Weimar Republic and could take care of themselves politically. In the Münster-Coesfeld electorate, someone like Georg von Hertling (later Minister-President of Bavaria and Imperial Chancellor) stood as a candidate from 1903 to 1912. Similarly, the later Chancellor Franz von Papen, who belonged to the far right wing of the party, came from rural Werl and had his political base in Münsterland. On the other hand, in the industrialised parts of the province, social Catholicism was very strong. This current was particularly strong in the Ruhr and in Sauerland. The Christian unions there were mostly stronger than their social-democratic competitors. Westphalian Catholics like August Pieper and , who were both leaders of the People's Association for Catholic Germany, were prominent individuals who were engaged in social politics. Alongside increasing secularisation, the social focus of political Catholicism was a reason why the Centre Party lost support in middle-class areas during the Weimar Republic. In Sauerland, the party's support in 1933 had fallen to around 20% of what it had been in 1919. Nevertheless, in Catholic areas it generally remained the leading political force and remained the leading party in both of the province's electorates in the 1930 German federal election. Social democrats and communists The Centre Party's dominance in Westphalia meant that liberal, conservative, and social democratic movements were restricted to Protestant Westphalia. Thus, leading early social democrats, like Carl Wilhelm Tölcke and Wilhelm Hasenclever, came from Catholic Sauerland, but began their careers in the neighbouring Protestant areas. The County of Mark and the area around Bielfeld were early hotbeds of social democracy. In Mark, Ferdinand Lassalle's General German Workers' Association (ADAV) and its successors were strong from its foundation in 1863. Above all, Tölcke was responsible for the establishment of local branches of the party in Iserlohn, Hagen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Minden and Oeynhausen by 1875. The ADAV merged with the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in 1875 to form the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SAP), which was later redubbed the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP). After this, Tölcke ran as the party's main candidate in Westphalia. In Bielefeld, personalities like Carl Severing had a substantial impact on political life from the Empire until the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany. Before 1933, the Westphalian portion of the Ruhr was in no way a "heartland" of the SPD. Although the social democratic "Old Union" was the first