Once the seat of the Counts of Hanau, Hanau lost much of its architectural heritage inWorld War II, such as itsCity Palace. A British air raid in 1945 created a firestorm, killing a sixth of the remaining population and destroying 98% of the old city and 80% of the city overall. The outer parts of the city have old timbered towns likeHanau-Steinheim [de] and castles likeSchloss Philippsruhe [de].
In 1963, Hanau hosted the thirdHessentag state festival. Until 2005, Hanau was the administrative centre of theMain-Kinzig-Kreis. On 19 February 2020, a gunmanattacked two bars and a kiosk in Hanau, murdering nine people with roots outside Germany, before shooting his mother and himself.
The historic core of Hanau is within a semicircle of the riverKinzig that flows into the riverMain just west of the city. Today, after a substantial expansion during the 19th and 20th centuries, it also extends to the river Main. After a restructuring of municipal borders withinHesse in the 1970s, a couple of nearby villages and towns were incorporated. After that change, Hanau for the first time also extended to the south bank of the Main.
Relic of the first (medieval) town-fortificationHanau in around 1550. Centre: medieval town;Schloss = castle; A+B: gates within the medieval town wall; C+D: gates of the 16th century fortification
Hanau was first mentioned as a settlement in 1143. It was the site of a castle that used the river Kinzig as a defense. The castle belonged to a noble family that began calling themselves "of Hanau" in the 13th century. A village developed around the castle and it became a town in 1303. As a result of this history, Hanau's main church stood outside its walls in the village of Kinzdorf. The villagers moved into Hanau and Kinzdorf became an abandoned village, leaving only the church. In the 15th century the status of the Hanauparish church was transferred to the church ofMary Magdalene within the town walls.
Shortly after the first town walls were built at the beginning of the 14th century, the town outgrew this limit. Outside the wall, along the road toFrankfurt am Main, a settlement developed (theVorstadt) that was properly included in the fortifications of Hanau only when Hanau received completely newRenaissance-style fortifications during the first half of the 16th century. These fortifications enclosed three elements: the medieval castle, the town of Hanau, and theVorstadt.
New town in progress, Hanau 1597City and fortress of Hanau 1684
In 1597 CountPhilipp Ludwig II attracted French Protestant (Huguenots) refugees, who had been admitted to Frankfurt but had only very limited accommodation, to found their own settlement south of Hanau.[4] This happened under the direction of the guardian of the Hanau count, Johann VI von Nassau-Dillenburg, who hoped for significant economic and cultural advances from the settlement of the 'Réfugiés' from south-west France. In return for the assurance of free exercise of their religion, the refugees undertook to become economically active in Hanau. Out of this tradition,goldsmiths are still trained in Hanau. Hanau also was the site of the first workshop to producefaïence (tin-glazed pottery) withinGermany. These new citizens were granted privileges and formed their own community, church and administration for the "new town of Hanau" (Neustadt Hanau) wholly separate from the existing community. A stark contrast to the Catholic Church, but also to the Lutheran Church of the time, was the participation of laypeople in church-governing functions, as well as the design of the church, especially the decalogues (boards displaying theTen Commandments). Each congregation was led by aConsistoire, elected by congregation members for life, which is roughly comparable to today's church council. The descendants of the French Reformed religious refugees have assimilated in Hanau over time.
In contrast to the Huguenots, Walloon and Dutch Calvinist refugees came from an area of what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, and the French Département Nord at the time of Spanish rule, the Spanish Netherlands. With the arrival of the Huguenots, Walloons and Dutch, Hanau's rise to an important business location began. Until 1821, the new town had its own independent community, independent of the old town. The Reformed Walloon-Dutch community still exists today.
Philipp Ludwig II also allowed Jews to settle in Hanau. From 1604 there was a Jewish community again.
It took more than 200 years to amalgamate both. The new town, larger than the old one, was protected by a then very modern fortification inBaroque style, which proved a big asset only a few years later in theThirty Years' War. The town survived a siege in 1637 with only minor damage.
During theThirty Years' War Hanau was taken by the Swedes in 1631.[4] In 1636 it was besieged by imperial troops but was relieved on the 13 June byWilliam V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, on account of which the inhabitants commemorate that day.[4]
Johann Reinhard III of Hanau-Lichtenberg, the last of the Counts of Hanau, died in 1736. Those parts of his county belonging to the County of Hanau-Münzenberg, which included Hanau, were inherited by theLandgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Due to dynastic troubles within his family, the County ofHesse-Hanau was created a separate state from the Landgraviate until 1786. So Hanau remained the capital for another 50 years. Even after that it became the second-most important town in Hesse-Kassel, afterKassel.
During theNapoleonic Wars,Napoleon I ordered the fortifications of Hanau destroyed. This created a chance for both parts of the town to expand across their former limits. In 1813, theBattle of Hanau took place near the city between French troops and Austro-Bavarian forces; the former won. During the 1820s the administrations of both towns of Hanau merged. The first commonmayor, who becamelord mayor (Oberbürgermeister), wasBernhard Eberhard [de]. He became prime minister and minister of the interior of theElectorate of Hesse after theRevolution of 1848.
With its preindustrial workshops, Hanau became a nucleus of a heavyindustrialisation during the 19th century from within the city (e.g.,Heraeus) as well as from outside (e.g.,Degussa andDunlop). This was heavily supported by its development as an important railway interchange of six railway lines, most of them main lines:
1848 Hanau was a centre of the German democratic movement and contributed significantly both in 1830 and in theRevolution of 1848. As part of this movement the German Gymnastic League (Deutscher Turnerbund) was founded here in 1848. Like all ofHesse-Kassel, Hanau was annexed toPrussia in 1866 after itsprince-elector took the Austrian side in theAustro-Prussian War. It remained part of Prussia until 1945.
In the late 19th century Hanau became a major garrison town. Due to its interchange of railway lines a large detachment of military railway-engineers as well as other military units were stationed here.
As a free-trade city, Hanau developed a silver manufacturing industry using fantasy hallmarks. Hanau silver was produced from the mid-19th to the early 20th century.[5]
DuringWorld War II, Hanau's Jewish population was persecuted. The last Jews were deported in May 1942.
Hanau's inner city was mostlydestroyed by British airstrikes in March 1945, a few days before it was taken by the U.S. Army. Around 87% of the town was destroyed.[6]: 35 Of the city's 15,000 inhabitants at the time, 2,500 died in the attack.
Hanau housed one of the largest garrisons of theU.S. Army in Europe. It was an important strategic location in the so-calledFulda Gap. The military community had a population of 45,000 military members, U.S. civilians and family members at its peak during theCold War. The extensive U.S. facilities includedHanau Army Airfield, also known asFliegerhorst Langendiebach. The garrison closed in 2018. Most of the former military areas have been converted to civil use.
In 2010, Hanau started a huge building project to completely redesign the inner city.[citation needed] These are the town's largest construction projects since the reconstruction after World War II.[citation needed]
On 19 February 2020, eleven people—including the perpetrator—were killed in aspree shooting at twoshisha bars and a flat in the town.[7] The perpetrator, known as Tobias Rathjen, opened fire at Midnight Bar and Arena Bar in Hanau centre and Kesselstadt. He then drove home, where he killed his mother and himself.
In September 2021, Hanau reached 100,000 inhabitants.[8] Starting 1 January 2026, Hanau will regain itskreisfreie Stadt (district-free city) status. It will secede from Main-Kinzig-Kreis after losing the privilege in 1974 after the Hessian district reformation.[9]
With 101,364 residents, Hanau is the sixth-most populous town inHesse. Having lost its status as administrative centre of theMain-Kinzig-Kreis (Main-Kinzig district) toGelnhausen in 2005, proposals have been made that Hanau should form its own administrative district by 1 January 2026.[10]
More than 20% of the inhabitants are foreign nationals, mostly Turks.
The earliest documentary evidence of Jews in Hanau is from 1313. In the 17th and 18th centuries Hanau developed into an important center of Hebrew printing. The community numbered 540 in 1805, 80 families in 1830, 447 persons in 1871, and 657 at the turn of the century. In 1925 there were 568 Jews in Hanau.[11] Hanau Jews suffered persecution underNazism, and its synagogue was set ablaze during theKristallnacht pogrom. The community, which had numbered 477 individuals in 1933, had dwindled by 1939 to just 82. On 30 May 1942, German soldiers deported 75 Jews from Hanau to the ghetto atTheresienstadt,[12] from which many were sent onward toAuschwitz. Only individuals married to non-Jews, or having one non-Jewish parent, remained, most of whom were themselves deported to Theresienstadt in February 1945 and survived theHolocaust.
Hanau is a transportation hub, with itsmain station serving the following lines:
Frankfurt-Hanau Railway (RE / RB 55),
Main-Spessart-Bahn (from Hanau to Aschaffenburg Hauptbahnhof) (RE / RB 55),
Kinzig Valley Railway to Fulda (RE / RB 50),
Frankfurt-Bebraer railway (westbound) to Offenbach Hauptbahnhof, Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof as well as the largely parallel south metropolitan S-Bahn,
Friedberg-Hanau railway (RB 33) and
Odenwaldbahn (RE / RB 64) towards Babenhausen, Groß-Umstadt-Wiebelsbach, Erbach and Eberbach.
Besides the main station, the town is also served byHanau West and Hanau-Wilhelmsbad on the Frankfurt-Hanau Railway, Großauheim on the Main-Spessart-Bahn, Wolfgang an der Kinzigtalbahn, the S-Bahn station at Steinheim (Main) on the South-Main S-Bahn, Hanau Nord at the Hanau-Friedberger Bahn, and Hanau-Klein Auheim on the Odenwaldbahn.
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![Amphitheater Hanau [de]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAmphi_Zelt.jpg)
