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Neumünster () is a city in the middle of
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...
(behind
Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
,
Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
and
Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...
). The ''Holstenhallen'' and the ''Stadthalle'' make the city an important trade fair location.


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 This list records the bishops of the Archdiocese of Bremen, Roman Catholic diocese of Bremen (), supposedly a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Archbishopric of Cologne, then of the bishops of Bremen, who were in personal union archbishops ...
to perform missionary work. By 1136, Vicelinus built a new monastery there (
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
: ''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 An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
" (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 criticized 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 The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
was founded in 1925 by
Hinrich Lohse Hinrich Lohse (2 September 1896 – 25 February 1964) was a German Nazi Party official, politician and convicted war criminal. He served as the ''Gauleiter'' and ''Oberpräsident'' of Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig-Holstein and was an S ...
. 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 postwar 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, led to Neumünster having a relatively high rate of unemployment 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

The city is divided into nine neighborhoods: Böcklersiedlung-Bugenhagen, Brachenfeld-Rutenberg, Einfeld, Faldera, Gadeland, Gartenstadt, Stadtmitte, Tungendorf and Wittorf. 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 Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...
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. Beginning in autumn 2023 more regular bus lines were replaced by the on-demand shuttle service. The additional fees were cancelled and the service can now be used with the normal bus tickets.


Education

The University of Applied Sciences Kiel offers a bachelor's degree in nursing at its Neumünster site.


Geography

Neumünster is located at the rivers Schwale and
Stör The Stör () is a river in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, right tributary of the Elbe. Its total length is . The Stör rises east of Neumünster, and flows west through Neumünster, Kellinghusen, and Itzehoe. The Stör joins the Elbe near Glücksta ...
, near the geographical center of Schleswig-Holstein, south of
Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
, north of
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
and west of
Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
. The Aukrug Nature Park is close to the town.


Culture and Sightseeing


Museums and artists' house

The ''Museum Tuch + Technik'' shows the history of the cloth-making craft from the Iron Age to the present day as well as of the city of Neumünster. The museum, which is supported by the Foundation Museum, Art and Culture of the City of Neumünster, was reopened on October 13, 2007 with a revised exhibition in a specially constructed building. The ''Herbert Gerisch Foundation'' is an art foundation established in 2001 by Brigitte and Herbert Gerisch and based in Neumünster-Brachenfeld. The foundation serves the care, promotion and presentation of regional as well as international contemporary art. At the same time as the foundation was established, an international sculpture park was continuously built up. The ''Keramikkünstlerhaus Neumünster'' (until 2022 Stadttöpferei Neumünster) is an artists' house in Neumünster, which has been awarding work and residency scholarships for outstanding international graduates in the field of artistic ceramics since 1987. The Keramikkünstlerhaus is located in the Fürsthof, a small street in Neumünster's historic city center. The three-story brick building was built around 1900. File:NMS-Tuch & Technik (25).JPG, Museum Tuch + Technik in the city center File:Gerisch-Skulpturenpark Neumuenster.jpg, Gerisch sculpture park File:Stadtteoeferei.jpg, Keramikkünstlerhaus


Zoo

The ''Tierpark Neumünster'' houses about 700 animals from a total of 100 species of mammals, birds and reptiles on a wooded area of 24 hectares.


Nature reserves

The raised bog Dosenmoor near Einfeld northeast of Neumünster has an area of 521 hectares and is the largest and best preserved raised bog in Schleswig-Holstein. Due to the good condition of the moor, a diverse flora and fauna can be explored here. The nature reserve on the western shore of Einfelder See protects the near-natural shoreline landscape with siltation zones and the open water areas in front of them. File:Dosenmoor msu 05 2018-.jpg, Dosenmoor File:Einfelder See Neumünster. Neumuenster.jpg, Einfelder See File:Einfelder See NSG.JPG, Einfelder See


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 Tauras , 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 Koszalin (; ; , ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomera ...
, Poland * Parchim, Germany


Sport

The 10,000 capacity Grümmi-Arena (formerly the VfR-Stadion an der Geerdtsstraße), built in 1927, is the home ground of the football team known as VfR Neumünster. The stadium once hosted
motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...
and Team 70 Neumünster (founded in 1970) were the first champions of West Germany in 1973.


Sportspeople

* 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


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


See also

* VfR Neumünster * Hans Fallada Prize * Einfelder See


References


External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumunster Towns in Schleswig-Holstein Urban districts of Schleswig-Holstein