Gunzenhausen

Gunzenhausen
Protestant St. Mary's Church Protestant St. Mary's Church
Coat of arms of Gunzenhausen Coat of arms
Gunzenhausen
Location of Gunzenhausen within Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district 250px
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Mittelfranken
District	Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen
Government
• Mayor	Joachim Federschmidt (SPD)
Area
• Total	82.73 km2 (31.94 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	16,222
• Density	200/km2 (510/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	91710
Dialling codes	09831
Vehicle registration	WUG, GUN
Website	www.gunzenhausen.de

Gunzenhausen is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, 19 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Weißenburg in Bayern, and 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Nuremberg. Gunzenhausen is a nationally recognized recreation area.

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, occupied the inhabited areas north of the Donau River and expanded into the Gunzenhausen area. In the year 241 the Alemanni 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. 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 was gradually mutilated 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.

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Gunzenhausen is twinned with:

• - Frankenmuth, Michigan USA
• - Isle, Haute-Vienne France

Local notables

• Andreas Osiander (b. 1498), Lutheran theologian and Christian mystic
• Adam Neuser (b. about 1530), Protestant pastor of Heidelberg who held Antitrinitarian views; was imprisoned, escaped, and later converted to Islam
• Simon Marius (b. 1573), astronomer who gave the names to the Jovian satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto
• August Richter (b. 1831), Wisconsin businessman and politician
• Wilhelm Stählin (b.1883), Lutheran theologian, bishop, preacher and one of the major initiators of the Liturgical Movement in German Protestantism in the 20th century
• Otto Willi Gail (b. 1896), science journalist and science fiction author
• Karl Rettlinger (b. 1913), a Sturmbannführer (Major) in the Waffen-SS who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II
• Karl Eiden (b. 1917), highly decorated Leutnant in the Wehrmacht during World War II
• Günter Heimbeck (b. 1946), a German–Namibian retired professor of mathematics best known for his contributions to geometry