Weststadt (Osnabrück district)

Osnabrück Garrison was a major British garrison with facilities located at Osnabrück in Lower Saxony and Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was home to 4th Armoured Brigade and most of its subordinate units. It formed a major part of British Forces Germany.

Westerberg is a district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany, with roughly 8,700 residents. It is situated in the west of the city between Lotter Straße and Pagenstecherstraße. The districts bordering it are Eversburg, Hafen, Sonnenhügel, Innenstadt, Weststadt, Hellern and Atter. The border with Atter passes through the Rubbenbruchsee, part of a large local recreation area. As well as parts of the University of Osnabrück and the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, the Klinikum Osnabrück (Osnabrück Clinical Centre) and the Paracelsus clinic are also located in Westerberg. There were also a number of British bases situated here, giving the district a considerable proportion of British families – these bases were closed in 2010 and today remain ready for conversion. The Osnabrücker Aktien Brauerei (with a workforce of around 220) used to brew its nationally acclaimed beer in Westerberg. One of the main places of interest here is the university's botanical garden, formerly a quarry. The Art Nouveau-style Protestant Bergkirche is located in this district, along with the Markuskirche (also Protestant), the Catholic St. Barbara Kirche and an independent Protestant church. Merely a few minutes’ walk from the rest of the city – which effectively surrounds it – the Westerberg acts as a local recreation area for the populace. Unusually for a large town, a farm – the Gut Musenburg – remains active right in the middle of the city. The barracks, which date back to the German Empire and which are today used by the University of Applied Sciences, continued to be used by a Scottish regiment of the British Army of the Rhine until a few years ago. Large parts of this district are amongst Osnabrück's most desired residential areas with the highest property prices. There is a colloquial expression - “die Leute von Westerberg” (people from Westerberg) – which is taken a synonym for the “particularly influential members of the social elite”. Local politics frequently see accusations of preferential treatment for Westerberg being made. Westerberg residents respond by asserting that the city administration – according to statistics – invests much more money in the other districts. The monument at Straßburger Platz honours the soldiers from Osnabrück who fell during the Franco-German War of 1870–71. It was first erected in Neumarkt in 1880; in 1928 it was relocated to Westerberg. Pupils from the Osnabrücker Ratsgymnasium designed a sculpture – “Die schützende Torsion” (The Protective Torsion) – symbolising Franco-German friendship.

The Botanic Garden of Osnabrück is an institution of Osnabrück University. It is located in the Westerberg area of the city in a former Muschelkalk quarry. Muschelkalk is a shell-bearing limestone typical to Central and Western Europe. The Botanic Garden is part of the University’s Faculty of Biology and Chemistry and was established in 1984. Main tasks of the Garden are education and research, as well as public relations.

Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (German: Hochschule Osnabrück, formerly Fachhochschule Osnabrück) is a university of applied science in Lower Saxony, whose administrative centre is in Osnabrück. It has existed in its current form since 2003, having originally opened in 1971. Some of its departments can be traced back to engineering schools and other colleges operating as early as the 1950s. Since 1 January 2003, the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences has been a foundation with legal capacity under public law (§1 Stiftung FH-Osnabrück Verordnung, abbreviated in law to StiftVO-FHOS). The university is made up of four departments along with the Institute of Music; it offers 68 Bachelor's and 31 Master's study programmes (including post-professional courses) in a wide variety of subjects. The university has sites in the Osnabrück districts of Westerberg and Haste along with another site in Lingen in Emsland, which is due to be expanded under the terms of the Hochschulpakt 2020 (University Pact 2020) programme. The lecture halls, seminar rooms and laboratories belonging to the schools of Engineering and Computer Science and Business Management and Social Sciences are located on Albrechtstraße and Caprivistraße in Westerberg. The School of Agricultural Sciences and Landscape Architecture and its teaching buildings, laboratories, greenhouses and trial operations are located in the Haste district, in the middle of a 5-hectare park on the verge of the Wiehen Hills, they are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany.

Hafen (Harbour) is a district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. Germany. It is located in the north-west of the city and had a population of roughly 2,358 residents in 1,454 households as of late 2008. One year earlier the city had 2,372 residents. It covers an area of 407.2 hectares.The most important aspect of the area's economy is the city harbour from which the district takes its name; primarily home to industrial estates. The harbour is connected to the Mittelland Canal by the Osnabrück branch canal (termed the “Stichkanal” or “Zweigkanal”). The construction of the harbour basin, along with the closing off of the area, began in 1912; in 1916 the first ship was berthed here, one year after the completion of the branch canal – the barge “Minden 52”, which had transported 475 tons of oats to Osnabrück, arrived on 3 April.1.28 million tons of goods were handled in the harbour area during 2004; goods transported by ship accounted for 629,000 tons of this total. In 2008 1.24 million tons were handled; there was, however, a marked decrease in 2009.The local Hafenbahn (harbour railway) is run by the Stadtwerke Osnabrück (Osnabrück Public Utilities), which also runs the harbour itself. Businesses based at the harbour include Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, founded in 1871 as a forwarding company and today active internationally. The company uses the former Speicher III (Warehouse No. III) as an office building; having been built in 1934 as a granary, it was redesigned substantially from 2008 onwards and has since won awards in its new function. Another business based around this area is the paper manufacturer Ahlstrom.Since 2007, passenger ships have once again been running along the branch canal.The Hafen district is home to a former barracks building used by the British armed forces based in Germany – the Roberts Barracks. The British armed forces took until the end of March 2009 to leave Osnabrück completely.Around Bramscher Straße there used to be a tram connection on line 2, running from Haste via Bramscher Straße, Hasetor, Nikolaiort and Neumarkt towards Schölerberg. The Osnabrück-Piesberg railway station is located in the northern part of the Hafen district; it runs special services using museum trains, which travel via Osnabrück-Altstadt towards the Hauptbahnhof (central station) on several days every year.

Sonnenhügel is a district of Osnabrück, Germany, located over the northern border of the Innenstadt (city centre) district.

Wüste is a district of the city of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. With almost 14,000 residents it is the most populous district of Osnabruck. It is made up of the two subdivisions “Vordere Wüste” and “Hintere Wüste” (Wüste Superior and Wüste Inferior). Its central location and good infrastructure make it an appealing residential area.

The Felix Nussbaum Haus is a museum in Osnabrück, Germany, which houses the paintings of German-Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum. The building also houses an exhibition space, which focuses on racism and intolerance.

Waterloo-Tor (English: Waterloo Gate) is a war memorial in Osnabrück, Germany, commemorating the Battle of Waterloo. Along with its surrounding area the Waterloo-Tor is usually referred to as “Heger Tor” by residents of Osnabrück; the name “Waterloo-Tor” is barely used by locals.

The Bucksturm (also formerly called the Bocksturm) is a listed historical structure in Osnabrück, Germany. The tower with semi-circular layout was built at the beginning of the 13th century as a watchtower, positioned on the Osnabrück city wall between Heger Tor and Natruper Tor. This particular section of the wall was referred to as the Bocksmauer. The tower – whose diameter is 10.7 metres – supposedly acquired its name from a stone containing a roebuck’s head, which is said to have been bricked into the wall on the (no longer existent) top floor. On the basis of its relatively narrow embrasures it can be reasonably assumed that the usage of cannons from the tower was never intended, rather that of smaller handheld weapons. During the medieval period the city prison was based in the tower. One person who was imprisoned here was Count Simon of Lippe in the early 14th century. From 1441 to 1448, Johann von Hoya was held in the so-called “Johanniskasten” (John’s Box) on the second floor. Further prisoners included six Anabaptist priests sent to Osnabrück from Münster; they were subsequently transferred to the Bennoturm at Iburg Castle on 18/19 October 1534. During the periods of intense witch-hunting in the 16th and 17th centuries the tower was also used as a torture chamber. Today the tower is home to an exhibition on witch-hunting, however the instruments of torture can no longer be seen despite still being around at the start of the 20th century. The tower was originally 28 metres tall, but due to dilapidation ten metres were removed from its height in 1805. Since then it has had four floors. In 1922 a war memorial honouring the soldiers of the East Frisian Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick infantry regiment (No. 78) was set up on the west side of the tower. The memorial was designed by sculptor Hermann Hosaeus (1875-1958). Made from Anröchte stone, it was dedicated on 1 October 1922.

The Moskaubad (English: Moscow Baths) is a public swimming pool in the Wüste district of Osnabrück, Germany. It was first opened in 1926 as an outdoor swimming pool under the name of “Moskau”; in 1933 its name was changed to the “Neustädter Freibad” (New Town Outdoor Pool). In the late 1990s the baths underwent major renovation and rebuilding work which added to them, among other things, a small indoor pool; they were also given back their old name. The outdoor and indoor swimming complex is visited by roughly 250,000 people each year.

The Lagerhalle in Osnabrück is one of the many communal cultural centres founded in Germany during the 1970s. It was established in 1976 in the building formerly belonging to the ironware company Richter, in close proximity to the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus museum and Waterloo-Tor memorial in Osnabrück's historic town centre. It is run as a socio-cultural centre by a non-profit association on behalf of the city council, and is financed by revenues made from its in-house gastronomy along with public subsidies. Its management states that around 500 events take place in the rooms of the Lagerhalle each year. It also hosts Osnabrück's Cabaret and Morgenland festivals.