Minden

Minden ( ) is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district ( ) of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) and the administrative region of Detmold. The town extends along both sides of the River Weser, and is crossed by the Mittelland Canal, which is led over the river on the Minden Aqueduct. In its 1,200-year written history, Minden had functions as diocesan town from to the Peace of Westphalia in , as capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Minden as imperial territory since the 12th century, afterwards as capital of Prussia's Minden-Ravensberg until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and as capital of the East-Westphalian region from the Congress of Vienna until 1947. Furthermore, Minden has been of great military importance with fortifications from the 15th to the late 19th century, and is still a garrison town. Minden hosts diverse industries, none predominant. The town has been terminus of one of the oldest German railway trunks since 1847, adding to the multimodal transport hub between its harbour, federal roads, and a nearby highway (Autobahn) junction.

Minden ( ) is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district ( ) of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) and the administrative region of Detmold. The town extends along both sides of the River Weser, and is crossed by the Mittelland Canal, which is led over the river on the Minden Aqueduct. In its 1,200-year written history, Minden had functions as diocesan town from to the Peace of Westphalia in , as capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Minden as imperial territory since the 12th century, afterwards as capital of Prussia's Minden-Ravensberg until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and as capital of the East-Westphalian region from the Congress of Vienna until 1947. Furthermore, Minden has been of great military importance with fortifications from the 15th to the late 19th century, and is still a garrison town. Minden hosts diverse industries, none predominant. The town has been terminus of one of the oldest German railway trunks since 1847, adding to the multimodal transport hub between its harbour, federal roads, and a nearby highway (Autobahn) junction. ===Christians=== ===Non-Christian Religions=== ====Muslims==== In the last half century a considerable Muslim community has grown in Minden with three mosques. ===City council=== The Minden city council governs the city together with the mayor. Municipal elections are held every five years, most recently on . Apart from the nationwide parties, the members of Minden council also belong to three local associations of independent voters. ! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- |- | bgcolor= | | align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 11,485 | 35.26 | 1.1 | 24 | 3 |- | bgcolor= | | align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 8,001 | 24.56 | 2.8 | 16 | 1 |- | bgcolor= | | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 3,094 | 9.5 | 6.0 | 6 | 3 |- | bgcolor= | | align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 995 | 3.05 | 0.4 | 2 | ±0 |- | bgcolor= | | align=left| The Left (Die Linke) | 1,779 | 5.46 | 2.3 | 4 | 2 |- | bgcolor= | | align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD) | 5,597 | 17.18 | 11.5 | 11 | |- | | align=left| Mindener Initiative (MI) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |- | | align=left| BürgerBündnis Minden (BBM) | 992 | 3.05 | 0.5 | 2 | 1 |- | | align=left| Wir für Minden | 617 | 1.89 | ±0 | 1 | ±0 |- ! colspan=2| Total ! ! 100.0 ! ! 66 ! 10 |- ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! ! 52.08 ! 4.9 ! ! |- | colspan=7| Source: State Returning Officer Kommunalwahlen 2025 |} ===Monuments and public art=== 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 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. ===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 1807¹, 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=== About 25,000 people¹ 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. ==Transport== ===Rail and bus=== from 1848 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. 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 (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 District 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 lies close to the federal highways (Bundesautobahn) A 2 from Berlin to the Ruhr, and the A 30 to Amsterdam. The 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=== The crossing of the navigable Weser and the Mittelland Canal 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 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 OWL", straddling Lower Saxony, being a seldom example of cross-State planning in the Federal Republic. Minden hosts offices of the Waterways and Shipping Authority: Mittelland Canal / Elbe Lateral Canal ( ) for the maintenance and regulation of these waterways. An information centre is by the Minden Aqueduct (Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden), where the canal system and the function of the locks are explained. ===Weser bridges=== The Weser is bridged over by seven overpasses: three road bridges, a railroad bridge, a pedestrian bridge, and a double aqueduct for the canal, which can be used by pedestrians, too. 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 Bridge in the north and the 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 , 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 sports a bike station. The town belongs to a working cooperative of bicycle-friendly communities in North Rhine-Westphalia aiming for bikes to exceed 20% of traffic. ===Hiking=== Minden lies on the Wittekindsweg (Wittekind's path), part of the E11 European long distance path from The Hague to Tallinn, and on the regional pilgrims' route Sigwardsweg, named in memory of Bishop Sigward (1120–1140). A planet walk from Simeon square along the western Weser shore to the north symbolizes the planetary distances in the Solar System; it was established in 1996¹, when Pluto was yet regarded as planet, and therefore has a length of . ==Economy and infrastructure== ===Economy=== For a long time, Minden's economic development was hindered by the constraints of the fortress. In 1873, the fortress was dissolved, allowing the city and its economy to expand beyond its borders. Today, the city is home of about 3,600 businesses. Agriculture still occupies 50% of the administrative bounds, which have little changed. This is slightly more than the state average and much more than in the densely populated areas of the state. The average income in Minden is slightly below the average of the Minden-Lübbecke district and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Thus, Minden ranks 309th out of 396 municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia in terms of purchasing power. headquarters 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 employees¹ 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 (agriculture, forestry) at 0.1%, in the secondary sector (industrial production) at 27.6%, and in the 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 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, 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 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 legal entities (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) or partnerships (Kommanditgesellschaft). Melitta 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 destilleries 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 Technology Group, an electronics company originally founded in 1945¹, built an 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 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 ABB. 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 corporation Edeka has a regional office and distribution centre (Edeka Minden-Hannover) in Minden. The office is responsible for a large zone from the North Sea to north-east Germany including local branches of its 100%-subsidiary, low-price supermarket NP-Markt, as some functions of retailer WEZ (25% ownership). The DB Systemtechnik (German railway system technology) deals with the development of rail vehicles and railway system equipment. The regional savings bank Sparkasse Minden-Lübbecke has its main administration in Minden. ===Media=== The only local daily newspaper is the Mindener Tageblatt. The 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 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=== The administration offices of the district of Minden-Lübbecke are in the (district building) near to the water affairs section of Detmold, its town presence. The Minden Holding, a company in hands of the towns of Minden and 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 enterprises). The 864 bed hospital 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's Centre of Justice houses one of the seven discrete Administrative courts for North Rhine-Westphalia with competence for the whole administrative region of Detmold, the Labour court ( ) for controversies in employee-employer relationship in the district Minden-Lübbecke, and one of the three District courts ( ) for criminal and civil cases in the district of Minden-Lübbecke. Minden is base of a German-British pioneer battalion (Deutsch/Britisches Pionierbrückenbataillon 130) in the (Duke of Brunswick barracks) at the western town frontier. ==Education== The town provides all types of general-educating school. At present time (2024) there are eleven elementary schools (age 6 to 10), four 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", a Freie Waldorfschule (age 6 to 18) and furthermore two vocational colleges. The Weser-Kolleg offers adult people, already trained for practical occupation, a "second way of education" to get the Abitur, that provides access to university education. Minden has a branch of the Hochschule Bielefeld – University of Applied Sciences and Arts specializing in architecture, construction engineering, technology, engineering and mathematics, social studies, business and health at its 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 sites of the University Hospitals of the Ruhr-University of Bochum as a decentralized campus for medical students. The RailCampus OWL, a cluster of some universities, enterprises and the German Railway for education and research in railway systems was built in 2022. Minden offers a Folk high school ( ) serving also Hille, Petershagen, Porta Westfalica and Bad Oeynhausen, and a municipal music school. ==Notable people== Master Bertram of Minden (c.1345–c.1415), painter Johann Vesling (1598–1649), physician 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 (1899–1941¹ 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=== 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 twinned with: Gladsaxe, Denmark (1968) Sutton, England, United Kingdom (1968) 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). ==Gallery== ==Notes== ==References== ==External links== Official website History of Minden Chronik Mindens Encyclopædia Britannica: Minden Views of Minden (360°) Geological survey

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