MöNCHENGLADBACH

'Mönchengladbach' () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
The original name of the city was 'Gladbach', which is even today often applied to the town. To distinguish the town from another town of the same name (the present Bergisch Gladbach) it took the name 'München-Gladbach' in 1888. This spelling could mislead people to think that Gladbach was a borough of Munich (''München'' in German), and consequently the name was changed to Mönchen Gladbach in 1950 and Mönchengladbach in 1960.
The origin of the town was an abbey founded in 974. It was named after the Gladbach, a narrow brook, that runs subterraneously today. The abbey and adjoining villages became a town in the 14th century. Nearby the town of Rheydt was located, which is today incorporated in Mönchengladbach.
Mönchengladbach is home of the football club 'Borussia Mönchengladbach', Formula One race car drivers Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and the philosopher Hans Jonas was born there.

Contents

Twin Cities

Museums

Sons and Daughters of Mönchengladbach

Traffic

Sports

Military

Twin Cities

★ , North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, since 1958

★ Roubaix, France, since 1969

★ Thurrock, United Kingdom, since 1969

★ Verviers, Belgium, since 1970

★ Roermond, Netherlands, since 1971

★ Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, since 1971

Museums

★ Municipal Abteiberg Museum for contemporary art

★ Municipal Museum Schloss Rheydt for fine art

★ Museum im Wasserturm Rheindahlen for relics of the stone age

★ Museum Altes Zeughaus e. V. for carnival

★ Museum Schloss Wickrath for ornithology

Sons and Daughters of Mönchengladbach

These people have been born in Mönchengladbach, or in Rheydt or Wickrath, formerly independent communities united with Mönchengladbach in 1975.

★ 1834, 12 November, Franz Brandts † 5. October 1914, Entrepreneur, Founder of the Volksvereins für das katholische Deutschland

★ 1897, 29 October in Rheydt, Joseph Goebbels, † 1 May 1945 in Berlin, minister of propaganda and popular information in Nazi Germany

★ 1859, 3 February in Rheydt, Hugo Junkers, † 3 February 1935 in Gauting, Engineer and Entrepreneur, Designer of airplanes

★ 1944, 14 September, Günther Netzer, German soccer player for Borussia Mönchengladbach, Real Madrid and Grasshoppers Zürich

★ 1967, May 18, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Formula One driver

★ 1977, May 10, Nick Heidfeld, Formula One driver

Traffic

The city is unique in Europe for having two central stations: ''Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof (Hbf)'' and ''Rheydt Hbf'', the result of the merger of the two cities, in which the deprecated name for Rheydt Hbf never got removed.
An S-Bahn line connects the city to Düsseldorf and Hagen, an extension further westwards is presently being discussed.
Local bus and rail transport is carried out by the NVV-AG under the VRR transport association regulations.

Sports

The city hosted the FIH Hockey World Cup 2006 during the period September 6-17.
Mönchengladbach has a football tradition as well. Its home club Borussia Mönchengladbach is one of the country's most well-known, best-supported, and successful teams.
''Die Fohlen'' has more than 30,000 members and is the fourth largest club in Germany. However, after a last place finish in the top flight for the 2006-2007 season, they have been relegated to the 2.Bundesliga for the 2007-2008 campaign.

Military

:''Main article: Rheindahlen Military Complex''
Just outside Mönchengladbach is the Rheindahlen Military Complex, home to the headquarters of the British Armed Forces in Germany.