Gunzenhausen (; bar, Gunzenhausn, link=no) is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, Germany. It is situated on the river

Altmühl The Altmühl (, la, Alchmona, Alcmana, Almonus)
s.v. is a river in

, northwest of Weißenburg in Bayern, and southwest of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. Gunzenhausen is a nationally recognized recreation area. It is noted as being at one end of part of The Limes Germanicus, a Roman border wall, and a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

History

Numerous excavations within the city of Gunzenhausen document that the area was occupied and there was a settlement in pre-historic time. In the year 90 the Romans expelled the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

, occupied the inhabited areas north of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, and expanded into the Gunzenhausen area. In the year 241 the

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

invaded the area and destroyed the fortress. A document from the year 823 supplies the first reliable written reference to Gunzenhausen. Emperor Ludwig der Fromme conveyed the monastery "Gunzinhusir" to the High-monastery of Ellwangen. Later the "Truhendinger" and the "Oettinger" families became Lords of Gunzenhausen, and in 1368 Gunzenhausen came to the

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...

. So the city received the right of holding fairs and was allowed to build city walls, towers and moat, as well as a large church. Gunzenhausen had a big Jewish community and a "Moorish" synagogue, built in 1882; the latter had its onion domes removed and was partially converted to "profane uses" during the Hitler regime, and by 1939 the town was declared '' Judenrein'' (free of Jews). In the 1970s eighteen municipalities were combined resulting in the city growing to about 17,000 inhabitants. Gunzenhausen is mentioned in

W. G. Sebald Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...

's collection of literary stories entitled ''The Emigrants'' (1992).W. G. Sebald, ''The Emigrants''; transl. Michael Huse. New York: The New Directions, 1996, 50‒54.

International relations

Gunzenhausen is twinned with: * - Frankenmuth, Michigan, United States * -

Isle, Haute-Vienne Isle (; oc, Isla) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France. As of 2019, Isle is the fifth commune of the department (by population), after Limoges, Saint-Junien, Panazol and Couze ...

, France

Transport

The town lies on the Treuchtlingen-Würzburg railway.

Local notables

* Andreas Osiander (1498–1552),

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

Christian mystic Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

Adam Neuser Adam Neuser (c. 153012 October 1576) was a Protestant pastor of Heidelberg who held Antitrinitarian views. Neuser was born in Gunzenhausen and was a popular pastor and theologian in Heidelberg in the 1560s, serving at the ''Peterskirche'' and ...

(c. 1530–1576),

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

pastor of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

who held Antitrinitarian views; was imprisoned, escaped, and later converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Simon Marius Simon Marius ( latinized form of Simon Mayr; 10 January 1573 – 5 January 1625) was a German astronomer. He was born in Gunzenhausen, near Nuremberg, but spent most of his life in the city of Ansbach. He is most known for being among the first ...

(1573–1625), astronomer who gave the names to the Jovian satellites Io,

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Clif ...

, Ganymede and Callisto * August Richter (1831–1907),

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

businessman and politician *

Wilhelm Stählin Wilhelm Stählin (24 September 1883, Gunzenhausen, Bavaria – 16 December 1975, Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria) was a German Lutheran theologian, bishop, preacher and one of the major initiators of the Liturgical Movement in German Protestantism in ...

(1883–1975), Lutheran theologian, bishop, preacher and one of the major initiators of the Liturgical Movement in German

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

in the 20th century Geburtshaus Stählin Inschrift

Otto Willi Gail Otto Willi Gail (18 July 1896 – 29 March 1956) was a German science journalist and author. Gail was born in Gunzenhausen, in the Middle Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. He studied electrical engineering and physics at the Technical ...

(1896–1956),

science journalist Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to '' Digdarshan'' (means showing the d ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

author * Karl Rettlinger (1913–1990),

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...

(Major) in the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

* Karl Eiden (1917–1987),

Leutnant () is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High Ge ...

in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

during World War II *

Günter Heimbeck Günter Heimbeck (born June 23, 1946 in Gunzenhausen, Germany) is a German–Namibian retired professor of mathematics. His particular research interest is geometry; the Heimbeck Planes are named for him. Heimbeck probably is the first and only ...

(b. 1946), a German–Namibian retired professor of mathematics best known for his contributions to

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

References

{{Authority control Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen Holocaust locations in Germany