On July 23, 1981, in the Erbenheim district of Wiesbaden, a street near the local airfield was named after aviation pioneer and Luftwaffe officer Wolfgang von Gronau (1893–1977).

Wolfgang von Gronau was born on February 25, 1893, in Berlin, the son of Artillery General Hans von Gronau. He grew up in East Prussia and attended a high school. In 1911, he became a naval cadet at the Naval Academy in Kiel. During World War I, von Gronau served as a lieutenant and first lieutenant on various warships.

Starting in 1915, von Gronau served as a naval aviator in various staff and frontline positions. A year later, he was transferred to Warnemünde as an advisor to the Naval Aircraft Testing and Acceptance Commission. There, von Gronau tested a gyrocompass, which marked the beginning of instrument flight. After the end of World War I, von Gronau left the military with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

In the postwar period, von Gronau managed his Schönwäldchen estate near Gilgenburg in East Prussia. Von Gronau was apparently politically active only for a short time. From 1923 to 1925, he was a member of the veterans’ organization “Stahlhelm – Bund der Frontsoldaten.”

In 1926, von Gronau participated in the “1st German Seaplane Competition” in Warnemünde, which he won. Flying a Heinkel 5 seaplane, he set a world record in early November 1926. Just under a month later, he became training director and a member of the board at the newly founded German Commercial Pilot School in Warnemünde.

Starting in 1929, Wolfgang von Gronau gained international recognition as an aviation pioneer. That year, he flew from Germany to Iceland in a single day, which was an extraordinary aviation feat at the time. On August 18, 1930, von Gronau flew a Dornier Wal seaplane from Sylt via Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador to New York. This was the first transatlantic crossing in a seaplane. In New York, von Gronau was received by U.S. President Hoover at the White House.

In 1932, Wolfgang von Gronau explored the so-called Northern Route by airplane. During this expedition, he flew over the Greenland ice sheet and discovered a new mountain range. The Danish government subsequently named this mountain range the Gronau Nunataks. His flight ended in Chicago. That same year, Wolfgang von Gronau set out on a round-the-world flight, the crowning achievement of his aviation career. Flying a Dornier Wal from Sylt, he crossed the Atlantic, the American and Asian continents with numerous stopovers, and then returned to Europe. On November 9, 1932, von Gronau arrived at the Dornier factory on Lake Constance. Finally, he flew back to List, where he was subsequently named an honorary citizen. He had covered a total of more than 44,000 kilometers in the air.

After the National Socialists’ “seizure of power,” civil aviation was elevated in status under the newly appointed Reich Minister of Aviation, Hermann Göring. Wolfgang von Gronau was appointed to the newly established agency, where he was responsible for all naval aviation training until 1934. Von Gronau joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933. From 1934 to 1938, he served as chairman of the Aeroclub of Germany and vice president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

With the founding of the German Luftwaffe in 1936, von Gronau became a reserve officer in the branch and was promoted several times in that capacity. On January 1, 1939, von Gronau was reactivated and initially assigned to a training wing with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Shortly before the start of World War II, von Gronau was appointed air force attaché to the German Embassy in Tokyo. In June 1939, he was also appointed air force attaché to the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria. As a military attaché, he was tasked with forming a clear picture and judgment of the host nation’s armed forces. To this end, they were to cultivate trust-building relations with the relevant authorities as well as friendly and social ties with certain circles of people. In addition, military attachés were to participate in exercises, visit military facilities, and keep abreast of specialized literature and the press. They were required to report on their observations.

In his post in Japan, von Gronau was further promoted. By the end of the war, he held the rank of Major General (Reserve) and had been decorated several times. After Germany’s surrender, von Gronau was interned and, following Japan’s surrender, was taken as a prisoner of war by the Americans. He returned to Germany from captivity in 1947.

In the postwar period, he worked as a representative for a North American aircraft manufacturer and devoted himself to farming on his estate on Lake Chiemsee. In 1955, Wolfgang von Gronau wrote an autobiography titled *Weltflieger* about his experiences as an aviation pioneer and air force attaché. Gronau had already published travel memoirs in the 1930s. In his 1955 book, he described in particular his round-the-world flight in 1932.

He died on March 17, 1977, in Frasdorf. Streets in various cities have been named after Wolfgang von Gronau. In List on Sylt, where von Gronau is an honorary citizen, he was given a grave of honor.

Due to his membership in the NSDAP and, prior to 1933, in the “Stahlhelm—Bund der Frontsoldaten” (a völkisch-nationalist group), as well as his role as air force attaché—a military-diplomatic post he held in Japan, the German Reich’s closest ally, the Historical Expert Commission—appointed in 2020 by resolution of the City Council to review streets, buildings, and facilities in the state capital of Wiesbaden named after individuals—recommended contextualizing Gronaustraße. The City Council followed the recommendation of the Historical Expert Commission with a resolution dated March 24, 2026.