About Hanau Middle/High School

History is not a subject that is just taught at Hanau American High School, it is what has been made everyday that its doors have opened for the past thirtythree years. For over three decades students have walked these hollow halls. Some have been like a flash of lightening, leaving us so quickly that we wondered later if they were really here. Others have been like a flower growing in a garden, here from the beginning of their high school careers, planted, growing, and blossoming in all their glory, on their day of graduation. No matter how long or how short their journey through these halls, one fact remains. Each one of them left something of themselves that was felt and will always be a part of Hanau Middle/High School’s story. They are each a part of it’s history. Thumbnail of the front of the school

It was Christmas in 1975 that the first principal of the new Hanau Middle/High School was appointed. The school located just ˝ hour from downtown Frankfurt was situated on a 24 acre piece of ground just outside the town of Hanau, perhaps the largest high school compound at that time. There were modern classrooms and laboratories with a great track, football and soccer fields and a three hole golf course. The school had a great staff and students with high spirit. Everyone was expecting great things to happen at this brand new DoDDS (USDESA) school. In the second and third year of existence we won fourteen European athletic championships. Hanau Middle/High School has undergone many changes since 1975. The most noticeable was the addition of a middle school in 1990. Since then we have seen the high school shrink from a high of 1400+ (estimated) students to a low of 75 students. We have leveled off now at right around 70 students.
Hanau is a small town in Germany (formerly West Germany). Hanau is known as the beginning of Germany’s “Fairy Tale Road”. The Brothers Grimm were born here, as were their world famous stories which they collected all along the “Fairy Tale Road” from Hanau to Bremen. Hanau’s chief trade was gold and for 3 decades Hanau Middle/High School studens, like the Grimm Brothers, have traveled the road of life searching for their “pot of gold”. For many that golden place was a 24 acre plot of ground known as Hanau Middle/High School --- and like the many castles in Germany this has been a bastion of Panther pride a place where thousands of students would feel at home. Thumbnail view of Schloss Phillipsruhe
Small picture of the statue of the Grimm Brothers.

From the sprawling Metropolis to quaint villages, Germany is the home away from home for the Hanau American High Schoolers. It is the land of Fairy Tale Castles, (Schlosses and Bergs), wursts, turnips, and coo-coo clocks. Travel from the North Sea to the Alps, boat on the famous Rhine or the beautiful blue Danube. Visit ancient Cathedrals, Roman ruins, Museums of anything you can think or; or just stroll leisurely throught the fabulous gardens, or open-air markets, or even better go on a traitional volksmarch.

 
   

 

 

 

Picture of teacher helping students