course of World War II, large quantities of sulphur mustard gas and the new nerve agent, GA, were produced here. At the end of the war, Germany had a continuous production line for GB nerve agent ready to go online; this plant was dismantled by the British Occupation Forces and later shipped to Porton Down, Great Britain. In 1958, the German Bundeswehr founded in the area a new agency dedicated to the defence against NBC weapons. As of 2009, this agency has the name "Wehrwissenschaftliches Institut für Schutztechnologien - ABC-Schutz" (WIS)("Bundeswehr Research Institute for Protective Technologies and NBC Protection") Politics Munster is traditionally held by a CDU majority. Mayors The mayor of Munster is Ulf-Marcus Grube (CDU), elected in September 2021. He succeeded Christina Fleckenstein (SPD), who was elected in May 2014 with 54,7 % of the votes. Her predecessor was Adolf Köthe (independent). Town council CDU 13 seats SPD 10 seats FDP 1 seat NPD 1 seat Independent 1 seat (as of September 2011) Coat of arms The Oberpräsident of the Province of Hanover awarded the then municipality of Munster, in a decree of 4 March 1937, a coat of arms. The coat of arms displayed on a gold field a blue dragon with red claws breathing red fire; above it lay a horizontal silver sword on a blue field. As a result of a petition by the council of the municipality of Munster of 18 April 1967 the District President (Regierungspräsident) in Lüneburg on 17 May 1967, authorised the field of the 1937 coat of arms to be changed from gold to silver and further authorised a town flag in the colours blue and white to be used. Twin towns — sister cities Munster is twinned with: Radcliff, Kentucky, United States, since 1984 Michurinsk, Russia, since 1991 Éragny, France, since 1999 Main sights German Tank Museum, (Deutsches Panzermuseum) - Germany's largest armoured fighting vehicle museum St. Urban's Church (St.-Urbani-Kirche) - a 13th-century church The Ollershof is a free open-air museum St.Martin's sheep pen church is an old sheep pen that was converted to a church Town library St. Stephen's Military Church (St.-Stephanus-Militärkirche) - the only church entirely allocated to a military parish in Germany and the highest building in Munster Lower Saxony Spring (Niedersachsenbrunnen) - with 8 horses, that symbolise the formerly independent parishes in the borough, by Jos Pirkner (1991) Economy The largest economic factor and employer