based in Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Kassel; a district office of the DRK was established in Frankfurt.

The most important tasks in the immediate post-war period were the care of German prisoners of war and refugees, the establishment of a tracing service for missing German soldiers and civilians and the reunification of families torn apart by the events of the war. The DRK Landesverband Hessen e.V., based in Bad Nauheim, was founded on December 6, 1946 to coordinate these activities. A move to Wiesbaden, which had been called for since 1946, took place in 1984; the head office is located in the "Henry-Dunant-Haus" at Abraham-Lincoln-Straße 7.

The regional association, which is divided into 39 district associations and 461 local associations, is headed by a five-member executive committee and managed by a regional managing director.