The Zwinger in the

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

n city of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

is part of the old city fortifications from the Early Modern Period. In the

Nazi era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

it was both a

gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...

and a

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

place of execution and was heavily damaged by allied air raids. Since its conversion to a memorial the Zwinger has belonged to the Münster City Museum (''Stadtmuseum Münster'') and is home to the sculpture ''Das gegenläufige Konzert''.

References

* Rebecca Horn: ''Der Zwinger in Münster''. W. König Verlag, * Max Geisberg: ''Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen'', Vol. 41: Die Stadt Münster Teil 1: Die Ansichten und Pläne, Grundlage und Entwicklung, die Befestigungen, die Residenzen der Bischöfe. Aschendorff, Münster, 1976, * Barbara Rommé (ed.): ''Der Zwinger : Bollwerk, Kunstwerk, Mahnmal''. Aschendorff, Münster, 2007,

External links

Panorama (with sound of the metal hammers)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zwinger (Munster) Heritage sites in North Rhine-Westphalia City walls in Germany Commemoration of Nazi crimes Culture in Münster