Map - Neumünster (Kreisfreie Stadt Neumünster)

Neumünster is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg).

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 to perform missionary work. By 1136, Vicelinus built a new monastery there (Latin: 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" (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 protested 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 was founded in 1925 by Hinrich Lohse. 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 post-war 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, has led to Neumünster having a relatively high rate of unemployment in recent decades 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.