Journey With the Brothers Grimm on Germany’s Fairy Tale Route

Kassel Monument photo by : Malte Ruhnke

Behind the Disney sugarcoated musical-fairytales, there are much more sinister stories that were told. Stories where Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off parts of their feet, and where Rapunzel’s charming prince had his eyes poked out with thorns. Stories like these were told during a much darker time and were not originally intended for children. These stories are the prose of the Brothers Grimm.

The Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm and Jacob, are among the most well-known storytellers of Germanic Folklore. The popularity of their stories has been translated worldwide and is the basis for almost every Disney cartoon you ever grew up watching, but most people don’t know this. Another thing many people don’t know is that a lot of these stories can be linked to actual places in Germany. These locations, along with the historic locations of Wilhelm and Jacob, are collectively known as “Germany’s Fairy Tale Route”.

Germany’s Fairy Tale Route is 370 miles long (600 km) stretching from Hanau in the south to Bremen in the north, and passes through a variety of scenic regions. Here’s the breakdown per Wikipedia:

A Whimsical Tale from the Grimm Report

From Hanau to Kassel

• Hanau– Grimm brothers birthplace
• Steinau-Grimm House, childhood home of the Grimm brothers
• Schlüchtern
• Freiensteinau
• Herbstein
• Marburg – where the Grimm brothers studied
• Lahntal
• Little Red Riding Hood – land—stretching from Alsfeld to Fritzlar
• Alsfeld – Fairy Tale House
• Neustadt – Hesse
• Willingshausen
• Schrecksbach
• Schwalmstadt
• Oberaula
• Knüllwald
• Homberg on Efze
• Fritzlar
• Bad Wildungen– Snow White village of Bergfreiheit
• Waldeck and the Edersee resort area
• Gudensberg
• Niedenstein
• Wolfhagen
• Schauenburg – Schauenburger Märchenwache: a museum dedicated to the locals Marie Hassenpflug and J.F. Krause, both of whom contributed fairy tales to the Grimm collection
• Baunatal – birthplace of Dorothea Viehmann, from whom the Grimm brothers learned about many of the fairy tales to be found in their collection, Kassel where the Grimm brothers attended secondary school and where they lived for 30 years; Brothers Grimm Museum; Home of Dorothea Viehmann in the Kassel district of Niederzwehren

Between Kassel and Fürstenberg, the Route offers two alternatives:

The Mother Hulda Route

• Kassel
• Nieste
• Kaufungen
• Helsa
• Grossalmerode
• Hessisch Lichtenau
• Bad Sooden-Allendorf
• Witzenhausen
• Heilbad Heiligenstadt
• Ebergötzen (Wilhelm Busch)
• Bovenden
• Wahlsburg
• Fürstenberg (porcelain manufactory)

The Sleeping Beauty Route

• Kassel
• Hann. Münden – place of death of Johann Andreas Eisenbarth, known as the “travelling surgeon” Doctor Eisenbarth
• Immenhausen
• Reinhardswald – including Sababurg Castle, known as the Sleeping Beauty Castle
• Hofgeismar
• Trendelburg
• Oberweser
• Fürstenberg – porcelain manufactory

To the north of Fürstenberg, the Route’s two forks rejoin:

• Fürstenberg,
• Polle,
• Bodenwerder – birthplace of Baron Münchhausen
• Hamelin – setting of the Pied Piper of Hameln
• Hessisch Oldendorf – associated with The Legend of Baxmann
• Bad Oeynhausen – site of a museum devoted to fairy tales and local legends
• Nienburg,
• Buxtehude – associated with The Hare and the Hedgehog
• Bremen – associated with The Town Musicians of Bremen
• Bremerhaven.

Related articles

• Hanau (myfairytaleadventure.wordpress.com)
• Brother’s Grimm “Hansel and Gretel” (zoeymiller36.wordpress.com)
• The Gruesome Cinderella at Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany (thefairytaletraveler.com)