In 1945 the Lower Saxony National Party (Niedersächsische Landespartei, acronym: NLP) was founded as a re-creation of the regionalist German-Hanoverian Party (or German Party) that had been active in the period between the creation of the German Empire in 1871 and the Nazi Party's seizure of power in 1933. Two groups of people initiated the process: one around Ludwig Alpers and Heinrich Hellwege in Stade, the other around Georg Ludewig, Karl Biester, Wolfgang Kwiecinski, and Arthur Menge in Hanover.[1] On May 23, 1946 Heinrich Hellwege, Landrat in Stade, was formally elected to serve as chairman of the NLP.[2] The NLP aimed principally at the establishment of a Lower Saxon state within a federal Germany as well as representing Christian conservatism.[3]