Günzburg

Günzburg is a Große Kreisstadt and capital of the district of Günzburg in Swabia, Bavaria. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city of Günzburg – which had not previously been assigned to a Kreis (district) – with the district of Günzburg and the district of Krumbach.

Günzburg lies where the river Günz enters the Danube, and has a population of about 19,800.

History

Günzburg was founded in about 70 BC by the Romans to defend the borders of their land along the Danube; it was known as Castellum Guntia, Gontia or Contia. The name comes from that of the Celtic goddess Gontia. It consisted of a fort, later replaced by at least one other on the same site, a fairly large civilian settlement and most likely an important bridge over the Danube.

After the Romans left in the fifth century, the Alamanni tribe settled there. In around 700 the nearby castle of Ricinis was mentioned by the Cartographer of Ravenna as one of the five most important castles of Alemannia. In 1065 first documentary evidence appears of the town itself as Gunceburch.

Günzburg (district)

Günzburg is a district in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Dillingen, Augsburg, Unterallgäu and Neu-Ulm, and by the state of Baden-Württemberg (districts Alb-Donau and Heidenheim).

For the capital, see Günzburg.

History

In the early Middle Ages the tiny county of Burgau ruled the region. In 1213 the county was acquired by the lords of Berg; it was then known as Berg-Burgau, but the last ruler of this collateral line died in 1301, and Burgau (now raised to the level of a margraviate) became an exclave of Austria. In the early 17th century the administrative seat was moved from the town of Burgau to Günzburg, but the margraviate retained its name. When the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 1806, the margraviate was dissolved and the region was annexed by Bavaria.

The district was established in 1972 by merging the former districts of Günzburg and Krumbach. Günzburg lost its status as an urban district and became the administrative seat of the new district.

Günzburg (surname)

Günzburg is a surname of Bavarian origin.

History of the name

The Günzburg (Russian: Гинзбург, Гинцбург, Yiddish: גינצבורג, גינזבורג‎, Ginzburg, Gintsburg) family originated in the town of Günzburg, Bavaria. It is believed that the family went there from the city of Ulm, Württemberg, and that for this reason the best-known progenitor of the family and some of his immediate descendants, as well as certain others, called themselves "Ulma-Günzburg". ("Rabbi Jair Chajim Bacharach und Seine Ahnen", p. 45, Treves, 1894) proves that "Gunz" and "Gaunz" are simply variants of "Günzburg."

It is also an Ashkenazi Jewish surname. When, early in the emancipation period, the Jews of Russia and of Austria were ordered by their governments to adopt family names, it was natural that many of them should choose a name so respected and pleasing as that of Günzburg. There is on record a lawsuit instituted by Baer Günzburg of Grodno against a Jewish family of that city who had adopted the same name under the decree of 1804 (Maggid, "Toledot Mishpechoth Gintzburg," p. 239, St. Petersburg, 1899). The court sustained the right of Jewish families to adopt any name they chose, and the number of Günzburg families accordingly increased.