Read Me! This One's a Münster

I feel like as soon as I type "history" everyone is going to immediately open a different tab and open up Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram; nonetheless, I'm going to take the plunge and attempt to win you over with a little history!  *Pushes glasses back onto bridge of nose and clears throat*

30 Years War

Ring a bell? If not, either high school was too long ago or you fell asleep during your Western History class, as it is one of the most important (and longest, obviously) wars in European history.  Germany was especially effected, losing 20% of it's population and thereby constituting this war as the country's second biggest catastrophe, right behind (you guessed it) World War II.  And how do we suppose it all started? Your guess may fall short of the answer unless you are familiar with the Defenestration of Prague, a fancy way of saying someone was thrown out a window (defenestration = literally, the act of throwing someone or something out of a window) and into some poop.  If you think I'm joking - look it up!  

Oh S***!  Saved By Poop

On May 23rd of 1618, four Catholic Regents met with a group of Protestant Lords to discuss their involvement in ordering the cessation of churches on royal land.  Two were declared innocent and free to leave, but the other two weren't so lucky and were chucked from a 70 foot high window to fall to their deaths.  Luckily for them, angels swept from the sky to save them (or so everyone said), but really they fell into a heap of manure allowing them to stomp angrily back to the Catholic Hapsburgs and rally allies against the Protestant estates (who were also hastily calling friends to their cause).  

What a bunch of squares.. Seen below are pictures from Osnabrück.  The city's main church, it's courtyard, and the fanciest Fachwerkhaus I've seen!

As you can imagine, the war didn't last for 30 years because someone got poop on their Lederhosen, multiple countries eventually joined in and a series of wars were fought over the three decades that ultimately radically shifted the balance of power in Europe.  Eventually, everyone decided they'd had enough and 194 sovereign states emerged as a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, which was signed in.... Osnabrück and Münster!  The necessity of two cities was due to the thousands of ambassadors, diplomats, and supporting staff who needed to be fed and housed during the time it took to come into a peace agreement.  Since E-Mail, telephones, and text messages weren't available at this time, creating this agreement was not by any means quick, and took around 4 years to complete.  Fast forward ahead a few centuries and Münster was made to be the headquarters for 6th Military District of the German Wehrkreis in World War II.  It had a large military presence, making it an obvious target for Allied forces and was unsurprisingly badly bombed in 1943, destroying 63% of the city and 91% of the historic Altstadt (old city).  

"The target was a built-up section of Munster, and I thought it was rather inappropriate that this large set of steps to one big building in Munster was picked out as the aiming point. I'm not sure now whether it was a church or not, but it seemed to me that it was." - B17 American Pilot Keith E. Harris

Thankfully, the Münsterians (ha) have pride in their city and it's history and rebuilt everything we see today to match it's pre-war state.  And if you're wondering - NO! - cheese is not made here!  (I wondered this and every German I asked looked at me with an expression of "What the hell are you talking about?")  Come to find out, the muenster cheese we buy in the States is not only made in the U.S., but has nothing to do with this city!  Whoops. 

Muenster cheese

Münster city - Outdoor movie at a castle anyone?

One of Münster's center-most churches jutting into view along the main boardwalk. 

More Münster, still no cheese.

For a day of training we participated in running 11km of a 50km run from Osnabrück to Münster, called the Freidenslauf (Peace Run).  The Scottish fellah putting on the run (seen below in a kilt), was also raising funds for the 200 kidnapped young girls in Nigeria.  An amazing man and amazing people who ran the entire 50km in support of him and his cause!!

The team in Münster after the Friedenslauf.