The early phase of the Nazi party organization in Schaumburg-Lippe - from its beginnings to the takeover of power in 1933. As the smallest state of the Weimar Republic, Schaumburg-Lippe was regarded as a bastion of political stability and a symbol of tranquil small-state conditions. For many contemporaries, the Nazi takeover in 1933 appeared to be an externally imposed occupation that disregarded the specific local circumstances and actors. However, Johannes Kessler's investigation into the beginnings of National Socialism in Schaumburg-Lippe presents a different picture. It shows that a number of republic-hostile, ethnic, and nationalist organizations were already able to establish themselves in the 1920s. On this basis, a powerful party apparatus developed, which, with increasing radicalization, supported the infiltration of the NSDAP into the small-town middle-class structures.