Ichenhausen is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the district of Günzburg, 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 lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated on the river

Günz The Günz is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is formed near Lauben by the confluence of its two source rivers: the Östliche Günz (eastern Günz) and the Westliche Günz (western Günz). It is approx. long (including its western source rive ...

, 9 km south of

Günzburg Günzburg (; Swabian: ''Genzburg'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is a ''Große Kreisstadt'' and the capital of the Swabian district Günzburg. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city of Günzburg – which had not p ...

History

Early history

The Lords of Roth had been feudal lord of the village since the early 14th century. In 1406 the town was granted market rights. In 1574 the barons of Stain von Rechtenstein zu Niederstotzingen acquired the village. With the 1806 Treaty of the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...

, the town came to the Kingdom of Bavaria and in 1818 became a patrimonial community according to new Constitution of the Kingdom and the communal act, which lasted until 1843 when the patrimonial status ended and it became a regular community. In 1913 Ichenhausen was elevated to city status. For centuries, Jewish families have lived in the village. They set up their own Jewish cemetery on the road to Krumbach and built a synagogue in 1687. This was renewed in 1781.

20th century

In 1933, 13% of the population was Jewish. At the November pogrom in 1938, the synagogue and the Jewish cemetery were destroyed, organized by the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. In a criminal trial before the Memmingen Regional Court in 1948, seven people were sentenced to prison for this reason. Many Jewish citizens moved to larger cities where they felt more secure in anonymity or emigrated abroad. Those left behind were deported and killed; 1942 (82 people to Lublin, 28 people to

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination ca ...

) and 1943 (ten people to Auschwitz); only one woman survived.

The collapse of the church tower

In 1964 the old Catholic church St. Johannes was extended and partly rebuilt. The church tower collapsed on Easter Monday in 1964 as a result of the reconstruction work. No injuries were sustained.

Incorporations

Ichenhausen has incorporated five other communities. Hochwang was incorporated on January 1, 1971. Oxenbronn was added on 1 July 1971. On 1 May 1978, the communities of Autenried, Deubach and Rieden an der Kötz followed in the course of the territorial reform.

Districts

Ichenhausen is arranged into six districts: * Ichenhausen * Autenried * Deubach * Hochwang * Oxenbronn * Rieden an der Kötz

People

Gregor Ebner Gregor Ebner (24 June 1892 – 22 March 1974) was a medical doctor from Kirchseeon near Munich. During the time of Nazi Germany he served as the medical leader of all the Lebensborn Homes. Life Ebner was born in Ichenhausen to Gregor Ebner, a ...

, leader doctor of all the Nazi Lebensborn Homes *

Ernst Hardt Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Hardt (9 May 1876 – 3 January 1947), born Ernst Stöckhardt, was a German playwright, poet, and novelist. Hardt was born in Graudenz, West Prussia (now Grudziądz, Poland). He is the author of ''Priester des Todes' ...

, German playwright, poet, and novelist * Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann, German historian of mathematics

Sights

In Ichenhausen is the ''Bavarian School Museum'', a branch museum of the

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum The Bavarian National Museum (german: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, links=no) in Munich is one of the most important museums of decorative arts in Europe and one of the list of largest art museums in the world , largest art museums in Germany. S ...

. Another cultural asset in Ichenhausen is the former synagogue, which served as a fire station after the Second World War and was converted into a "House of Encounter" in the late 1980s. The Jewish Cemetery is also one of the sightseeings. In the Autenried district there is the ''Schloss Autenried'' from the beginning of the 18th century with a museum of paintings and a library. Ichenhausen, Vordere Ostergasse 22, 003.jpg, Former Synagogue, now ''House of Encounter'' Ichenhausen-Ortszentrum.jpg, Main street of Ichenhausen Ichenhausen.jpg, Schloßplatz with castle (left) and museum (right)

References

External links

* * *
Jewish history of Ichenhausen
(German) Populated places in Günzburg (district) {{Günzburgdistrict-geo-stub