Editing Minden (section)

=== The Weimar Republic and the Nazi Regime ===
[[File:2010-05-21 Minden Fort B (5).jpg|thumb|Fort B]] 
The republican [[German Revolution of 1918–19|November Revolution]] of 1918 passed with only small disturbances that occurred in a few barracks of the Minden garrison on 7 and 8 November 1918. A [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|workers' and soldiers' council]], most of them members or supporters of the Social Democratic Party, took control in the afternoon of 18 November, but co-operated both with the town council and the military and civil administration as well and was successful in calming the situation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kossack |first1=Kristan |title=Die Anfänge der Reichswehr in Minden |journal=Mitteilungen des Mindener Geschichtsvereins |date=1998 |volume=70 |pages=47–105 |url=https://sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de/hd/periodical/titleinfo/4628899 |access-date=19 February 2022}}</ref>

The situation became more critical during the [[Kapp Putsch]] of March 1920, when right-wing officers tried to overthrow the legitimate government of the ''[[Weimar Republic|German Reich]]''. A majority of the town council declared their loyalty to President [[Friedrich Ebert]] and Chancellor [[Gustav Bauer]], who for their part confirmed the authority of the Minden Workers' Council. The assassination of Foreign Minister [[Walther Rathenau]] on 24 June 1922 resulted in serious rioting in Minden. A demonstration of 15,000 people in support of the government was held at the market square on 27 June. Public opinion changed during the time of the [[Great Depression]], and in the 1930-election of the town council, the [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]] received 6 of 31 seats, and in the 1933-election, the last democratic one, they won a majority comprising 16 of 28 seats.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kossack |first1=Kristan |title=Von der Reichswehr zur Wehrmacht |journal=Mitteilungen des Mindener Geschichtsvereins |date=1999 |volume=71 |pages=65–111 |url=https://sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de/hd/periodical/titleinfo/4629104 |access-date=17 February 2022}}, p. 111</ref> The NSDAP increased their Minden results of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag elections]] from 2.0 percent in [[1928 German federal election|May 1928]] to 40.1 percent in [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932]].<ref>Stefan Nesenhöner (1994): ''"Fest wie ein Felsen im wilden Meer ..." – Die Mindener Sozialdemokratie in den letzten Jahren der Weimarer Republik.'' p. 165–185, 169. In: Joachim Meynert, Ursula Bender-Wittmann (Ed.): ''Keine vaterlandslosen Gesellen – Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sozialdemokratie in  Minden.'' Lübbecke. ISBN 3-928959-04-2</ref>

Although the German armed forces were restricted considerably by the regulations of the [[Treaty of Versailles#Military restrictions|Treaty of Versailles]], Minden remained a garrison town of the ''[[Reichswehr]]'' with the Pioneer Battalion No. 6 and the Artillery Regiment No. 6, both parts of the [[6th Division (Reichswehr)|6th Division]]. However, soldiers became more and more connected with right-wing groups, although officially obliged to political neutrality. The military units put forward the construction of sporting facilities: a stadium ({{lang|de|Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn}}, now {{lang|de|Weserstadion}}), a public open-air pool (now {{lang|de|Sommerbad}}), and a horse racecourse. Both [[Walther von Brauchitsch]] (who organized annual horse tournaments from 1925 to 1927) and [[Wilhelm Keitel]] (who succeeded him in the same function until 1929) spent part of their career in Minden.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kossack |first1=Kristan |title=Von der Reichswehr zur Wehrmacht |journal=Mitteilungen des Mindener Geschichtsvereins |date=1999 |volume=71 |pages=65–111 |url=https://sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de/hd/periodical/titleinfo/4629104 |access-date=17 February 2022}}, p. 76–78</ref>

When the ''Reichswehr'' was transformed to the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' in 1935, army units were enlarged. Minden received another pioneer battalion (No. 46), new barracks ({{lang|de|Mudra-Kaserne}}, after WWII ''Clifton barracks'') and an exercise area at the Weser shore were built. After the last prisoners of war had left the camp area Minderheide in 1922, the place was used again for military exercise, horse and motorcycle sport, and a part from it as a place to land for small planes, as had already been happened starting in 1910. Two hangars and workshops for repairing and overhauling were built in this area beginning in 1936, where new types of planes were also tested.{{sfn|Dallmeier |1998 |p=76–81}}

After the war, the Minden District railway opened a fourth line to the coal mine of Meißen and the ore mine of Kleinenbremen, and in 1924 began to convert the narrow gauge to standard gauge tracks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schütte |first1=Ingrid und Werner |title=Die Mindener Kreisbahnen |date=1989 |publisher=Uhle und Kleimann |location=Lübbecke |isbn=3-922657-77-X}} p. 47, 108–111.</ref> The Minden tram was electrified in 1920, and three lines were added by 1930.<ref name="SchütteTram" />

In 1929, the [[Melitta]] firm transferred its production from [[Dresden]] to Minden. From 1935 the {{lang|de|Chemische Werke Minden}} produced chemicals for pharmaceutical use, e.g. [[codeine]]; because of potentially military interest the producing company ''Knoll AG'' in [[Ludwigshafen]] had decided for a more inner-German producing location.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

From 1934 to 1940, two suburbs with single-family houses of modest size ({{lang|de|Siedlung Kuhlenkamp}} and {{lang|de|Siedlung Rodenbeck}}) were created in considerable distance to the previous settlements.{{sfn|Nordsiek |1979|p=93, 102}} Like in other communities, the names of some streets or places were changed for political reasons during the [[Third Reich]], with most being reverted in 1945.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weidner |first1=Marcus |title=Die Straßenbenennungspraxis in Westfalen und Lippe während des Nationalsozialismus. Minden |url=https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/nstopo/strnam/Kommune_148.html |publisher=Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe |access-date=17 December 2021}}</ref>