Military Ghosts: JHQ Rheindahlen and the Multidimensional Process of Urban Lostness

• In Event: Cities Lost and Found: Ruptures of Memory, and Nostalgia as Future Making

Abstract

This paper examines the abandoned military settlement of JHQ Rheindahlen in Germany, which served as headquarters for NATO and British armed forces from the 1950s through the late 1990s. Once a vibrant community housing up to ten thousand people—effectively a "city within the city" of Mönchengladbach—these facilities now deteriorate behind fencing, generating both nostalgic remembrances and darker narratives.

Based on field research conducted in 2024-2025, this study analyzes interviews with diverse local stakeholders to illuminate the historical, social, and political consequences of Rheindahlen's abandonment. The site demonstrates how lostness operates as a process involving multiple (dis)connections across various spatio-temporal scales: locally (through its integration and subsequent detachment from Mönchengladbach), nationally (via its dispossession and reintegration into Germany), and globally (through its participation in international networks including military alliances, transnational corporations, and human rights organizations).