Hanau

Hanau (German pronunciation: [ˈhaːnaʊ] ) is a city in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway station is a major junction and it has a port on the river Main, making it an important transport centre. The city is known for being the birthplace of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and Franciscus Sylvius. Since the 16th century it was a centre of precious metal working, with many goldsmiths. It is home to Heraeus, one of Germany's largest family-owned companies. With more than 96,756 residents, it was the largest city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis before becoming a district-free city in 2026. Once the seat of the Counts of Hanau, Hanau lost much of its architectural heritage, such as its City Palace, in World War II. 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 like Hanau-Steinheim and castles like Schloss Philippsruhe. In 1963, Hanau hosted the third Hessentag state festival. Until 2005, Hanau was the administrative centre of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis. On 19 February 2020, a gunman attacked two bars and a kiosk in Hanau, murdering nine people with roots outside Germany, before shooting his mother and himself.