Department store Wronker

In addition to this department store, Hanau could also boast the Wronker department store. This was founded by Hermann Wronker, a nephew of Leronard Tietz, who owned department stores in Mannheim, Nuremberg, Pforzheim, Darmstadt, Hanover, Worms and Frankfurt am Main. Both Hanau department stores and their Jewish owners fell victim to the crimes of the National Socialists.

So Leonhard Tietz AG was "Aryanized" in 1933 and renamed Westdeutsche Kaufhof AG. As a result of the National Socialists' smear campaigns against Jewish businesses and the "Aryanization" measures, such as a required Aryan majority on the board of directors, the Tietz family was forced by the National Socialists to sell their shares in the company at well below their value. From that point on, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank owned the renamed company. The building survived the Allied air raids on Hanau and continued to be used for other purposes until it was demolished in 1980 for a parking garage. 

Similarly, the company to which the Wronker department store belonged was also "Aryanized." The owners Max and Hermann Wronker were deprived of their property and banned from their buildings. The National Socialists installed a new management and renamed the company Hansa AG. Hansa AG was incorporated into the Hertie Group in 1952, which was then taken over by Karstadt in 1994. Accordingly, Karstadt, until its closure in 2010, was the direct successor to the Wronker department store in Hanau. The building, on the other hand, was completely destroyed on March 19, 1945, and was rebuilt and expanded from 1948. In the 1990s, it was again renovated and remodeled. Since the closure of Karstadt in 2010, the building stood empty until it was demolished in 2012 for the construction of the Kulturforum.