Ichenhausen

Ichenhausen is a town in the district of Günzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Günz, 9 km south of Günzburg.

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 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. 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) 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, leader doctor of all the Nazi Lebensborn Homes
 * Ernst Hardt, 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. 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.