Neumünster Railway Station

Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg).

History

The city was first formally mentioned as ''Wippendorp im Gau Faldera'' in 1127. In that year, the Bishop Vicelinus was sent there by the Archbishop of Bremen to perform missionary work. By 1136, Vicelinus built a new monastery there ( Latin: ''novum monasterium,'' Greco-Latin'': Neomonasterium,'' German'': neues Kloster'' or ''neues Münster''). The name "Novum monasterium" eventually replaced the previous names of Wippendorf and Faldera and led to the current name.

In April 1870, Neumünster received town privileges. Since 1903 Neumünster is a so-called " independent city" (German: ''Kreisfreie Stadt'') as it is not part of a district (German: ''Kreis'').

Großflecken ( English: Large spot), a large, centrally-located street and public space in the city, became a place for civil unrest several times. In March 1848, riots broke out at Großflecken as part of the German revolution and again in 1923 during a period of inflation.

The city was protested by the Rural People's Movement as part of a farmers' protest movement in northern Germany from 1928 to 1933, which was the basis for Hans Fallada's novel ''A Small Circus (Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben).'' The city's Hans Fallada Prize is named after him.

The Schleswig-Holstein Nazi Party was founded in 1925 by Hinrich Lohse. The local Nazi Party group of Neumünster met at ''Hofbräu München,'' a brewery at Großflecken''.'' In 1926, Joseph Goebbels spoke to the local members there. In 1929 there were reportedly 29 members of the local Nazi Party group, but this number increased to 400 members a year later and to over 2,000 members by 1932. Shortly after the Nazi seizure of power, Großflecken was renamed to Adolf-Hitler-Platz (English: Adolf Hitler Place). On Kristallnacht in 1938, all Jewish men were arrested and sent to KZ Sachsenhausen.

During World War 2, Neumünster was bombed multiple times by Allied forces in 1945, partly because of its importance as a railway junction and industrial city. The British took control of the City in May 1945.

In the fall of 1946, the state of Schleswig-Holstein was founded and post-war Neumünster held its first municipal election.

Neumünster used to be a hub for the textile industry, with its first fulling mill going back to 1566. However, the industry eventually left the city due to competition from overseas and Neumünster's last cloth factory closed in the beginning of the 1990s. This, among other reasons, has led to Neumünster having a relatively high rate of unemployment in recent decades compared to nationwide averages.

In 2012, McArthurGlen Group opened a designer outlet shopping center in the industrial section of the city, using approximately 15,000 square meters.

Current infrastructure

Neumünster station is a major railway junction with lines running in six (formerly seven) directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.

Near Neumünster at Ehndorf, there is a high-power medium wave transmission facility for transmitting the programmes of Deutschlandfunk, the Ehndorf transmitter, which is often named incorrectly as "Neumünster transmitter".

The city has an airfield and a hospital. The utility company, "Stadtwerke Neumünster" (SWN), also manages local inter-city bus routes. In 2022, SWN ended all its inter-city bus service for Sundays and holidays, instead offering an on-demand shuttle van requiring an additional "comfort surcharge" on top of regular bus fares.

The city is divided into nine neighborhoods: Böcklersiedlung-Bugenhagen, Brachenfeld-Rutenberg, Einfeld, Faldera, Gadeland, Gartenstadt, Stadtmitte, Tungendorf and Wittorf.

Geography

Neumünster is located at river Schwale, near the geographical center of Schleswig-Holstein, south of Kiel, north of Hamburg and west of Lübeck. The Aukrug Nature Park is close to the town.

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Neumünster is Tobias Bergmann of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The most recent mayoral election was held on 9 May 2021, with a runoff held on 30 May, and the results were as follows:

! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate
! rowspan=2, Party
! colspan=2, First round
! colspan=2, Second round
, -
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Olaf Taurus
, align=left, Independent ( CDU)
, 10,315
, 40.6
, 9,857
, 49.2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Tobias Bergmann
, align=left, Social Democratic Party
, 6,834
, 26.9
, 10,194
, 50.8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Sven Radestock
, align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens
, 5,649
, 22.3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Memet Celik
, align=left, Independent
, 1,799
, 7.1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Mark Proch
, align=left, National Democratic Party
, 786
, 3.1
, -
! colspan=3, Valid votes
! 25,383
! 99.1
! 20,051
! 99.4
, -
! colspan=3, Invalid votes
! 233
! 0.9
! 112
! 0.6
, -
! colspan=3, Total
! 25,616
! 100.0
! 20,163
! 100.0
, -
! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout
! 64,345
! 39.8
! 64,344
! 31.3
, -
, colspan=7, Source: City of Neumünster
1st round2nd round

List of mayors and Lord mayors

In 1870 Neumünster received the town privileges.
* 1870–1894: Eduard Schlichting
* 1894–1919: Max Röer
* 1919–1933: Detlef Schmidt
* 1933–1945: Max Stahmer (NSDAP (Nazi Party))
* 1945–1946: Gustav Bärwald (Oberstadtdirektor)
* 1946–1948: Ludolf Behnke (CDU)
* 1948–1950: Hugo Voß (SPD)
* 1950–1970: Walther Lehmkuhl (SPD)
* 1970–1988: Uwe Harder (SPD)
* 1988–1991: Franz-Josef Pröpper (SPD)
* 1991–2009: Hartmut Unterlehberg (SPD)
* 2009–2021: Olaf Tauras (CDU)
*2021–present: Tobias Bergmann (SPD)

City council

The Neumünster city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 6 May 2018, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2, Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, 7,665
, 34.0
, 2.5
, 15
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Social Democratic Party (SPD)
, 6,163
, 27.4
, 6.6
, 12
, 2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
, 3,686
, 16.4
, 3.9
, 7
, 2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP)
, 1,318
, 5.9
, 1.7
, 2
, 1
, -
,
, align=left, Alliance for Citizens in Schleswig-Holstein (BfB)
, 1,293
, 5.7
, 0.4
, 2
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, The Left (Die Linke)
, 959
, 4.3
, 1.3
, 2
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, National Democratic Party (NPD)
, 879
, 3.9
, 2.3
, 2
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Liberal Conservative Reformers (LKR)
, 440
, 2.0
, New
, 1
, New
, -
, colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey,
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)
, 120
, 0.5
, 1.5
, 0
, 1
, -
! colspan=2, Valid votes
! 22,523
! 98.8
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=2, Invalid votes
! 263
! 1.2
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=2, Total
! 22,786
! 100.0
!
! 43
! ±0
, -
! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout
! 64,839
! 35.1
! 4.7
!
!
, -
, colspan=7, Source: City of Neumünster

Population development

Twin towns – sister cities

Neumünster is twinned with:
* Gravesham, England, United Kingdom
* Koszalin, Poland
* Parchim, Germany

Notable people

* Vicelinus (1086–1154), Apostle of Holstein and Bishop of Oldenburg
*Ernst Eduard Hudemann (1811–1889), educator, philologist and classical historian
* Eduard Sachau (1845–1930), orientalist
*Rudolf Bülck (1880−1954), librarian
*Karl Schlabow (1891–1984), archaeologist, museum director and conservator
*Walter Bartram (1893–1971), former Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein
*Hans Schnoor (1893–1976), musicologist
* Fritz C. Mauch (1905–1940), film editor and assistant director
* Eduard Müller (1911–1943), Catholic priest, one of the Lübeck martyrs
* Herbert Martin Hagen (1913–1999), SS Stormbolder and convicted war criminal
* Annemarie Auer (1913–2002), author and literary scholar
*Gerhard Wessel (1913–2002), President of the Federal Intelligence Bureau 1968–1978
* Horst Mittelstaedt (1923–2016), biologist cyberneticist and university lecturer
* Detlev Blanke (1941–2016), University lecturer for interlinguistics at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin
* Michael Simon (born 1958), theatre director, opera director and scenic designer
*Thomas Mohr (tenor) (born 1961), tenor and academic teacher
*Christine Haderthauer (born 1962), former CSU General Secretary and former Minister of State (Bavarian State Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Family and Women)
* Aminata Touré (born 1992), German Green Party politician, member and former Vice-President of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag and current Minister of Social Affairs, Youth, Family, Senior Citizens, Integration and Equality of Schleswig-Holstein

Sport

* Wilf Smith (born 1946), English footballer
* Werner Bühse (born 1951), sports shooter
*Svenja Schlicht (born 1967), swimmer
*Dirk Urban (born 1969), shot putter
*Stefan Schnoor (born 1971), footballer
* Gabriel Silberstein (born 1974), Chilean tennis player
* Mona Barthel (born 1990), tennis player

See also

*VfR Neumünster
* Hans Fallada Prize
* Einfelder See

References

External links

*

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumunster

Towns in Schleswig-Holstein