Garrison Munster

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City map of Münster (1854), buildings used by the military are marked in blue

The history of the Munster garrison includes the accommodation of standing troops within the city limits of Munster , as well as the barracks and service buildings built for them. The civil subsequent use of the properties is described in more detail in Conversion in Münster .

history

The number and importance of the episcopal troops within Münster from 1660 to 1802 was small.

In 1816 the province of Westphalia became part of Prussia , and Münster was the provincial capital. Under Prussian rule, Münster's military importance rose rapidly. In 1820 the VII Army Corps was set up with its headquarters in Münster. The Prussian garrison in Münster comprised 2,000 officers and men, after the army reform of 1860 then more than 3,000. The military made up almost 12 percent of the population in 1871.

After the relocation of Prussian troops to Münster from 1816, the soldiers and officers were quartered in private houses, which was increasingly difficult to manage with the increasing number of soldiers in Münster. In addition, permanent billeting was not popular with the citizens. The first barracks were built in the city center in 1821 and 1831, after 1875 construction of new barracks began on the outskirts of the city.

The Wehrmacht had a considerable number of units in Münster and, as part of the armament in the 1930s, built a number of barracks, especially for the new Luftwaffe and flak units .

In the post-war period, the British Rhine Army (from 1994 British Armed Forces in Germany ) used several barracks in the city. The Bundeswehr was also represented. With the end of the Cold War , the military importance of the location declined, and many of the former military properties were given new uses.

Units garrisoned in Münster

Munster troops (1650–1803)

Under episcopal rule there were seven infantry and two cavalry regiments , plus a small artillery troop.

Prussian Army (1803-1918)

The Prussian army had the following units and staff in Münster:

Reichswehr (1919–1935)

The Reichswehr maintained in Münster a. a .:

Wehrmacht (1935-1945)

The Wehrmacht maintained in Münster a. a .:

British Army (1945-1994)

The British armed forces had a complete brigade with around 5,000 soldiers stationed in Münster .

Bundeswehr (from 1955)

The Bundeswehr currently still maintains :

Existing barracks and service buildings

The following barracks and service buildings still exist, regardless of their current use.

Blücher barracks

The Blücher barracks ( ⊙ ) is located between Einsteinstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse, in the Neutor district on the western edge of the city center.

The 200-man staff and support battalion of the German-Dutch Corps was housed here. In 2017 the battalion moved to the Lützow barracks in Münster- Handorf , where the battalion's vehicle fleet and workshops were already located.

Service building of the DE / NL corps on Schlossplatz

Portal of the service building of the 1st DE / NL Corps

The service building of the 1st DE / NL Corps ( ⊙ ) is located on Schlossplatz.

Lincoln Barracks / Dreizehner Barracks

In 1913 the construction of a barracks for the Infantry Regiment 13 began on Grevener Strasse, but this was not completed until 1922 - the regiment never moved into the building, which is now a listed building. After the Second World War, the British troops moved into the area under the name Lincoln-Kaserne , after the withdrawal in 1994 it was converted into a residential area.

Lützow barracks

The Lützow barracks ( ⊙ ) is located in the Handorf district , around 12 km from the city center. The barracks were built from 1956 to 1959 for the German armed forces on the site of the Münster-Handorf airfield . The area was used by various units of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War . The Lützow barracks is one of the few barracks and service buildings in Münster that are still used by the military today.

Oxford Barracks / Anti-aircraft Artillery Barracks

Aerial view of the Oxford barracks, Roxeler Strasse is on the left

The anti-aircraft artillery barracks ( ⊙ ) were built between 1934 and 1936 as part of a military expansion program for the Münster site. The 26 hectare barracks area is located three kilometers west of the old town in the Gievenbeck district and is accessed via Roxeler Straße. Four flak batteries and a headlight battery were housed in the barracks. After the end of the Second World War, the barracks were taken over by the British Army and renamed Oxford Barracks . The conversion to a residential area was in the planning stage in 2018.

Portsmouth Barracks / New Artillery Barracks

The new artillery barracks ( ⊙ ) was built in 1938 for artillery units of the Wehrmacht ( Art.-Reg. 16 or 52 ). The three-story team building with a hipped roof is simple, but in the style of “home-bound building” the fronts are structured with risalits and decorated with gables in the style of the Renaissance. The 15 hectare area is located east of the Hohen Heckenweg in the Coerde district . During the war, the barracks area was partially used as a prisoner of war camp ( Oflag VI D ), and forced laborers were also imprisoned here.

After the end of the Second World War, barracks and camps were occupied with displaced persons . After that, the British Army took over the site and renamed it Portsmouth Barracks . The 8th Artillery Support Regiment of the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) was stationed here from 1968 until its closure in 1994, and thus for most of the British period of use . In addition, there were special companies of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and mechanized infantry for their protection. These units had the task of storing, maintaining and transporting tactical nuclear weapons in support of the 570th US Army Artillery Group, also stationed in Münster .

In 1994, the barracks were vacated by the British Army whose buildings from 1998 to 2010 in the residential district seaside meadow transformed with new buildings densified were.

Reiterkaserne / Von-One barracks

Facade of the Reiterkaserne on Steinfurter Straße, today the architecture department of the Münster University of Applied Sciences

The Reiterkaserne ( ⊙ ) is located west of Steinfurter Straße in the Sentrup district on an area of ​​11 hectares. The barracks were built from 1898 to 1901 for the cuirassier regiment No. 4 and were therefore also called cavalry barracks or cuirassier barracks . After the First World War, the barracks were renamed Von-Eine- Kaserne after the Prussian General Karl von Eine , who in peacetime had been the commander of the Cuirassier Regiment No. 4 and Chief of Staff of the VII Army Corps , both in Münster. The barracks continued to be used militarily by both the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht. The cavalry barracks survived the air raids from Munster almost unscathed, and after the end of the war it was seized by the British Army of the Rhine. In 1994, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia took over the quarter that today forms the Leonardo Campus of the Münster University of Applied Sciences .

Winterbourne Barracks / Army Supply Office

Storage building in the Army Supply Office

The Army Supply Office ( ⊙ ) was built on Holtmannsweg in the Coerde district from 1936 to 1939. The facility with an army bakery, nine storage buildings for grain and cattle feed and accommodation is located directly on the Münster – Rheine railway line .

After the end of World War II, the British Army took over the site and renamed it Winterbourne Barracks . Until the closure, replenishment, ammunition and logistics units of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) were stationed here.

In 1995 the barracks was cleared by the British Army and from 2000 to 2006 it was put into civil use . Today the warehouse district of Münster is located there . Parts of the barracks complex are under monument protection.

York Barracks / Air News Barracks

The Luftnachrichten-Kaserne ( ⊙ ) was built in 1936 in Hiltrup on Albersloher Weg in Gremmendorf . After the end of the Second War, the barracks were taken over by the British Army and renamed the York Barracks . In the barracks, the staffs of various tank brigades were housed one after the other, most recently from 1981 to 1993 the 4th Mechanized Brigade (The Black Rats). Various regiments of the Royal Armored Corps used the barracks for this purpose. Most recently the King's Royal Hussars (KRH) stood there from 1992 to 2000 and the Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG) from 2001 to 2008 . The area is a listed building.

Barracks and service buildings that no longer exist

Aegidii barracks

former Aegidii barracks (1900)

The Aegidii barracks ( ⊙ ) was located on the site of the demolished former Aegidii monastery at today's Aegidiimarkt . The preliminary planning for this use had already been made in 1817 by the building officer Lehmann from Münster, the building plan was then provided by Wilhelm Salzenberg in 1827/29. The laying of the foundation stone for the barracks took place in 1828, in 1831 six previously barracked companies of Infantry Regiment 13 moved into the Aegidii barracks.

The three-story building in the classical style consisted of two wings that met at right angles. The northern wing ran along today's Johannisstraße / Bispinghof, the eastern, slightly curved wing along Aegidiistraße. The inner courtyard between the wings was used as a parade ground. The regiment used the Aegidii barracks until it was disbanded in 1919, after which it housed a police school and a main supply office for the Reichswehr . The barracks were badly damaged in World War II, demolished after the war and replaced by a new building with an underground car park.

Hörster barracks

The Hörster barracks ( ⊙ ) was located north of the Lotharinger barracks, on the eastern side of Lotharingerstrasse. The name of the barracks came from the former Hörster Tor in the razed city wall. The construction of the barracks began in 1861 and was completed with the first occupancy in 1864. The building was grouped into three wings, the facade was made of yellow bricks and designed in the style of a round arch . Friedrich August Stüler is responsible for planning the building .

Hussar barracks

The hussar barracks ( ⊙ ), also known as the cavalry barracks, was located between Rosenstrasse and Bergstrasse. The barracks was completed in 1821 on the site of the abandoned Rosental nursing home and included converted existing buildings. This was the first new barracks to be built in Münster under Prussian building management. The barracks were used by the 11th Hussar Regiment until 1849 and demolished in 1890.

Lotharinger barracks

Lotharinger Chorfrauenkirche

The Lotharinger barracks ( ⊙ ) was located northwest of the corner of Lotharingerstrasse and Hörster Strasse. There the Lotharing women choir built a monastery in the 17th century, which was destroyed in the Seven Years' War in 1759 . In 1764 the monastery was rebuilt according to a design by Johann Conrad Schlaun . From 1825/26 the Prussian military used the former monastery as a barracks. After the end of the First World War, the barracks were used by the military until 1931, then as a residential building. The buildings were destroyed in the Second World War, only the Lotharinger Chorfrauenkirche still exists.

Minorite barracks

The Minoriten barracks ( ⊙ ) on Neubückenstrasse bordered to the north on the Apostle Church , which was used as a military church after renovation. In the autumn of 1820, the first two companies of the regiment were barracked in Münster in the converted Minorite monastery, where an officers' casino was also set up.

Coin barracks

The Münzkaserne ( ⊙ ) was north of Münzstrasse, directly west of the Buddenturm . The building was built for the Münster mint and was then used as a barracks. In 1898 the building was demolished.

Train barracks

The Train-Kaserne ( ⊙ ) was located with the Train - Depot limited between Dahlweg and South Street, south of the Augusta street. The barracks of the Westphalian Train Battalion No. 7 was built in 1860. Several of the barracks buildings were destroyed or damaged during the Second World War. Between 1970 and 1975 the Südpark was created on the site .

See also

literature

  • Bernhard Sicken: Münster as a garrison town - general conscription and barracking. In: Franz-Josef Jakobi (Ed.): History of the City of Münster , Volume 2. Aschendorff, Münster 1994, ISBN 3-402-05370-5 , pp. 727-766.

Web links

Commons : Barracks in Münster (Westphalia)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Exhibition Aegidii: Monastery, Barracks, Market , City Museum Münster from February 28 to August 16, 2015.
  2. ↑ Dieter Zeigert: The Münster troops and their takeover in the Prussian army 1802/1803 . In: Westfälische Zeitschrift , No. 141 (1991)
  3. ↑ Lukas Speckmann: After troops have withdrawn: Blücher barracks is in great demand . In: Westfälische Nachrichten of December 10, 2017.
  4. ↑ Monument protection and preservation - The Lincoln barracks on the website of the city of Münster.
  5. ^ Conversion of the Oxford barracks on the website of the city of Münster
  6. ^ Christoph Ellermann (ed.): Architectural Guide Münster-Münsterland since 1980 . König, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-3-88375-916-6 , pp. 140f.
  7. ^ Gisela Schwarze: Captured in Münster: Prisoners of War, Forced Laborers, Forced Laborers 1939 to 1945 . Klartext, Münster 1999, ISBN 978-3-88474-825-1 , p. 37f.
  8. ↑ Portsmouth Barracks on the BAOR Locations website.
  9. ↑ Winterbourne Barracks on the BAOR Locations website.
  10. ↑ Architecture NRW
  11. ^ York Barracks on the BAOR Locations website. (The black rat is the symbol of the 4th Mechanized Brigade.)
  12. ↑ Manfred Balzer (Ed.): Westphalian History , Volume 2 ( The 19th and 20th Century: Politics and Culture ). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1983, ISBN 3-590-34212-9 , pp. 447f.
  13. ↑ Historical city maps from the city of Münster.
  14. ^ Wilhelm Kohl: The Diocese of Münster , Volume 10 ( The Cistercian convent, later the Benedictine convent of St. Aegidii in Münster ). de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021254-9 , p. 16.
  15. ^ Eva Börsch-Supan , Dietrich Müller-Stüler : Friedrich August Stüler: 1800-1865 . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-422-06161-4 , p. 216.
  16. ↑ Wilhelm von Blume: History of the Infantry Regiment Herwarth von Bittenfeld (1. Westphalian) No. 13 in the 19th century . Mittler and Son, Berlin 1910, p. 60.
  17. ^ Street names in Münster: Münzstrasse
  18. ^ Münster, formerly Train barracks, Dahlweg, site plan (western part) from 1959, description unit 11469
  19. ↑ Südpark, Münster (cultural landscape) on the pages of LWL-GeodatenKultur