Short answers, pulled from the story.
The true source of the Danube river is located at Donaueschingen where the Brigach and Breg streams merge. An enclosed karst spring inside the park of Donaueschingen Palace feeds the Donaubach stream which was historically considered the source before modern geology identified the confluence as the origin.
Donaueschingen first appeared in written records as Esginga in the year 889. The modern form of the name did not appear until 1292 when the town received township status officially in 1810 after coming under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1806.
Machine assembly, semiconductors, injection moulding, magnetics, dyes, and shoe manufacturing form the core industries within Donaueschingen. Nearly 1,000 enterprises operate within the town's economy with twenty-four medium-sized companies employing approximately 2,200 people locally.
Jan Kalivoda lived from 1801 to 1865 and conducted locally between 1822 and 1865. He was a composer and violinist born in Bohemia who shaped the early musical history of the region before the Musiktage festival began in 1921.
French military forces maintained barracks within the town limits of Donaueschingen from 1945 until 2014. The U.S. Air Force operated a contingency hospital there until the early 1990s while the facility served as temporary housing for refugees leaving East Germany to the West in 1989.