A Day in Hanau: Birthplace of the Brothers Grimm
Once upon a time, on a sweltering summer day, I visited a small town with some coworkers for a day trip. Not far from Frankfurt am Main, Hanau happens to be the hometown of one of my favorite coworkers. It also happens to be the home of two authors and folklorists known the world over, the Brothers Grimm.
Every year, from May to July, Hanau hosts the Brüder Grimm Festspiele, where many fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers are reimagined in colorful theater productions. Iconic stories, such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty are among the many offerings. Naturally, some coworkers and I decided to go. By the time we managed to agree on a date, we opted for König Drosselbart (King Thrushbeard), a tale I wasn’t at all familiar with. It would definitely put my German listening skills to the test!
Out About Town
Like many other major towns and cities in Germany, Hanau suffered significant damage from bombs during the second world war. About 80% of the town was destroyed, which is reflected in many of the modern buildings around the train station and throughout the center. However, that isn’t to say that there wasn’t any old-world charm to be found with half-timbered houses scattered around.
In the hours before the play, we decided to visit the Schloss Philippsruhe, a baroque palace just west of the town. Surrounded by plenty of gardens (though the grass was dried out from a particularly hot summer), the grounds were massive and evoked a sense of grandeur. Eventually, the heat got the better of us, and we hid in the shade of a small restaurant, where we cooled off with some lemonade and Johannisbeersaft (Currants juice) before heading over to the show.
Koenig Drosselbart
The stage was under a massive tent, where we showed our tickets to enter before taking our seats. To my surprise, the props and setting all had a circus theme rather than the typical medieval imagery that comes to mind when thinking of classic fairy tales. Eventually, the cast made their introductions through song (which made a certain coworker who had reluctantly joined us groan), and they too were dressed in typical circus attire. The theming quickly grew on me, giving the whole production the sense of being performed by a travelling theatre troupe.
Now, as I said, King Thrushbeard was a new experience for me, and with my level of German, I was able to understand about 65% of what happened. The comedic acting helped fill in gaps where my language comprehension had failed me. There was a bit of a tangent involving the Seven Dwarves from Snow White making an appearance that threw me off, and I completely missed a major detail about one of the subplots, but all in all it was certainly a fun experience!
Hometown Heroes: The Brothers’ Grimm Statue
After the play, we wandered around the town’s center a bit and eventually found ourselves in front of the statue of the town’s famous residents, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. Both were born a year apart, and were actually the second- and third-eldest surviving siblings in the family. The brothers moved throughout the German State of Hessen, relocating to Steinau, then to Kassel for school, then Marburg, where they studied medieval German literature at the university.
Eventually, both brothers became librarians in the city of Kassel. During this time, in 1812, they published Kinder- und Hausmärchen, which contained 86 folk tales. While they didn’t invent the stories, they took great pains to interview friends and relatives to collect as many tales as they could. As many of these tales were passed on from generation to generation through oral retellings, it was the brothers’ goal to immortalize them in print. By the end of their lives, their collection was in its 7th edition and had grown to include 211 stories, many of which are known around the world today.
Visited a Beergarten and Conclusion
To cap off the day, in typical German fashion, we met at a Biergarten for a few drinks before the train ride back. On the way, we came across a small statue depicting a scene from King Thrushbeard. It turns out that the source of the story came from the Hassenpflug family, who lived in Hanau, as well as Ludowine Haxthausen, and Dortchen Wild, who later became Wilhelm Grimm’s wife. After a few too many drinks, we boarded the train back home and lived happily ever after (until the next morning).
