German Empire. In March 1920, as a reaction to the Kapp Putsch, there was a general strike in which 650 Blomberg workers from 25 companies took part. In the last years of the Weimar Republic, there were violent clashes between supporters of the KPD and NSDAP in Lippe, as in the entire Reich, some of which degenerated into hall battles and shootings. [18] Nazism and World War II On January 15, 1933, state elections were held in Lippe. In the Reichstag elections in November 1932, the NSDAP had to accept a decline in their share of the vote from 41.13% to 34.72%. That is why the Nazis tried to win the state elections in Lippe at all costs. The entire leadership of the NSDAP was involved in the election campaign and in the final phase of the election campaign Hitler alone spoke in Lippe sixteen times within ten days. On January 13, Hitler and Frick addressed 5,000 people in Blomberg. In the election, the NSDAP was able to increase by almost 10% and achieved 43.4% of the votes, while the SPD took only 26.6% and the KPD 15.9% of the votes. The NSDAP declared the election victory in Lippe as Hitler's breakthrough on his way to the Reich Chancellery, but in fact the decision was made in Berlin, when Reich President Hindenburg gave in to the pressure of the conservatives and appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor. After that, the Nazis immediately expanded their power and suspended elementary basic rights. As part of the so-called “Gleichschaltung” the other political parties, trade unions and many associations were banned and most of the leading positions in politics, administration and all of public life were occupied by the NSDAP. Anyone who did not fit into the "national community" was persecuted and imprisoned. On March 6, 1933, the first functionaries and members of the KPD in Blomberg were taken into so-called protective custody. Thereafter, 14 house searches were carried out on members of the SPD. The increasing reprisals by the SA and the police led to resignations in many parts of the SPD. On April 1, 1933, the Blomberg SPD local association dissolved. One victim of the Nazis was the upholsterer Wilhelm Friedrichs, who wrote a number of letters critical of the regime to Nazi functionaries in Blomberg and Detmold. He was arrested and taken to a prison in Hanover, where he hanged himself the day