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Schleswig-Holstein: Districtless town Neumünster

Area: 71.56 km²
Population: 78700

On July 18th 1929 the prussian "Staatsarchive" wrote about the shield of Neumünster, the bottom part of the shield signifies the past, the top of the shield signifies the present.

With these words the shield characterizes what Neumünster is about - Industry and business centers are overlying and towering above the older past part of the town. The city was named in the year 1127 as "Wippendorf im Gau Faldera". The current name of Neumünster was given by Vicelin (Vicelin, a missionary, who brought Christianity to Schleswig-Holstein), established "Augustinerchorstift: Novum Monasterium".

The favorable location at the joining point of the Schwale river and Stör river made the town an important traffic crosspoint even in the time of horse drawn transportation . With the 16th century the uplift of the textile weaving, which produced in the 19th century a real industry. This became a coining for the city. In 1947, the city in ruins, was laid the foundation stone for the "Textiflach- and Textilingenieurschule", in 1962 was opened the "Textile Museum" in Park Street and in 1966 was unvield the bronze sculpture "Die Spinnerin" (The Spinning Woman).

During WWII until the year 1944 Neumünster was spared by the war. But after that one bomb attack of the allied airforces followed the next. On April 7, 1945, (Germany had lost the war long since), the city was bombed so badly that big parts of the town were in rubble and ashes and 537 died during this attack. This attack was nearly as bad as the attack against Dresden for this little town.

(In the historic town of Dresden, Feburary of 1945, was bombed day and night by the allied airforces. There was no army and no soldiers in this town. During the bombing more than 30,000 people (women, children, old men) died in the fire storm after the bombing.

After the war, the purposeful and speedy rebuilding of the town helped to forget the wounds of the war. In 1970, at the 100th year celebration of the right to be named a town, the city of Neumünster did offer herself as a modern city, with highways, midpoint of the area of Holstein. Beside the old buildings of the Saldern-Haus, pedestrian subway and the 1939 building Holstenhalle, in 1977 a new railway station was built and in 1980 the long planned city hall. The endeavors of the city politicans were to give the former factory town a friendly face. Also some very nice residential areas were built "Die Gartenstadt" (The garden town, first established in 1910), the "Haartkoppel", "Tungendorf" and the "Faldera-Siedlung", which got recognition outside the borders of Schleswig-Holstein.

Sharon D. Hagler