German Christians rule

In the St. Lorenz South district, supporters of the SPD/KPD and the NSDAP roughly balance each other out in the last free Reichstag elections in November 1932. The pastors and the parish council of the Luther congregation, on the other hand, are clearly National Socialists at the time.
Two-thirds of the church leaders are members of the NSDAP, SA or the anti-Semitic and racist German Christians or would join them later. Particularly active for the Nazi movement is the long-time chairman, businessman Johannes Sievers.

Johannes Sievers is appointed chairman of the Lübeck Church Congress in 1933. In 1935, he is designated to be a member of the High Consistory of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church in Lübeck. When Bishop Balzer is drafted for military service in the fall of 1939, Sievers de facto takes over the leadership of the regional church.

During his administration, the anti-Semitic course of the Lübeck regional church, which in 1939 excludes Christians of Jewish origin from membership, intensifies.

Businessman Johannes Sievers, chairman of the parish council of the Luther congregation. Together with Bishop Balzer, he was involved in the anti-Semitic “Institute for the Research and Elimination of Jewish Influence on German church life”.

The Lilienstraße in St. Lorenz South during the Nazi period. The NSDAP was elected more than twice as often as the SPD in the polling stations in the areas with upscale housing. In the typical workers’ quarters, on the other hand, the SPD and KPD had a clear lead