Old town 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 Huguenots 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 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 During the
Thirty Years' War Hanau was taken by the Swedes in 1631.
20th century 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. 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 In 2010, Hanau started a huge building project to completely redesign the inner city. These are the town's largest construction projects since the reconstruction after World War II. 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. In September 2021, Hanau reached 100,000 inhabitants. Since 1 January 2026, Hanau is once again a
kreisfreie Stadt (district-free city), having seceded from the Main-Kinzig-Kreis after losing the privilege during the 1974 Hessian district reformation. ==Economy==