[edit]
Relic of the first (medieval) town-fortification
Hanau in around 1550. Centre: medieval town; Schloss = castle; A+B: gates within the medieval town wall; C+D: gates of the 16th century fortification
Old town[edit]
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 Hanau parish church was transferred to the church of Mary 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 to Frankfurt am Main, a settlement developed (the Vorstadt) that was properly included in the fortifications of Hanau only when Hanau received completely new Renaissance-style fortifications during the first half of the 16th century. These fortifications enclosed three elements: the medieval castle, the town of Hanau, and the Vorstadt.
New town[edit]
Huguenots[edit]
New town in progress, Hanau 1597
City and fortress of Hanau 1684
In 1597 Count Philipp 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. 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 produce faïence (tin-glazed pottery) within Germany. 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 the Ten Commandments). Each congregation was led by a Consistoire, 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.
Walloon-Dutch refugees and Jews[edit]
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 in Baroque style, which proved a big asset only a few years later in the Thirty Years' War. The town survived a siege in 1637 with only minor damage.
The new citizens formed the major economic and political power within the County of Hanau and in 1642 played a leading role in the succession of Count Fredrik Casimir of Hanau Lichtenberg into the County of Hanau-Münzenberg, of which Hanau was the capital.
17th century[edit]
During the Thirty Years' War Hanau was taken by the Swedes in 1631. In 1636 it was besieged by imperial troops but was relieved on the 13 June by William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, on account of which the inhabitants commemorate that day.
18th century[edit]
Map of Hanau from 1728
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 the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Due to dynastic troubles within his family, the County of Hesse-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, after Kassel.
19th century[edit]
The Battle of Hanau (1813) by Horace Vernet – it was won by Napoleon
During the Napoleonic 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, the Battle 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 common mayor, who became lord mayor (Oberbürgermeister), was Bernhard Eberhard [de]. He became prime minister and minister of the interior of the Electorate of Hesse after the Revolution of 1848.
With its preindustrial workshops, Hanau became a nucleus of a heavy industrialisation during the 19th century from within the city (e.g., Heraeus) as well as from outside (e.g., Degussa and Dunlop). This was heavily supported by its development as an important railway interchange of six railway lines, most of them main lines:
1848: Frankfurt-Hanau Railway
1854: Main–Spessart Railway
1867: Frankfurt–Bebra Railway, eastern direction
1873: Frankfurt–Bebra Railway, western direction
1879/1881: Friedberg–Hanau Railway
1882: Odenwald Railway
Revolution of 1848[edit]
1848 Hanau was a centre of the German democratic movement and contributed significantly both in 1830 and in the Revolution of 1848. As part of this movement the German Gymnastic League (Deutscher Turnerbund) was founded here in 1848. Like all of Hesse-Kassel, Hanau was annexed to Prussia in 1866 after its prince-elector took the Austrian side in the Austro-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.
20th century[edit]
During World War II, Hanau's Jewish population was persecuted. The last Jews were deported in May 1942.
Hanau's inner city was mostly destroyed 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.: 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 the U.S. Army in Europe. It was an important strategic location in the so-called Fulda Gap. The military community had a population of 45,000 military members, U.S. civilians and family members at its peak during the Cold War. The extensive U.S. facilities included Hanau Army Airfield, also known as Fliegerhorst Langendiebach. The garrison closed in 2018. Most of the former military areas have been converted to civil use.
21st century[edit]
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 a spree shooting at two shisha bars and a flat in the town. 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.
After reaching 100,000 inhabitants in September 2021, Hanau became the largest city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis. On 1 January 2026, the city seceded from the district to become a district-free city (kreisfreie Stadt) once again, restoring a status it had previously held until the Hessian district reformation of 1974.
