The Brothers Grimm in Hanau
Hanau is the birthplace of the multi-gifted learned scholars Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1785/1786) and the starting point of the German Fairy Tale Route. Born at No. 1 Paradeplatz, now called Freiheitsplatz, the two brothers spent their earliest childhood here with their parents and siblings. Family members taught them reading writing, arithmetic and Bible studies. Their Grimms' cultural inheritance has been honoured since 1896 with the national monument at the Neustadt marketplace. The Brothers Grimm Literature Award initiated in 1983 has been granted to authors such as Wolfgang Hilbig, Monika Maron and Harry Rowohlt. Since 1985, every year the world of Grimm fairy tales comes alive from May to July during the pageant festival held in the amphitheatre of Schloss Philippsruhe. But the official "Brothers Grimm City" is not only known as the birthplace of the famous collectors of native folktales, founders of German linguistics and members of the so-called literary "Göttinger Seven".
The Grimm family is documented as residents of Hanau since the 16th century (as restaurant owners and clergymen).
The great-grandfather Friedrich Grimm was the head pastor at the protestant St. Mary's Church (Marienkirche) for 42 years and inspector of the county protestant parish. Father Philipp Wilhelm Grimm was a successful court lawyer and town clerk in Hanau before he was appointed district magistrate of Steinau in 1791 and the family moved there.
Details
Hanau is the birthplace of Jacob (1785), Wilhelm (1786) und Ludwig Emil Grimm (1790);
Erection of the Brothers Grimm national monument on the marketplace by a Citizens Committee in 1896;
Hanau is the starting point of the German Fairy Tale Route towards Bremen (since 1975);
Nationally successful Brothers Grimm Fairytale Festival since 1985 (with guest performance abroad in Japan, the millionth visitor recorded in 2006);
Important collections of the Hanau Historical Society housed in the Baroque palace Schloss Philippsruhe include authentic exhibits: frock coat, briefcase, and books etc., a total of about 500 individual exhibits, probably the most significant of which is the world-famous double portrait drawn by their brother Ludwig Emil; in fact the most extensive collection of drawings by Ludwig Emil Grimm is found in Hanau.
The commemoration at the birth house on the Freiheitsplatz was destroyed in World War II along with the entire town centre, and is now marked with a memorial stone.
Information board on the birth house of Ludwig Emil in the Langstrasse (back side of the city hall);
Brothers Grimm Literature Award (since 1983, with prominent prize-winning authors such as Wolfgang Hilbig, Monika Maron, Georg Klein);
Hanau was state victor of the Hessian city centre initiative called "Ab in die Mitte!" in 2004, and presented the Brothers Grimm theme in a highly diversified programme with talks, activities, shows, etc.
Since May 2005 the citizens of Hanau have been holding intense and concrete discussions about establishing a Brothers Grimm culture centre. An expert commission has been appointed and a concept and feasibility study submitted in 2008.
Hanau received the additional designation as "Brothers Grimm City" by the Hessian Minister of the Interior and Sport in May 2006.
