The "Landeszentrale für Heimatdienst", founded on 4 May 1954 and based at Rheinbahnstraße 2 in Wiesbaden, issued its own publications and organized discussion groups, lectures, seminars and study trips. One focus was on dealing with the division of Germany. In 1963, it was renamed the Hessian State Center for Political Education.

Influenced by the Auschwitz trials, new topics emerged in the 1970s, such as the history and development of Israel and the Eastern European states. The increasing importance of Europe, the changes within the German media landscape, the educational and journalistic examination of the Nazi reign of terror and the promotion of Hessian memorial sites are further topics.

In the 1990s, cooperation between the state centers for political education at state level and between the states and the federal government was intensified. In the Munich Manifesto adopted in 1997, the individual authorities agreed to redefine the educational mandate and to pursue it in a pluralistic, non-partisan and independent manner in order to promote the political participation of citizens.

In 2004, the Hessian State Center for Political Education moved into new premises in the former Hotel Rose.