![Logo Minden ab 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Logo_Minden_ab_2016.jpg)
Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
,
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 ...
, the greatest town between
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
and
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.
Geography
This is the northernmost district of North R ...
, which is part of the
region of Detmold. The town extends along both sides of the
River Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...
, and is crossed by the
Mittelland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...
, which is passing the river on the
Minden Aqueduct
The Minden Aqueduct (german: Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden) is an aqueduct near Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It actually consists of two parallel water bridges, that lead the Mittelland Canal over the Weser. The older of the two bridges ...
.
In the 1,200 years longing time of written history, Minden had functions as diocesan town from 800 AD to the
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...
in 1648, as capital of the
Prince-Bishopric of Minden
The Prince-Bishopric of Minden (german: Fürstbistum Minden; Bistum Minden; Hochstift Minden; Stift Minden) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It was progressively secularized following the Protestant Reformation when ...
as imperial territory since the 12th century, afterwards as capital of the
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n territory of
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state o ...
until the end of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
in 1806, and as capital of the East-Westphalian region from the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
until 1947. Furthermore Minden has been of great military importance with fortifications from the 15th to the late 19th century, and is yet place of a garrison.
Minden is location of diverse industry without a dominating branch. The town has been terminus of one of the oldest German railway trunks since 1847, and is knot in a network of
multimodal transport
Multimodal transport (also known as combined transport) is the transportation of goods under a single contract, but performed with at least two different modes of transport; the carrier is liable (in a legal sense) for the entire carriage, even th ...
in connection with a harbour, federal roads, and a nearby highway junction.
Geography
Location
![Minden subdivisions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Minden_subdivisions.svg)
Minden is a town in the northeastern part of the
German federal state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
. The town is crossed by the
River Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...
in northern direction. The town centre lies on a plateau on the western side of the river north of the
Porta Westfalica gap between the ridges of the
Weser Hills
The Weser Hills (''Wesergebirge''), also known in German as the ''Weserkette'' ("Weser Chain"),"Ein anderes Bild als die Bergländer der oberen Weser bieten die ''Weserkette'', das ''Wiehengebirge'' und der ''Teutoburger Wald'', see Christian Deg ...
and
Wiehen Hills
The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...
, where the Weser leaves the
Weser Uplands
The Weser Uplands (German: ''Weserbergland'', ) is a hill region in Germany, between Hannoversch Münden and Porta Westfalica, along the river Weser. The area reaches into three states, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Important ...
and flows into the
North German Plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balti ...
. The small Bastau stream flows into the Weser from the west near the town centre. The edge of the plateau marks the transition from the
Middle Weser Valley
The Middle Weser Valley (german: Mittlere Wesertal) is part of the Weser Depression around the River Weser on the North German Plain, extending from the gap of Porta Westfalica to the town of Hoya. It is not a true valley, because it is only bord ...
to the
Lübbecke Loessland
The Lübbecke Loessland (german: Lübbecker Lößland) is a natural region that is mainly situated in northeastern North Rhine-Westphalia but with a small area also lying in the western part of Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a belt of land, c ...
, divides the upper town from the lower town, and marks the boundary between two ecological zones.
In the frame of
Natural regions of Germany
This division of Germany into major natural regions takes account primarily of geomorphological, geological, hydrological, and pedological criteria in order to divide the country into large, physical units with a common geographical basis. Polit ...
, the western part of Minden belongs to a sequence of geomorphological units (from south to north): the Wiehen Hills, the Lübbecke Loessland, therein the Bastau depression, and the
Dümmer Geest Lowland. The eastern part lies in the
Middle Weser Valley
The Middle Weser Valley (german: Mittlere Wesertal) is part of the Weser Depression around the River Weser on the North German Plain, extending from the gap of Porta Westfalica to the town of Hoya. It is not a true valley, because it is only bord ...
depression.
Crossing the Weser valley was once favoured by a
ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
with a small hill in the middle; there the Weser
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
touches the western edge of the valley, the eastern
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
is usually meadowland, but inundated in times of flood, so that the central
bridgehead
In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...
() becomes a
river island
River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online.
Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isla ...
. Today a system of two bridges crosses the valley.
The Mittelland Canal connecting the river systems of
Ems, Weser and
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
traverses the town from west to east, while the Weser flows from south to north. These waterways cross in the northern area of the town at the
Minden Aqueduct
The Minden Aqueduct (german: Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden) is an aqueduct near Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It actually consists of two parallel water bridges, that lead the Mittelland Canal over the Weser. The older of the two bridges ...
().
The Weser leaves the Minden area at its lowest part in the quarter of Leteln, at , while the highest part is the top of ''Häverstädter Berg'' with , at the edge of the Wiehen Hills in the quarter of Haddenhausen. The altitude of the town is given officially as , based on the elevation of the town hall.
The town covers an area of . It extends from north to south and from east to west.
Minden is NE of
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
, W of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, S of
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
and E of
Osnabrück
Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...
.
Neighbouring settlements
The neighbouring towns and communities of Minden are (clockwise from north):
Petershagen
Petershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies on the Westphalian Mill Route. The core is formed by the districts of Petershagen and Lahde, located opposite each other on the Weser.
Geograph ...
,
Bückeburg
Bückeburg (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Population: 21,0 ...
(
Schaumburg District in
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
),
Porta Westfalica
Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The name "''Porta Westfalica''" is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of West ...
,
Bad Oeynhausen
Bad Oeynhausen () is a spa town on the southern edge of the Wiehengebirge in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe, East-Westphalia-Lippe region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The closest larger towns are Bielefeld (39 ki ...
, and
Hille.
Town subdivision
Minden consists of 19 quarters:
* Bärenkämpen
* Bölhorst
* Dankersen
* Dützen
* Haddenhausen
* Häverstädt
* Hahlen
* Innenstadt (town centre)
* Königstor
* Kutenhausen
* Leteln-Aminghausen
* Meißen
* Minderheide
* Nordstadt
* Päpinghausen
* Rechtes Weserufer
* Rodenbeck
* Stemmer
* Todtenhausen
Geology, mineral deposits and their use
![Erzgrube Porta - Lore Haeverstaedt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Erzgrube_Porta_-_Lore_Haeverstaedt.jpg)
The Wiehen Hills
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
extends more than 100 kilometers from west of Osnabrück to the Porta Westfalica gap and is continued in the Weser Hills range. The escarpment forming horizons incline gently flattening to the north; they are of
jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
age, overlayed by
cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
sediments that form the hill of Bölhorst, and
tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
layers further to the north. The underground basis is of palaeozoic material from
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
to
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
. A new described
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
, the
Wiehenvenator
''Wiehenvenator'' is a genus of megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of north western Germany. The genus contains a single species, ''W. albati''.
Discovery and naming
In 1998, geologist Friedrich Albat, prospecti ...
, was found in the Wiehen Hills near Haddenhausen, popularly referred to as the "Monster of Minden".
The Porta sandstone () of the Wiehen Hills has been used as building material for centuries and is yet to be seen at a lot of public and private buildings in Minden and the whole Region. Another valuable material is
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
, that was being mined until the first half of the 20th century. Mining relics are remaining: e.g. the ''Potts Park'', an amusement park in Dützen, is located at the place of a former ore mine.
The Bölhorst hill two kilometers north of the Wiehen Hills is formed by horizons of
lower cretaceous
Lower may refer to:
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick
Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...
age and, in geological sense, is the western extension of the eastward
Bückeberg
The Bückeberg (; also the Bückeberge) is a small hill range, up to high, in the Calenberg Uplands between the Harrl and the Deister in central Germany, and is often considered part of the Weser Uplands. It lies in the district of Schaumbur ...
in the Schaumburg district. In both elevations the hard coal containing
Berriasian
In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago) ...
layers reach near to the surface. By reason of the correspondence of the
Bückeberg Formation
The Bückeberg Formation is a geologic formation and LagerstätteHornung et al., in Reitner et al., 2013, p.75 in Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Berriasian of the Cretaceous period.Hornung et al., 2012 The Bückeberg Formation ...
to the
Wealden Group, the type of coal found here was named "Wealdenkohle" in German language. Mining in the
Minden Coalfield started in the 17th century during the Swedish occupation and ended in the late 19th century. Another coal mine in the eastern quarter of Meißen worked from 1878 to 1958.
A source of 10-percentage brine with origin in the deep
Zechstein
The Zechstein (German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian (Guadalupian to Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of Englan ...
series was pumped in the Bölhorst mine and once used for
balneotherapy
Balneotherapy ( la, balneum "bath") is a method of treating diseases by bathing, a traditional medicine technique usually practiced at spas. Since ancient times, humans have used hot springs, public baths and thermal medicine for therapeutic e ...
.
The last
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
forming age was the
pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
. During the
Saalian glaciation
The Saale glaciation or Saale Glaciation, sometimes referred to as the Saalian glaciation, Saale cold period (german: Saale-Kaltzeit), Saale complex (''Saale-Komplex'') or Saale glacial stage (''Saale-Glazial'', colloquially also the ''Saale-Eiszei ...
the whole region was ice-covered, now verified by lots of
glacial erratic
A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...
rocks from Scandinavia placed for decoration in the town area. The Bastau depression, a late-Saalian Weser bed, became a marshy peat-covered area; the
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
is completely exhausted for its use as firing material. In the time of
Weichselian glaciation
The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) ...
the glacier did not reach this region. In the
periglacial
Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial", also referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing of snow in areas of permafrost, the runoff from which refreezes in ice wedges and ot ...
climate of that time fine material (
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
) was blown and accumulated north of the Wiehen Hills as well as north of the Bastau depression in either small west–east stripes of
loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
.
In the Weser depression Weichselian
gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gravel is classifi ...
deposits are found and used in gravel pits.
Land use
![Nordholz1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Nordholz1.JPG)
The forestal use of the considerably inclined Wiehen Hills shows a striking contrast to the nearly woodless
loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
stripes of the northern foothills as well as north of the Bastau depression. The loess developed to most fertile soils (
luvisol
Luvisols are a group of soils, comprising one of the 32 Reference Soil Groups in the international system of soil classification, the World Reference Base for Soil Resources The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is an international so ...
s) and is used as arable land since prehistoric times. Both of the stripes are also important running lines of traffic, today the federal road No. 65 form Minden to
Lübbecke
Lübbecke (; wep, Lübke) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (''Wiehengebirge'') and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is part of distri ...
and the regional road from Minden to
Espelkamp
Espelkamp ( nds, Espelkämpe) is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Espelkamp is situated approximately 10 kilometers north of Lübbecke and 20 kilometers north-west of Minden.
Neighbouring pla ...
. The villages thus connected have developed to settlements of considerable size.
In clear contrast, the Bastau depression is free of settlement and forests and is only in agricultural use. Only one north to south directed road passes through this area in the southwest of the town area. The
gleysol
A gleysol is a wetland soil (hydric soil) that, unless drained, is saturated with groundwater for long enough to develop a characteristic colour pattern. The pattern is essentially made up of reddish, brownish, or yellowish colours at surfaces o ...
s of this area as well as in the Weser valley depression are in agricultural use after drainage.
Four
nature conservation areas extend completely or partly over Minden territory. The most northern of them provides a biological station () for ecological education.
Compared to other towns of the same type in North Rhine-Westphalia the percentage of woodland is remarkably small.
Climate
Minden has no meteorological station, therefore the data of the next station
Bad Salzuflen
Bad Salzuflen is a town and thermal spa resort in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. At the end of 2013, it had 52,121 inhabitants.
Geography
Bad Salzuflen lies on the eastern edge of the Ravensberg Basin, at the confluence o ...
in distance of 25 km (16 mi) are given.
The meteorological data of the whole
East-Westphalian region comply with zone ''Cfb'' of the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, named as Temperate
Oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
. This rough classification gives no suitable and detailed description of the regional situation. The furthest northern part of East-Westphalia is the driest of the state, though located in a small distance to the sea. This situation is caused by the main direction of the
cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...
s from roughly west to east with its prevailing south-westerly rain-bringing
weather front
A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For in ...
s. So the Minden region lies in the
leeward
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
of the
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...
and the Wiehen Hills. A cloudy weather south of the Wiehen Hills is often connected with clear sky in the north of the hills.
History
Ancient history
![Minden-1641-Merian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Minden-1641-Merian.jpg)
The Minden area shows continuing settlement activity from the 1st to the 4th century, when it belonged to the
Weser-Rhine Germanic
Weser-Rhine Germanic is a proposed group of prehistoric West Germanic dialects which would have been both directly ancestral to Dutch, as well as being a notable substratum influencing West Central German dialects. The term was introduced by the G ...
development sphere. During the
Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16)
The Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16) were a series of conflicts between the Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire. Tensions between the Germanic tribes and the Romans began as early as 17/16 BC with the '' Clades Lolliana'', where t ...
, this part of Westphalia came in the focus of military activities. It has been a matter of discussion, whether the Minden region could have been the location of that military camp where commander
Publius Quinctilius Varus
Publius Quinctilius Varus (Cremona, 46 BC – Teutoburg Forest, AD 9) was a Roman general and politician under the first Roman emperor Augustus. Varus is generally remembered for having lost three Roman legions when ambushed by Germanic tribes l ...
started from marching to the disastrous
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius ...
in 9 AD. Likewise the localization of the
Battle of Idistaviso
The Battle of the Weser River, sometimes known as the First Battle of Minden or Battle of Idistaviso, was fought in 16 AD between Roman legions commanded by Roman Emperor Tiberius's heir and adopted son, Germanicus, and an alliance of Germanic ...
and the
Battle of the Angrivarian Wall
The Battle of the Angrivarian Wall was fought near Porta Westfalica, Germany in 16 AD between the Roman general Germanicus and an alliance of Germanic tribes commanded by Arminius. This battle followed immediately after the Battle of Idistavis ...
as well, both took place in 16 AD, to the eastern part of Minden or its neighbour town
Porta Westfalica
Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The name "''Porta Westfalica''" is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of West ...
is doubtful. Definite archaeological proofs for these locations have yet been missing. In 2008, relicts of a temporary Roman military camp have been found in Barkhausen, about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south from the centre of Minden.
Middle Ages
![Minden Weingarten 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Minden_Weingarten_2011.jpg)
The name "Minda" is firstly mentioned in a
Royal Frankish Annals
The ''Royal Frankish Annals'' (Latin: ''Annales regni Francorum''), also called the ''Annales Laurissenses maiores'' ('Greater Lorsch Annals'), are a series of annals composed in Latin in the Carolingian Francia, recording year-by-year the state ...
record referring to an army assembly held by
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
in 798. The location of the so-named settlement is supposed at the left river side, where today's ''Fischerstadt'' exists. Directly neighbouring was the suspected site of a permanent frankish army camp and a royal estate, located favourably, where ways from the south were bundled by the Porta Westfalica gap, connected with a west-east way parallel to the Wiehen and Weser hills, and at a ford through the Weser. The region had already been converted to christianity, when about 800 a bishopric was founded in Minden, one of the seven diocese foundations established under the rule of Charlemagne. The first cathedral was built nearby to the older village. After the dissolution of the
Duchy of Saxony
The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...
in 1180 the bishop became sovereign of the
Prince-Bishopric of Minden
The Prince-Bishopric of Minden (german: Fürstbistum Minden; Bistum Minden; Hochstift Minden; Stift Minden) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It was progressively secularized following the Protestant Reformation when ...
as a constitutional territory of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
, and remained in this status until 1648. During the
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monast ...
two bishops were nominated at the same time in 1080 both by the papal supporters and those of King
Henry IV.
The
Cathedral close on the lower Weser terrace was soon surrounded to the north and west by a settlement of artisans and merchants, who lived in a parish of their own. The development of the upper town began with the activities of ecclesiastical convents. A convent of
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
nuns removed from the Wiehen Hills to the northwestern edge of the town round St Mary c. 1000 AD. In 1029 the Canonical Convent of St Martin appears, and a 1042 founded Benedictine monastery removed in 1434 from the Weser shore to a new upper site, where the monastery of St Mauritius was founded. The
Dominicane convent St Paul was established in 1236.
German medieval sovereigns governed their realms with an
itinerant court
An itinerant court was a migratory form of government, common in European kingdoms in the Early Middle Ages.
It was an alternative to having a capital city, a permanent political centre from which a kingdom is governed. Especially medieval Wester ...
, travelling from town to town.
Louis the German
Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the P ...
hold an imperial assembly in Minden in 852. The Emperors of the
Ottonian
The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxons, Saxon dynasty of List of German monarchs, German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I, Holy Roman Empe ...
and
Salian dynasty
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
After the death of the la ...
visited Minden several times. When Henry IV came to visit in 1062, a dispute between members of his entourage and citizens caused a fire that destroyed the cathedral and parts of the town. The imperial visit of
Charles IV in October 1377 was the last one until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
In 1168
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180.
Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...
, Duke of Saxony, married his second wife
Matilda
Matilda or Mathilda may refer to:
Animals
* Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder
* Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse
* Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...
, daughter of
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
, in
Minden Cathedral
Minden Cathedral, dedicated to Saints Gorgonius and Peter, is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From the year 803 AD, when the area was conquered by Charlemagne, it was the center of a diocese and subs ...
; with this marriage Henry maintained the continuance of the
House of Welf
The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconia, Franconian family from ...
.
The rights to hold a market, to mint coins, and to collect customs duties were granted in 977 by Emperor
Otto II
Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. ...
. Until the beginning of the 13th century, the bishop appointed the ''Wichgraf'' as secular administrator of the town. The citizens of Minden and their council obtained independence from the bishop's rule around 1230 and received a town charter in 1301. The increased self-confidence of the citizens was demonstrated by the construction of the town hall, probably adjoining the separately governed cathedral precinct. As a result the Bishop moved his official residence from Minden to
Petershagen
Petershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies on the Westphalian Mill Route. The core is formed by the districts of Petershagen and Lahde, located opposite each other on the Weser.
Geograph ...
in 1307.
The economic development of Minden was influenced by its location on a navigable river and by its success in grain trading since the Middle Ages. Minden got the right to store goods and could force passing ships to unload their cargo; furtheron the town was member of the
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
. The year of construction of the first Weser bridge is not known. A previous wooden pedestrian bridge was replaced in the late 13th century by another one fit for wagon transport. In the early 16th century Minden got a stone
arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
.
Modern era since the Reformation
![St Johannis Minden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/St_Johannis_Minden.JPG)
At the end of the medieval age the
papal legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
Cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...
visited some German
church provinces in order to remedy deficits in pastoral care and clerical administration. During his journey he stayed in Minden for one week in August 1451, where he signed various decrees, but on the whole this project could not achieve the intended aims. The
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
was introduced in 1529 during a vacancy after the death of the not very respected Bishop
Francis of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and a 36-man unit constituted itself as town regiment. A new church order, based on
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
's principles, was announced from the pulpit of St Martin's Church (''Martinikirche'') on 13 February 1530. The Dominican convent was dissolved in 1529, and its buildings were used since 1530 as the site of the new founded municipal
Gymnasium, the first Protestant de , Gymnasium , label = none in Westphalia.
Imperial Catholic troops occupied Minden from 1625 to 1634 during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
. Protestant Swedish troops laid siege to Minden and captured it in 1634. Queen
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
() granted Minden full sovereignty in internal and external affairs. During the Catholic occupation the bishop ordered the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
in 1630; the calendar was re-set in 1634 under the Swedish régime, but finally standardized in 1668.
The
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...
in 1648 secularized the Prince-Bishopric to the
Principality of Minden
The Prince-Bishopric of Minden (german: Fürstbistum Minden; Bistum Minden; Hochstift Minden; Stift Minden) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It was progressively secularized following the Protestant Reformation when ...
and assigned the territory to the
Prince Electorate of Brandenburg, later named
Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenz ...
. Swedish troops moved back in 1650, and the principality administration was restored from
Petershagen
Petershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies on the Westphalian Mill Route. The core is formed by the districts of Petershagen and Lahde, located opposite each other on the Weser.
Geograph ...
to Minden in 1668. The Prussian "Great Elector"
Frederick William () confirmed all traditional rights of the town, but under his successors King
Frederick I Frederick I may refer to:
* Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht.
* Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978)
* Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105)
* Frederick I, Count of Zoller ...
() and
Frederick William I () the town was subordinated to the strongly centralized Prussian government in the spirit of
absolutism. The 400-year civil self-determination ended with two town regulations from 1711 and 1721; the representatives of the town were no longer elected for a certain period, but for life, and they needed royal confirmation for inauguration.
The
Battle of Minden
The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...
took place some miles to the north of Minden on 1 August 1759, during the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
of 1756 to 1763. The allied forces of Prussia,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, and some German allies defeated the allied
French and
Saxonian troops in a decisive battle. The region remained Prussian, with the adjacent region in the possession of the British King
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089)
* ...
(being the Prince-elector of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
in
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
). Because French troops had occupied the town twice during the war, King
Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
realized that it could no more be defended in the old manner; thus he gave order to annul Minden's status as a fortress in 1764.
The town functioned as the capital of the Prussian territory of
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state o ...
from 1719 to 1807 and as the seat of the upper administrative authority named ' (Chamber of War Affairs and State Property), that ruled Minden-Ravensberg together with the Prussian territories of the County of Lingen and the
County of Tecklenburg
The County of Tecklenburg (german: Grafschaft Tecklenburg) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
History
In the 12th century the county of Tecklenburg emerged in th ...
. The most prominent president of the chamber was the
Baron vom Stein (in office from 1796 to 1803).
The Weser had long been an important trade route, and the legal regulation of trading had immense significance. In 1552 Emperor
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
conferred the privilege of its merchants' unhindered trading on the whole Weser to the town of Minden. During the Thirty Years' War, Emperor
Ferdinand II confirmed the
staple right
The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch ''stapelrecht'', was a medieval right accorded to certain ports, the staple ports. It required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port and to ...
to Minden in 1627, meaning that all passing merchants had to offer their goods for sale for some days. As other towns on the Weser - like
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
or
Münden - had similar rights, many conflicts arose about the partly contradictory legal positions.
[
]
From the Napoleonic Wars to World War I
![MI Weserbruecke - Blick auf die Porta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/MI_Weserbruecke_-_Blick_auf_die_Porta.jpg)
In course of the
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, s ...
French troops occupied the town on 13 November 1806. In the following year
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
founded the
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the ...
, governed by his brother
Jerome Bonaparte
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...
as the King; Minden became part of this
client state
A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...
until 1810 as district capital in the Weser department. On 1 January 1811 Napoleon put Minden to the department
Ems-Supérieur
Ems-Supérieur (, "Upper Ems"; german: Ober-Ems) was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was formed in 1811, when the region was annexed by France. Its territory was part of the present-day German lands Lower Saxony ...
of the
French Empire; now the Weser formed the eastern frontier between France and Westphalia. The rights of the
Cathedral chapter
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
in the cathedral close were abolished, the still existing convents were dissolved, and some ecclesiastical buildings like St John's church were secularized and used for military purpose. Before the French troops abandoned Minden on 3 November 1813 after the disastrous
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
, they blew up some arches of the Weser bridge; the defect was repaired with a wooden auxiliary construction for the following decades.
Minden became part of the Kingdom of Prussia again as capital both of the District of Minden and the government region (''
Regierungsbezirk Minden
The Minden Region (german: Regierungsbezirk Minden) was a government region located in the north-easternmost part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia. It existed from the years 1816 to 1947. It had an area of 5,262 km² and 736,128 inhabi ...
'') in the new formed
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...
. By royal order it was declared a fortress once more. The fortress regulations ordered a 600-meters area in front of the wall being free of any buildings, not even vertical gravestones were allowed. The refortification had severe consequences, it hindered any extension of the town area and thus the economic development. The ''Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Friedrich der Niederlande“ (2. Westfälisches) Nr. 15'' was stationed in the garrison from 1820 to 1919, when it was dissolved; the naming
Colonel-in-chief was
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau (full names: Willem Frederik Karel; 28 February 1797, in Berlin – 8 September 1881, in Wassenaar), was the second son of William I of the Netherlands and his wife, Wilhelmine of Pru ...
and after his death
Queen Emma of the Netherlands. Frederick's wife
Princess Louise of Prussia
Princess Louise Marie Elisabeth of Prussia (; 3 December 1838 – 23 April 1923) was Grand Duchess of Baden from 1856 to 1907 as the wife of Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, Grand Duke Frederick I. Princess Louise was the second child and on ...
was Colonel-in-chief of the ''Infanterie-Regiment „
Graf Bülow von Dennewitz“ (6. Westfälisches) Nr. 55'', that was partly stationed in Minden, too. Since 1999, the ''Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 58'' encamped a new barracks area in the nordwest of the town centre. The Hanoveran Pionier-Battalion No. 10 was part of the
X Corps 10th Corps, Tenth Corps, or X Corps may refer to:
France
* 10th Army Corps (France)
* X Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
Germany
* X Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army
* ...
, that was incorporated to the Prussian Army after the Austro-Prussian War 1866, and had its barracks near to Minden station. The main
military training area
A military training area, training area (Australia, Ireland, UK) or training centre (Canada) is land set aside specifically to enable military forces to train and exercise for combat. Training areas are usually out of bounds to the general public, ...
was a large location in the today quarter of Minderheide at the very northwest frontier of the town; this area had already been part of the main fighting place during the Battle of Minden in 1759.
After the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
of 1815 had passed general principles of free traffic on the main rivers, the six Weser-states of the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
annulated all restrictions and most of the financial burdens for shipping on the river by the Weser Shipping Act () of 1823.
The first steam ship was put in operation in 1836; a first harbour basin was built in 1859 on the east side of the river, connected with the railway in 1863. In the first decades, the great majority of transferred goods were imported goods, export was of low importance. Inland shipment grew enormously after the completion of the Mittelland Canal and its connection to the Weser by the
shaft lock in 1915.
The
trunk line
In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...
of the
Cologne-Minden Railway Company
The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...
was opened in 1847 with a solidly fortified station and connected with the
Hanover–Minden railway. After the defortification the railway got an important momentum for economic growth in Minden.
The spatial narrowness in the fortress restricted the development of industrial firms of different branches only to a certain degree, but did not prevent it.
The dominant industry, as well as in the whole district, was the manufacture of
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
s; this branch decreased after World War I and finally vanished, because the growing market share of cigarettes had been ignored. Minden was seat of a
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
from 1849 to 1932, when it was merged with those of Bielefeld.
Overpopulation and unemployment were the reasons for an enormous emigration from the
Minden Land
Minden Land (german: Mindener Land) is a cultural landscape in East Westphalia, the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It covers the four-fifths of the district of Minden-Lübbecke that lie on the North German Plain and ...
; various emigration agencies had their location in Minden.
The town remained a Prussian fortress until 1873, when Germany's
Imperial Diet () passed the law to remove the fortress status of several fortified places, among them Minden. The fortress walls were razed until 1880 – the town had to pay for it –, and a new Weser bridge was constructed, permitting the town to catch up economically. However, it was never able to regain its former political and economic importance.
The upper class used the new conditions for construction of a new town quarter in a half-circle to the north and west of the old centre with prestigious buildings on spacious plots, but the urgent narrowness inside the centre maintained. A lot of buildings in the style of historicism replaced older ones at the market place and in the main streets.
The lack of buildings outside the fortifications was favourable for planning a road network in the outer areas of the town. Since the 1890s a sequence of six ring roads in the west and north of the town has formed the backbone of the road network.
Grandiose festivities took place, when Emperor
William II and Empress
Auguste Victoria
, house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
, father = Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
, mother = Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Dolzig Palace ...
visited Minden and the southern village of Barkhausen for inauguration of the
Emperor William Monument on the
Wittekindsberg
The Wittekindsberg is a hill, , which forms the easternmost peak of the Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge) and is also the western guardian of the Weser gorge, the Porta Westfalica, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany).
The hill is well-known, e ...
above the
Porta Westfalica gap on 18 October 1896; since then the monument is a remarkable element of the southern horizont view from Minden. The first line of the Minden tramway connected the basic site of the memorial with Minden since 1893, when it was yet under construction.
[ p. 187.]
The Minden District Railways (), founded in 1898, built up a
narrow-gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...
net with three lines until World War I. Minden got a municipal water supply system in the 1880s and an electric power station in 1902.
The Weimar Republic and the Nazi Regime
![2010-05-21 Minden Fort B (5)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/2010-05-21_Minden_Fort_B_%285%29.jpg)
The republican
November Revolution of 1918 passed with only small disturbances that occurred in a few barracks of the Minden garrison on 7 and 8 November 1918. A
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council, most of them members or supporters of the Social Democratic Party, took control in the afternoon of 18 November, but co-operated both with the town council and the military and civil administration as well and was successful in calming the situation.
The situation got more critical during the
Kapp Putsch
The Kapp Putsch (), also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch (), was an attempted coup against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to undo the ...
of March 1920, when right-wing officers tried to overthrow the legal government of the ''
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...
''. The majority of the town council declared their loyalty to President
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.
Eber ...
and Chancellor
Gustav Bauer
Gustav Adolf Bauer (; 6 January 1870 – 16 September 1944) was a German Social Democratic Party leader and the chancellor of Germany from June 1919 to March 1920. He served as head of government for nine months. Prior to becoming head of gover ...
, who for their part confirmed the authority of the Minden Workers' Council. The assassination of Foreign Minister
Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician.
During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...
on 24 June 1922 resulted in serious rioting in Minden. A demonstration of 15,000 people in support of the government was held at the market square on 27 June. The public opinion changed during the time of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
: in the 1930-election of the town council the
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
got 6 of 31 seats, in the 1933-election, the last democratic one, they won the majority with 16 of 28 seats. The NSDAP increased their Minden results of the
Reichstag elections from 2.0 percent in
May 1928 to 40.1 percent in
July 1932.
Although the German armed forces were considerably restricted by the regulations of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, Minden remained a garrison town of the ''
Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...
'' with the Pioneer Battalion No. 6 and the Artillery Regiment No. 6, both parts of the
6th Division. The soldiers got more and more in connection with right-wing groups, though officially obliged to political neutrality. The military units put forward the construction of sporting facilities : a stadium (, now ), a public open-air pool (now ), and a horse racecourse. Minden was career ladder station of two later army leaders: Lieutenant-Colonel
Walther von Brauchitsch
Walther Heinrich Alfred Hermann von Brauchitsch (4 October 1881 – 18 October 1948) was a German field marshal and the Commander-in-Chief (''Oberbefehlshaber'') of the German Army during World War II. Born into an aristocratic military family ...
organized annual horse tournaments from 1925 to 1927, and
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...
succeeded him in the same function until 1929.
When the ''Reichswehr'' was transformed to the ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
'' in 1935, the army unities were enlarged. Minden got another pioneer battalion (No. 46), new barracks (, after WWII "Clifton barracks") and an exercise place at the Weser shore were built. After the last priosoners of war had left the camp area Minderheide in 1922, the place was used again for military exercise, horse and motorcycle sport, and a part from it as place to land for small planes, as it already had happened since 1910. Two hangars and workshops for repairing and overhauling were built since 1936 on this area, where also new types of planes were tested.
After the war, the Minden District railway opened a fourth line to the coal mine of Meißen and the ore mine of Kleinenbremen, and in 1924 began to convert the narrow gauge to standard gauge tracks. The Minden tram was electrified in 1920, and three lines were added until 1930.
In 1929 the
Melitta
Melitta () is a German company selling coffee, paper coffee filters, and coffee makers, part of the Melitta Group, which has branches in other countries. The company is headquartered in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia.
It is named after Meli ...
firm transferred its production from
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
to Minden. Since 1935 the produced chemicals for pharmaceutical use, e.g.
codeine
Codeine is an opiate and prodrug of morphine mainly used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea. It is also commonly used as a recreational drug. It is found naturally in the sap of the opium poppy, ''Papaver somniferum''. It is typically use ...
; because of potentially military interest the producing company ''Knoll AG'' in
Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...
had decided for a more inner-German producing location.
From 1934 to 1940 two suburbs with single-family houses of modest size ( and ) were created in considerable distance to the previous settlements. Like in other communities, the names of some streets or places were changed by political reasons during the Nazi time, but most of them were reverted in 1945.
World War II
![Wilhelmstraße Stolpersteine (in Minden, Germany)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Wilhelmstra%C3%9Fe_Stolpersteine_%28in_Minden%2C_Germany%29.JPG)
During World War II, underground factories were built in the
Weser Hills
The Weser Hills (''Wesergebirge''), also known in German as the ''Weserkette'' ("Weser Chain"),"Ein anderes Bild als die Bergländer der oberen Weser bieten die ''Weserkette'', das ''Wiehengebirge'' und der ''Teutoburger Wald'', see Christian Deg ...
and
Wiehen Hills
The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...
near Minden.
Slave labour
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
ers from a nearby
subcamp
Subcamps (german: KZ-Außenlager), also translated as satellite camps, were outlying detention centres (''Haftstätten'') that came under the command of a main concentration camp run by the SS in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The Nazi ...
of the
Neuengamme concentration camp
Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...
were forced to produce weapons and other war
materiel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
. After the war the machinery was removed by American troops, the entrances were sealed.
Most of the Jewish citizens were
deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
, dispossessed and murdered. The ''
Stolpersteine'' (stumbling stones) have been laid on Minden's pavements as a memorial to them.
Minden sustained severe damage from bombardment during World War II. These attacks were minor during the early phase of the war. The raid on 26 October 1944 on the canal aqueduct damaged the wall of the
Mittelland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...
, and numerous workers in a nearby air raid shelter were drowned. The last and most devastating air raid was conducted by
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
aircraft on 28 March 1945 and destroyed great parts of the town centre, including the town hall and cathedral, and resulted in the death of over 180 people. At the end of the war 13% of all buildings were destroyed or damaged.
When the
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
troops were approaching, the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
officials were ordered to leave the town to the east or the north; even the police and the firebrigade draw back, but Mayor ''Werner Holle'' remained. The
1st Canadian Airborne Battalion of the
3rd Parachute Brigade came from Bad Oeynhausen in the south, not through the Porta Westfalica gap but over the Wiehen Hills at the
pass
Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to:
Places
* Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland
* Pass, Poland, a village in Poland
* Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits
* Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...
of Bergkirchen. On the evening of 4 April 1945 they took the town centre nearly without resistance. Almost all the bridges over the Weser and Mittelland Canal as well as the canal aqueduct had just been blown up by the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
in a futile attempt to delay the Allied advance, according to Hitler's
Nero Decree
The Nero Decree (german: Nerobefehl) was issued by Adolf Hitler on 19 March 1945, ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent its use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany. It was officially titled Decree Con ...
. Before the retreat the army set fire to the Granary and the Army bakery; the spreading out of fire to the St Martin's church could be avoided only with great difficulties for lack of the firebrigade. In the first days of occupation a lot of plunder took place in the now police-less town.
Postwar time
![MI - Rathaus - Blickachse Dom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/MI_-_Rathaus_-_Blickachse_Dom.jpg)
In the early post-war time the Minden region became a important part of the
British Occupation Zone
The British occupation zone in Germany (German: ''Britische Besatzungszone Deutschlands'') was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. The United Kingdom along with her Commonwealth were one of the three major Allied pow ...
. The British Military Government took its main location in Bad Oeynhausen before it moved to Berlin. The headquarter of the
British Forces
The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...
remained there until 1954. All the German Wehrmacht barracks in Minden were taken by the British Army, as well as the former exercise area on Minderheide, where the St George's barracks were built in the following years, and on a nearby location the Kingsley barracks. 466 houses were confiscated in 1945. As immediate measure, the British Army set up an auxiliary bridge ("Francis bridge"), that was in use until the restoring of the regular bridge in 1947.
[ (with photo of the Francis bridge 1945)]
The ("Economic Council for the British Occupation Zone") was founded in Minden on 11 March 1946 for reactivation of German economic power and supervised the work of the ("Central Office for Economy") at the same place. The under its head ''Viktor Agartz'' fought against the policy of industrial dismantling and tried to reorganize the economy with perspectives of
planned economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
. After the partial conjunction of the American and British Occupation Zones in 1947 to the
Bizone, the
Bizonal Economic Council continued the activities of the Minden in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
in the American occupation zone, where with Ludwig Erhard the course was changed to a market economy.
The town administration resumed its work on 9 April 1945 on a provisional basis. Following to the foundation of the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
in 1946, the Free State of Lippe was adjoined to it in 1947; as a result of it Minden lost its position as a Regierungsbezirk, regional capital to the former Lippian capital Detmold in 1947. In contrast to the other Allied Powers (World War II), Allied Powers, the British changed the German community regulation for their occupation zone in the way of strict separation of powers. Since 1946 the Mayor was merely an honorary position as head of town and chairman of the town council; a professional (town director) was chief of the administration. In North Rhine-Westphalia these regulations were in force until 1998.
Parts of the Bundesbahn Central Offices, Federal Railways Central Offices were moved to Minden in 1950. In course of the West German rearmament, the (Duke of Brunswick Barracks) was built for the new garrison of the Federal Forces (''Bundeswehr'') in 1959 in the western quarter of Rodenbeck and another barracks in the quarter of Minderheide.
The town centre reconstruction adapted largely to the pre-war situation, the previous road system remained, but the destroyed houses were rebuilt in the 1950s style. Even in the undestroyed areas dilapidated buildings were replaced by new ones that deviated from the quarter's character by form and volume. The renewal of the main shopping street ''Scharn'' was planned by Werner March.
The serious lack of housing in the 1950s and 1960s, caused by bombing and the post-war migration of refugees, was sorted with new housing areas, especially in the west and north of the centre. Furthermore, some housing estates for British soldiers' families were developed.
The Minden tramway reduced the lines and finally stopped running in 1959; a trolley bus line on the right side of the Weser run from 1953 to 1965.
From the local government reorganization to present day
![2010-09-26 Minden Dom 4707](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/2010-09-26_Minden_Dom_4707.jpg)
On 1 January 1973, the previously separate surrounding communities of Aminghausen, Bölhorst, Dankersen, Dützen, Haddenhausen, Hahlen, Häverstädt, Kutenhausen, Leteln, Meißen, Päpinghausen, Stemmer, Todtenhausen as well as parts of Barkhausen, Hartum and Holzhausen II were incorporated into the town of Minden. Thereby its area increased from 29 km to 101 km and the population number from about 54.000 to 84.000. At the same time the former districts of Minden and Lübbecke were merged to the new district () of Minden-Lübbecke, from which Minden became the capital. A new district administration building was constructed south of the town centre on the site of an old barracks; the former administrative building is since then used as a community archive.
In the 1960s the maintaining problems of the town centre got more and more urgent, as for example a high population density, a great percentage of low-income persons, houses in poor condition, business premises not up-to-date, endangered pedestrians, and severe shortage of parking lots. Therefore, an urban renewal was carried out in the 1970s, within the frame of the federal law for urban development promotion (''Städtebauförderungsgesetz'', 1971), and subsidized by public money. Dilapidated buildings were renovated or replaced by new structures, but the removal of timbered houses was later regretted. The height of buildings was restricted to four or five storeys. The main shopping areas were rearranged to a pedestrian zone. Public traffic was kept away from the inner part with a new central bus station nearby. Since then the individual traffic has been hindered crossing through the centre, but houses can be reached by a Dead end (street), dead end system. Two large parking areas at the edge of the town centre, an underground car park and several multistorey car parks provide parking facilities. To keep away the regional traffic two new Weser bridges and a new bypass road in the very east were built; the old bridge was replaced in 1978.
The administration of the enlarged town required a new appropiate building. Architect Harald Deilmann planned this impressive complex directly from the old town hall to the cathedral court in the style of Structuralism (architecture), structuralism, but since its completion in 1977 it has been discussed quite controversially in Minden's public opinion, not only for the look of the façade, but also for blocking the scenic view of the cathedral from the arches of the old town hall. In 2006 a controversial resolution by the town council proposed the demolition of the town hall extensions to make room for a new shopping mall. However, a 57% majority opposed this plan in a referendum. Today the whole town hall building complex is classified as historical monument, an extensive renovation is going on since 2019.
The shoreline of the Weser was improved in 1976 by extending the promenade to the (Fishermen's Town). The ''Glacis'', a park-like open space in front of the old fortifications, which was important as a green belt, was altered and made more accessible. The old town wall fronting the Fischerstadt was restored to its former height.
The opposite shore area () has been made accessible by a footbridge. This improves access to a large parking area and festival site.
After the British troops had left Minden in 1994, their barracks areas became valuable sites for further town development ("conversion areas").
Place of prosecution and imprisonment
Minden was location of criminal prosecution or imprisonment in a number of very different cases.
* After the time of reformation Minden was a stronghold of witch-hunt in Germany. There were 128 prosecutions for witchcraft between 1603 and 1684. As in nearby regions, almost all those sentenced persons were women.
* Clemens August Droste zu Vischering (1773–1845), Archbishop of Cologne, was brought to Minden, where he was taken under house arrest from November 1837 to April 1839; he never returned to Cologne. During the so-called Cologne confusions (), Droste zu Vischering got in trouble with the Prussian state on the question of interconfessional marriages and the independence of the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn.
* The physician Abraham Jacobi was born in the nearby village of Hille, Germany, Hartum and educated at the gymnasium in Minden. Though being acquitted as defendant in the Cologne Communist Trial in 1852, he was afterwards imprisoned and condemned of lese-majesty by the district court of Minden. After his release he emigrated to the USA, where he became an important Pediatrics, pediater.
* During World War I, a large prisoner-of-war camp was established in the western quarter of Minderheide. In September 1914 the first French and British soldiers were brought to that military place, and only at the end of the year baracks were built for about 3.300 prisoners, but over the years more than 25.000 prisoners lived there. The camp was a main camp (''Stalag, Stammlager'') with several external labour camps (''Arbeitslager''). Apart from British and French soldiers (incl. auxiliary troops from the colonies) Italians, Russian, Serbian, Croats, Poles, and Armenians were captured. The camp was dissolved after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, but the total dismantling lasted until 1922. The name (Cemetery of the French) of the nearby cemetery derives from a war memorial for French soldiers and is misleading, as far as the dead French, British, and Italian soldiers were transferred to their native countries after war. Until today the gravesites of Russians, Serbians, Armenians, etc. are remaining. In September 1917 Nuncio, Apostolic Nuncio Pope Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli visited the camp.
* Auschwitz concentration camp commander Rudolf Höss was brought to Minden after being captured by the British in Schleswig-Holstein. In Minden, he was examined in the so-called "Camp Tomato", where he, for the first time, confessed the murders of millions of Jews in his camp and signed a protocol on 15 March 1946. On 31 May he was brought to Nuremberg, where he repeated the confession as witness in the Nuremberg trials.
Demography
Population growth
(The sudden increase of population number in 1973 results from the administrative adjointment of the surrounding villages to the Minden town area.)
In the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe which is congruent to the Detmold (region), administrative region of Detmold, Minden takes the fourth place by population after Bielefeld, Paderborn, and Gütersloh.
The earliest detailed information of population number is given from 1740. In times of prussian government, Minden as a regional capital and garrison showed a gentle population growth by officials and soldiers, and then, after the defortification, by industrial workers from the surrounding region.
After World War II the population increased by massive immigration of expelled persons and refugees mainly from Former eastern territories of Germany, former East Germany. Since the 1960s the immigration of foreign workers from the mediterranean countries to West Germany had an effect in Minden, too; initially thought to be guest workers, many of them have settled in the town permanently.
An immigration of Russia Germans, Germans from the Soviet Union and its succeeding countries to Germany began in the 1980s, and the district of Minden-Lübbecke was one of their preferred regions. The German reunification in 1989–1990 gave East German people the opportunity to move to the west. The last current immigration period is caused by Asylum seeker, asylum seeking refugees from the Near East.
Religions
Christians
Protestant
The Reformation was carried out in Minden between 1521 and 1529. The town contains six Protestant parishes today: St Mary's, St Martin's, St Mark's, St James' and the parishes of St Peter's and St Simeon's Churches. They all are parts of the Church District () of Minden and belong to the Evangelical Church of Westphalia.
Roman Catholic
According to the regulations of the Peace of Westphalia, Minden Cathedral remained in Catholic possession. During the population growth in the 19th century the small number of Catholics rose slowly, and because of the migration of expelled persons, working migrants, and refugees after World War II, the percentage of Catholics increased considerably among the population of Minden.
There are four Roman Catholic parishes in Minden: the parish of the cathedral St Peter and Gorgonius, and parishes of St Mauritius, St Paul and St Ansgar, which are all bound together to the Pastoral Cooperation (''Pastoralverbund'') Mindener Land as part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn.
Other Christian Communities
Further Christian communities are the New Apostolics, the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and others. Many of the Germans who have immigrated from Russia and Central Asian countries belong to baptistic or mennonitic communities.
A small Quakers' community existed during the 19th century, but only their cemetery has remained.
Non-Christian Religions
Jewish
A Jewish community has existed in Minden since 1270 and grew up to 400 members in the 19th century. After World War II the Jewish community was reconstituted and has today (2020) about 85 members. The Minden synagogue was built in 1865 and destroyed in the Kristallnacht, November pogrom on 9 November 1938. A new synagogue was inaugurated near to the old place in 1958 and is the centre of the Jewish community.
Muslims
In the last half century a considerable Muslim community has grown in Minden with three existing mosques.
Politics
Mayor
The Mayor is the head of the town, the leader of town administration and chairman of the city council. The Mayor is elected every five years.
The current Mayor of Minden is Michael Jäcke of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 2015 and re-elected in 2020 with 54.3% of the votes.
City council
![Banner Minden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Banner_Minden.svg)
The Minden city council governs the city together the Mayor. Municipal elections are held every five years, the recent election on 13 September 2020. Apart from the nationwide parties, the members of Minden council belong also to three local associations of independent voters.
! colspan=2, Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD)
, 10,856
, 36.38
, 4.2
, 21
, 3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, 8,164
, 27.36
, 0.6
, 15
, 2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
, 4,636
, 15.54
, 5.5
, 9
, 3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Free Democratic Party (Germany), Free Democratic Party (FDP)
, 1,037
, 3.74
, 0.4
, 2
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, The Left (Germany), The Left (Die Linke)
, 951
, 3.19
, 1.3
, 2
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD)
, 1,714
, 5.74
, 1.4
, 3
, ±0
, -
,
, align=left, Mindener Initiative (MI)
, 1,062
, 3.56
, 1.4
, 2
, 1
, -
,
, align=left, BürgerBündnis Minden (BBM)
, 735
, 2.46
, 0.6
, 1
, ±0
, -
,
, align=left, Wir für Minden
, 584
, 1.96
, New
, 1
, New
, -
! colspan=2, Total
!
! 100.0
!
! 56
! 4
, -
! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout
!
! 47.14
! 1.5
!
!
, -
, colspan=7, Source: State Returning Office
''Kommunalwahlen 2020''
Elections to parliaments
The constituencies for state parliament (''Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, Landtag'') and Minden-Lübbecke I, federal parliament (''Bundestag'') elections Minden belongs to, have been mostly won by candidates of the Social Democratic Party.
Coat of arms, flag, motto
The coat of arms shows the doubled-headed Reichsadler, imperial eagle (''Reichsadler'') of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
on the Dexter and sinister, right, awarded in 1627 by emperor
Ferdinand II for support of the town in the Thirty Years' War. The Dexter and sinister, left side shows the Keys of Heaven, crossed keys of Saint Peter, patron of Minden cathedral, as part of the Prince-Bishop's coat of arms.
The red-white flag shows the colours of the Hanseatic league. The town's motto is (Law and justice are the towns' ties).
Culture and sights
Theatre and cabaret revues
The Baroque Revival architecture, neo-baroque municipal theater (Stadttheater Minden) from 1908 has no ensemble, but is performance location for guest ensembles and regular symphony concerts of the North West German Philharmonic Orchestra (Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie). Since 2002 a project (''Der Ring in Minden'') has been running to perform all the operas of Richard Wagner.
Further theatre and cultural events occur with private sponsorship and are held in such locations as the civic centre and the . There are also theatre groups without fixed performance venues.
Minden is seat of the European Association of authors .
Minden is the original location of the nationally known amateur cabaret ; its foundation in 1966 makes it the oldest active cabaret in Germany. The town awards the prize every two years to support literary-political cabarets; the 4,000 euro prize is sponsored by the Melitta , Melitta company as well as the local savings bank.
Museums
Minden has a municipal archive and two significant museums. The Prussia Museum () is one of two museums of Prussian history in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is quartered in old barracks on ''Simeonsplatz'' (Simeon Square). The second one is the Minden Museum of History, Cultural Studies and Folklore (), housed in a Weser Renaissance style row of patrician houses (). The attached Coffee Museum (''Kaffee-Museum'') focuses on the 100-year-old coffee producer, Melitta.
Minden in seat of a mill association that takes care of over 40 historical mills in the surrounding district (Windmill, wind-, watermill, water-, and horse mills), which have been restored as technical monuments; on Minden area two windmills are in Meißen and Dützen, and a reconstructed ship mill at the Weser shore.
The Minden Museum Railway operates with old Prussian rolling stock on the Minden District Railway tracks.
Buildings
Minden Cathedral
Minden Cathedral, dedicated to Saints Gorgonius and Peter, is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From the year 803 AD, when the area was conquered by Charlemagne, it was the center of a diocese and subs ...
originally dates from the 11th century, the westwerk with its entrance façade built in Romanesque architecture, Romanesque style, while the early Gothic architecture, Gothic nave and aisles date from the 13th Century. Most of the old buildings around the cathedral were severely destroyed in World War's bomb attacks. The cathedral was reconstructed by architect Werner March until 1957. The nearby town hall with its picturesque 13th century Arcade (architecture), arcade is a complete postwar construction in its upper floors.
The market square is surrounded by buildings in the 19th century style of historicism. The impressive façade of house ''Flamme/Schmieding'' obtained a twice daily clock display in 2010. It features the popular origin myth of last independent Saxon leader Duke Widukind shaking hands with
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
.
The main pedestrian zone in the commercial centre of Minden extends from the market place to the north (''Scharn'') and then turning rectangular in the Bakers' street (''Bäckerstraße'') eastward to the Weser. The present buildings mostly date from the late 19th century, but some show reconstructed façades in the Weser Renaissance manner. North of the Bakers' Street there are few 17th to 18th century half-timber framing buildings and the secularized St John's church, now being the event location (BÜZ).
The pedestrian zone continues the market place to the south as ''Obermarktstraße'' (Upper market street) and leads to the upper town centre. Its skyline is dominated from the three churches of (from south to north) St Simeon, St Martin and St Mary, the tower of the latter being an eye-catcher over a long distance. In the southwestern part of the town centre many 16th to 18th century residential buildings have remained intact.
The upper town is accessible on a short way from the market place by the St Martin's steps (''Martinitreppe'') to the St Martin's churchyard (''Martinikirchhof''), today a parking area surrounded by the St Martin's church, the Old Mint (''Alte Münze''), the oldest profane stone building of Minden and one of the oldest in Westphalia, the ''Schwedenschänke'' (Swedish tavern, reminding of the Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years War), the renewed synagogue, and the "Granary" (''Proviant-Magazin'', now used as ''Weser-Kolleg'' school) and adjacent "Army Bakery" (''Heeresbäckerei'', now used as St Martin's parish centre) as military buildings of the 19th century. The last two buildings belong to the so-called Schinkel buildings (''Schinkelbauten''), as well as some buildings round the Simeon square south of the centre, for their style showing great resemblance to the manner of the famous Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. One of the smallest buildings in Minden is the ''Windloch'' (wind hole) near St Martin's.
Some great public buildings have been placed in the glacis area from 1880 to the very modern times: the schools ''Ratsgymnasium'', ''Kurt-Tucholsky-Gesamtschule'', ''Herder-Gymnasium Minden, Herder-Gymnasium'', ''Domschule'', the Centre of justice, and the Regional Government's building () and the neighboured old district administration building (now the local archive) both in neo-renaissance style; the new district administration building from 1977 follows to the south.
Because of its location near to the frontier between the Kingdoms of Prussia and Kingdom of Hanover, Hanover, the Minden station, railway station was strongly fortified from the beginning in 1847. Impressive relicts of the station fortification with three forts have still remained. The station building itself is classified as Cultural heritage management, historical monument.
The picturesque (fishermens' town) lies northeast of the town centre along the Weser, where remnants of the old town fortification wall are reconstructed. In the old villages now being town quarters a lot of half-timbered houses have remained. (Haddenhausen Palace) is a 17th-century Weserrenaissance style manor house, still owned by the Bussche family, on the outskirts of the town.
The Kampa-Halle from the 1970s is a large gym-complex for sports and other events.
Monuments
![Pegelschlange](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Pegelschlange.jpg)
Minden contains several monuments harking back to Prussian history. The monument of the Great Elector, the only one for a sovereign in Minden, stands alongside the Weser bridgehead to commemorate its first Prussian ruler. In the glacis area, monuments are placed for the infantry brigade and the artillery regiment stationed in Minden, for the World War I deads of the pioneer battalion, and the deads of both World Wars. Another memorial is topped by a bust of Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778–1852), the "father of gymnastics", and reminds especially at the dead gymnasts of Minden. The monument to the
Battle of Minden
The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...
is in the Todtenhausen quarter of the town; it commemorates the decisive victory of the forces of Great Britain and their German allies. On the Great cathedral court an obelisk-like monument, topped by the Prussian eagle, reminds at the Prussian victories in the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and a sarcophagus-like memorial in the glacis, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, at Major General ''Ernst Michael von Schwichow'' (1759–1823), fortress commander of Minden.
The ''Weserspucker'' (Weser spitter) in the pedestrian zone symbolizes the connection with the river; he is spitting in intervalls. A memorial in pyramidion-form at the Mittelland Canal reminds of ''Leo Sympher'' (1854–1922), the leading hydraulic engineer of the canal construction, and a bust at the of the Minden born astronomer ''Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel''.
The new steel sculpture named ''Keilstück'' (Wedge piece) by artist ''Wilfried Hagebölling'', that decorates the ''Martinikirchhof'' since 1987, has been disputed controversially in public opinion. In the early 2000s the town council decided to remove the sculpture, but caused thereby legal proceedings with the artist; finally the court of appeal confirmed the location at the original place. In January 2022 the sculpture ''Pegelschlange'' (gauge snake) is placed in the flooding area at the Weser shore.
Minden Friedrich Wilhelm I.jpg, The Great Elector by Wilhelm Haverkamp
Denkmal Schlacht bei Minden.jpg, Memorial to the Battle of Minden
The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...
in Todtenhausen
2010-05-21 Minden Schwichow Denkmal (5).jpg, Memorial for fortress commander ''Schwichow'' by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Schinkel
Minden Feb 2009 058.jpg, War memorial (''Großer Domhof'')
Prinz Friedrich IR15 1.jpg, Memorial to the Infantry Regiments
Denkmal am alten Amphietheater Glacis Minden.jpg, Memorial to the Artillery Regiments by Eberhard Encke
Denkmal Campus Minden.jpg, Memorial to the deads of the Artillery Regiment No. 58
Denkmal Glacie Klausenwall.jpg, Memorial for the deads of the Pioneer Battalions
Jahn-Denkmal WK1 Marienstraße 1.jpg, Memorial for war-killed Minden gymnasts
Wasserstrassenkreuz Minden2.jpg, ''Leo Sympher'' memorial at the Mittelland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...
KeilstückWilfriedHagebölling.JPG, ''Keilstück'' on the ''Martinikirchhof'' in front of "Army bakery" (left) and "Granary"
Weserspucker 7534.jpg, upThe Weser spitter
Bessel Minden.JPG, Bust of astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Parks
The town centre is surrounded by the Glacis, a parklike green belt replacing the fortifications after their demolition. In its western part the glacis widens to a botanical garden with old tree specimens and thematic gardens on the site of the old cemetery, that was established in 1807, after burials on the old churchyards inside the town had been forbidden. In 1904 a new great cemetery was laid out in the north of the centre, and in 1957 another one in the south.
Sport
![Kampahalle20150718](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Kampahalle20150718.jpg)
About 25.000 people are members of more than a hundred sport clubs, which are organized in a municipal sport association (), covering a great variety of disciplines.
The most successful club, the handball club GWD Minden, has played in the Handball-Bundesliga (national handball league) with some interruptions since the league's founding in 1966. GWD now plays in the "Kampa-Halle".
Minden has a reputation as a water sports centre with swimming, kanoe and kayak sport, and rowing, aided by its location on the Weser and the Canal. Many organizations participate in the organization of the major water sport festival "Blaues Band der Weser" which is held every other year.
''Mindener Freischießen''
![Kranzreiten Hahlen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Kranzreiten_Hahlen.JPG)
The (Minden Free Shooting) is a unique public festival that takes place usually every two years. It is arranged by the military-like organized (Minden Citizen Battalion) with the (Town Major) on top. The battalion is divided into six companies, a squadron and a drummer corps, each of them headed by a captain.
In the Middle Ages the right of self-government corresponded with the duty of self-defence, and the citizen battalion was established for this purpose. Since 1682 the obligatory shooting exercises were arranged as a public festival, and as a reward the best shooter was exempted from taxation in the current year. The festival's name refers to this rule. In 1685 the Great Elector changed the rule, so that the winner got a reward of 50 Thaler. This rule has remained to present days: now the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia as legal successor of the Prince-Elector pays the honour sum in present currency; due to the biennial rhythm two winners are determined.
The festival usually takes place in June or July from Thursday to Sunday in the town centre. The should not be confused with a marksmen's festival.
Other Events
The ''Mindener Messe'' is a one-week Traveling carnival, travelling funfair every May and every November on the wide event-place at the right Weser shore; it was founded in 1526 by the Prince-Bishop.
The takes place every summer in the quarter of Hahlen. It is an equestrian competition where the contestants try to catch a gallow-hanging garland while riding on a galloping horse in several rounds; every following round the gallow is lifted to a higher position.
Traditional Marksmen's festivals (''Schützenfest'') are arranged by marksmen's clubs () in some quarters of Minden like in many other German cities.
Economy and infrastructure
Traffic
Rail and bus
![MindenFischerstadt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/MindenFischerstadt.jpg)
Minden station is connecting point of the
Hanover–Minden railway and the Hamm–Minden railway, which are part of the main lines connecting the Rhine-Ruhr region and Amsterdam with Berlin, and the secondary Weser-Aller Railway between Minden and Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Nienburg. The railway station is a stop for local and express trains such as Intercity-Express and InterCity.
Regional lines:
*RE 6 (''Rhein-Weser-Express'') Düsseldorf–Bielefeld–Minden,
*RE 60 (''Ems-Leine-Express'')/ RE 70 (''Weser-Leine-Express'') Bielefeld/ Rheine–Minden–Hannover–Braunschweig
*RE 78 (''Nienburg–Minden railway, Porta-Express'') Bielefeld–Minden–Nienburg
Minden is terminal station of line S 1 of the Hanover S-Bahn to Hanover. All passenger platforms are accessible to handicapped persons.
The Minden Districht Railways () run two freight lines, one from Minden to Hille (Mittelland Canal port) in the west and the other one to Kleinenbremen in the east. The Minden Museum Railway () operates restored locomotives and rolling stock on these lines, in Kleinenbremen with the end at the visitors' mine.
The main station is connected by bus with the central bus terminal (, ''ZOB'') in the town centre, where 13 bus lines rendezvous every half hour. The local buses are coordinated with the regional buses to the other towns of the district.
Roads
The town ies close to the Bundesautobahn 2, Autobahn A 2 from Berlin to the Ruhr and the Bundesautobahn 30, A 30 to Amsterdam. The Bundesstraße, federal roads 61 and 65 cross in the town, the federal road 482 touches Minden as eastern ring road and connects the town with Nienburg and the next A 2-junction in Porta Westfalica. A dual carriageway connects the town to the south with Porta Wesfalica and Bad Oeynhausen. Two semicircle four-lane ring roads go around the town itself, the inner route 61 provides a town by-pass. The town centre has pay car parks and an automated guide to empty spaces.
Waterways and harbours
![Kanal ueber der Weser](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Kanal_ueber_der_Weser.jpg)
The crossing of the navigable Weser and the
Mittelland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...
is an important junction of the inland waterways system. Two locks (built 1914 and 2018) connect the River with the canal to overcome a difference in height of . The
multimodal transport
Multimodal transport (also known as combined transport) is the transportation of goods under a single contract, but performed with at least two different modes of transport; the carrier is liable (in a legal sense) for the entire carriage, even th ...
harbours on both Weser and Mittelland Canal are experiencing increasing volume because of the good waterway connections to the seaports of Bremen, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg. A new container port is in construction to the east of the present Mittellandkanal harbour, the so-called "RegioPort Ostwestfalen-Lippe, OWL", at the boundary to stat of Lower Saxony, being a seldom example of cross-border planning in the Federal Republic.
Minden is location of a section of the Waterways and Shipping Authority Mittelland Canal / Elbe Lateral Canal () for the administration of the maintenance and regulation of these waterways. An information centre is located at the
Minden Aqueduct
The Minden Aqueduct (german: Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden) is an aqueduct near Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It actually consists of two parallel water bridges, that lead the Mittelland Canal over the Weser. The older of the two bridges ...
(''Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden''), where the canal system and the function of the locks are explained.
Weser bridges
There are seven overpasses over the Weser in Minden, three road bridges, a railroad bridge, a pedestrian bridge, and a double aqueduct for the canal. The main town bridge connects the town centre with the eastern suburbs and the railway station. The two relief bridges from the 1970s, the Gustav Heinemann, Gustav Heinemann Bridge in the north and the Theodor Heuss, Theodor Heuss Bridge in the south, are four-lane and lead traffic away from town centre. A railway bridge carries the Minden District Railways' tracks over the Weser toward the main station. The Glacis bridge is a pedestrian suspension bridge that provides access to the , a large parking area and event place east of the town centre.
The next nearby road bridges are south at Porta Wesfalica and north at Petershagen.
Bicycle
The town is touched by two long-distance cycling routes: the (Weser bicycle path) along the complete river from Hann. Münden to Cuxhaven, and starting point and terminus as well of the Westphalian Mill Route, that connects 43 historic mills along a circular route. A bike freeway from Minden to Herford (''Radschnellweg RS 3'') is under construction.
The railway station provides a bike station. The town belongs to a working cooperative of bicycle friendly communities in North Rhine-Westphalia with the aim to increase bicycle traffic to over 20 percent of the total.
Hiking
Minden lies on the ''Widukind, Wittekindsweg'' (Wittekind's path), part of the E11 European long distance path#Töddenweg and Wittekindsweg (205 km), E11 European long distance path from The Hague to Tallinn, and on the regional Pilgrims' Way, pilgrims' route ''Sigwardsweg'', named in memory of Bishop Sigward (1120–1140).
A planet walk from Simeon square along the Weser shore to the north symbolizes the planetary distances in the Solar System; it was established in 1996, when Pluto was yet regarded as planet, and therefore has a length of .
Economy
![Harting Minden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Harting_Minden.jpg)
Minden is the economic centre of the district and the bordering region of Lower Saxony. It is part of an agglomeration corridor that extends along the A 2 Autobahn from Minden through Herford, Bielefeld, Gütersloh and on to the Ruhr area. Traffic connections by railway, highway, federal routes, and waterways are favourable factors for growing industry and trade with about 3,300 firms and 40,000 employees in regular conditions (2020).
A multitude of economic branches include the chemical, metalworking, electronic, paper, ceramic, and woodworking spheres, located on industrial areas mainly in the west and east parts of the town.
According to the three-sector model, the Minden employees work in the Primary sector of the economy, primary sector (agriculture, forestry) at 0.1%, in the Secondary sector of the economy, secondary sector (industrial production) at 27.6%, and in the Tertiary sector of the economy, tertiary sector (mainly service and administration) at 72.4%; these numbers are roughly in accordance to the average of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The number of about 28,000 daily commuters exceeds the 17,000 citizens of Minden, who work outside the town's limits.
The Disposable and discretionary income, disposable income per capita amounts slowly below to the average of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Like in other towns, some great retail areas have deloped apart from the centre in the outer parts of the town. A very special problem of Minden results from the local government reorganization of 1973, when most of the surrounding suburbs were adjointed to the town administratively. The southern suburbs of Barkhausen and Neesen however became parts of the new founded town of
Porta Westfalica
Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The name "''Porta Westfalica''" is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of West ...
, that since then has developed a large trading estate ("Porta Markt") in the most northwestern part of its quarter Barkhausen, directly to the border of Minden. The now established shopping scene is situated extremely marginally in the Porta Westfalica area, but the distance to Minden town centre is only ; by the federal route 65 even parts of the western community of Hille and the eastern town of Bückeburg are in the Isochrone map, 15-minute radius.
Enterprises
Minden is location of several middle-sized companies without a dominating industrial branch. As it is typical for the East Westphalian economy, most of the Minden firms are small or middle-sized and often yet in ownership of the founder's family. No Minden firm is listed in the German premium stock indices DAX and MDAX, neither in the small-company index SDAX or the TecDAX for technological companies. Most of the greater firms have the status of Private limited company, private limited legal entities (''Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung'') or partnerships (''Kommanditgesellschaft'').
Melitta
Melitta () is a German company selling coffee, paper coffee filters, and coffee makers, part of the Melitta Group, which has branches in other countries. The company is headquartered in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia.
It is named after Meli ...
with headquarters in Minden is well known by consumers for its coffee products. The ''Strothmann'' corn brandy of rye distilled liquor is produced here by the ''Wilhelm Strothmann Brennereien'' that is now part of the ''Berentzen'' group.
''Siegfried PharmaChemikalien Minden'' (former ''Knoll AG'' and lateron part of the BASF, now subsidiary of ''Siegfried AG'' in Switzerland) produces pharmacy chemicals as ephedrine, coffein and theophylline. Another notable firm is ''Follmann'', which produces special dyes and adhesives. ''Ornamin Kunststoffwerke'' is a designer and producer of innovative plastic utensils like tableware and "To Go"-vessels, located in Minden since 1955.
The ''Harting Technologiegruppe'', an electronics company originally founded in 1945, built an impressive administration centre near to a former Prussian barracks area in the Glacis belt; the main locations of production were moved since 1950 to the nearby towns of
Espelkamp
Espelkamp ( nds, Espelkämpe) is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Espelkamp is situated approximately 10 kilometers north of Lübbecke and 20 kilometers north-west of Minden.
Neighbouring pla ...
and Rahden. WAGO Kontakttechnik has its main location in the north of the town centre and produces connector products for the electric and electronic industry. ''Schoppe und Faeser'' was a producer of electronics that has been taken over by the ABB Group. ''Rose & Krieger'', a subsidiary of Phoenix Mecano, produces technical components. The over 100 year old Altendorf GmbH firm produces machine tools including the world leading circular trim saws.
The German retail food Cooperative, corporation Edeka has a regional office and distribution centre (''Edeka Minden-Hannover'') situated in Minden. The office is responsible for a large area from the North Sea to the Eastern German border. A 100%-subsidiary of Edeka is the low-price supermarket chain ''NP-Markt'' with administrative seat in Minden, as well as the regional retailer WEZ (25% ownership).
The ''Deutsche Bahn, DB Systemtechnik'' (German railway system technology) deals with the development of rail vehicles and railway system equipment.
The savings bank ''Sparkasse Minden-Lübbecke'', a regional Sparkasse (Germany), Sparkasse, has its main administration in Minden.
Media
The only local daily newspaper is the ''Mindener Tageblatt''. The Westdeutscher Rundfunk, WDR (West German Broadcast) studio in Bielefeld provides a regional public broadcast, supporting the region of East Westphalia-Lippe with both radio and television programs. The TV transmission has its regional antenna on the Jakobsberg (Porta Westfalica), Jakobsberg near Minden. The private radio station ''Radio Westfalica'' is part of the ''Radio-NRW'' group and transmits a local program from Minden focused on the District Minden-Lübbecke.
Public services and establishments
![MindenGericht2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/MindenGericht2.jpg)
The administration offices of the district of
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.
Geography
This is the northernmost district of North R ...
are located in the (district building), and a section of the Detmold (region), regional administration that deals with water affairs is still located in Minden.
The ''Minden Holding'', a company in hands of the towns of Minden and Hamelin, Hameln, manages the supply with gas, electricity, and water with its subsidiary firms ''Mindener Stadtwerke'' and ''Mindener Wasser''; the waste disposal is done by the ''Städtische Betriebe Minden'' (Municipal corporations#Municipal corporations as enterprises, municipal enterprises).
The 864 bed hospital ''Johann Vesling, Johannes-Wesling-Klinikum'' is one of four sites of the "Mühlenkreiskliniken" hospital-complex serving the district of Minden-Lübbecke. The new hospital building was completed in 2008 and is located in the southern town-quarter of Minden-Häverstädt.
Minden is site of a Centre of justice containing one of the seven Administrative courts for North Rhine-Westphalia with competence for the whole Detmold (region), administrative region of Detmold, the Labor court, Labour court () for controversies in employee-employer relationship in the district Minden-Lübbecke, and one of the three Amtsgericht, Local courts () for criminal and civil cases in the district of Minden-Lübbecke.
Minden is base of a German-British 9th Panzerlehr Brigade (Bundeswehr)#Current structure, pioneer battalion (''Deutsch/Britisches Pionierbrückenbataillon 130'') with location in the (Duke of Brunswick barracks) at the western town frontier.
Education
![Minden FH Bielefeld](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Minden_FH_Bielefeld.jpg)
The town provides all types of State school#Germany, general-educating school. At present time (2022) there are eleven elementary schools (age 6 to 10), three secondary schools (age 10 to 16), and five secondary schools with upper-level education (age 10 to 19, ending with the university entrance exam (''Abitur''), two of them as comprehensive schools and the other three of type "Gymnasium (Germany), gymnasium", a ''Waldorf education, Freie Waldorfschule'' (age 6 to 18) and furthermore two Dual education system, vocational colleges. The ''Weser-Kolleg'' offered adult people a "second way of education" to get the ''Abitur'', that provides access to university education.
Minden is site of a branch of the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences () specializing in architecture, construction engineering, technology, engineering and mathematics, social studies, business and health. Its location is the ''Campus Minden'', a former artillery barracks area of the . The ''Medizin Campus OWL'' is adjoint to the Johannes-Wesling-Klinikum as one of the study locations of the University Hospitals of the Ruhr-University of Bochum within a decentralized educational concept for students of medicine. The RailCampus OWL, a cluster of some universities, enterprises and the German Railway for education and research in railway systems, started working in 2022.
Minden offers a Folk high school () in cooperation with the bordering communities of Hille, Petershagen, Porta Westfalica and Bad Oeynhausen, and musical education in a municipal music school.
Notable people
![FranzBoas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/FranzBoas.jpg)
*Master Bertram, Master Bertram of Minden (c.1345–c.1415), painter
*Johann Vesling (1598–1649), physician
*Georg Wilhelm von dem Bussche, Georg Wilhelm von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen (1726–1794), Hanoveran officer
*Caroline von Humboldt (1766–1829), art historian, wife of Wilhelm von Humboldt
*Ludwig von Vincke (1774–1844), Prussian statesman, Supreme President of Westphalia
*Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846), astronomer and mathematician
*Karl von Vincke (1800–1869), politician and officer
*Pauline von Mallinckrodt (1817–1881), founder of the order ''Sisters of Christian Charity''
*Hermann von Mallinckrodt (1821–1874), politician
*Otto von Diederichs (1843–1918), Admiral
*Otto von Emmich (1848–1915), General
*Franz Boas (1858–1942), American anthropologist
*Ludwig Borckenhagen (1859–1917), Admiral
*Otto Quante (1875–1947), painter
*Hans Koeppen (1876–1948), officer and racing driver
*Gertrud von le Fort (1876–1971), writer
*Carl Hoffmann (1885–1947), cinematographer
*Richard Reimann (1892–1970), General
*Karl-Siegmund Litzmann (1893–1945), Nazi officer
*Franz Brandt (1893–1954), officer
*Hans Cramer (1896–1968), General
*Rolf E. Vanloo (1899–1941 ff.), film producer
*Hermann Bartels (1900–1989), architect
*Paul Kelpe (1902–1985), painter
*Heinrich Trettner (1907–2006), General of the Wehrmacht, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr
*Karl Strauss (1912–2006), brewer in Milwaukee
*Heinz Körvers (1915–1942), handball player
*Hans Wollschläger (1935–2007), translator of James Joyce and Edgar Allan Poe
*Herbert Lübking (born 1941), handball player, field handball world champion
*Jutta Hering-Winckler (born 1948), patron of music
*Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (born 1951), politician
*Burkhard Schwenker (born 1958), manager
*Lutz Hachmeister (born 1959), media historian, filmmaker, journalist
*Wolfgang Rathert (born 1960), musicologist
*Angelika Brandt (born 1961), marine biologist
*Yves Eigenrauch (born 1971), footballer
*René Müller (born 1974), footballer
*Martin Schmeding (born 1975), concert organist and academic teacher
*Jan-Martin Bröer (born 1982), rower
*Thilo Versick (born 1985), footballer
*Tim Danneberg (born 1986), footballer
*René Rast (born 1986), racing driver
*Jan-Christoph Borchardt (born 1989), open source interaction designer
Notable residents
![Schachtdeckel mit Wappen der Stadt Minden, Nordrhein-Westfalen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Schachtdeckel_mit_Wappen_der_Stadt_Minden%2C_Nordrhein-Westfalen.jpg)
*Heinrich von Herford (c. 1300–1370), Dominican
*Friedrich Hoffmann (1660–1742), physician in Minden garrison, inventor of the ''Hoffmannstropfen'' (Compound spirit of ether)
*Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759–1845), composer and music director
*Melitta Bentz (1873–1950), inventor of the coffee filter
Honorary citizens
Honorary citizenship was awarded to fourteen people totally;
yet living are handball player Herbert Lübking (born 1941) and former mayor Heinz Röthemeier (born 1924). Other honorary citizens were :
* Ludwig von Vincke (1774–1844), Prussian statesman
* August Karl von Goeben (1816–1880), General
* Alfred Meyer (1891–1945), Nazi official
Twin towns – sister cities
Minden is Sister city, twinned with:
* Gladsaxe Municipality, Gladsaxe, Denmark (1968)
* London Borough of Sutton, Sutton, England, United Kingdom (1968)
* Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (Berlin), Germany (1968)
* Gagny, France (1976)
* Tangermünde, Germany (1990)
* Grodno, Belarus (1991)
* Changzhou, China (2015)
Minden has friendship relations to Tavarnelle Val di Pesa (Italy) and Attard (Malta).
Minden took on the patronage for the expelled former inhabitants of the Pomeranian town of ''Köslin'' (now Koszalin in Poland).
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Gallery
Martinikirche1.jpg, Tower of St Martin's
Petrikirche Minden.jpg, St Peter's church
Windloch minden.jpg, ''Windloch'' (wind hole), Minden's smallest house
2010-05-21 Minden Bahnhofskaserne (8).jpg, ''Bahnhofskaserne'' (barracks near main station)
Minden FortA Aerial.jpg, Fort A
2010-05-21 Minden Fort C (3).jpg, Fort C
Schachtschleuse Minden Unterhaupt.jpg, Shaft lock (1915), left: new lock (2018)
Minden Finanzamt.jpg, ''Oberpost-direktion'' (regional post office administration), now: revenue service building
Schloss Haddenhausen1.jpg, ''Schloss Haddenhausen'' in Weser Renaissance style
References
Bibliography
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* (5 Volumes)
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External links
Official website
History of Minden
*Encyclopedia Britannica
Minden
{{Authority control
Minden
Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia
Minden-Lübbecke
Members of the Hanseatic League
Holocaust locations in Germany