Various ethnic German organisations emerged in the Eupen-Malmedy region in the late 1920s, campaigning to promote German culture and the return of the territory to Germany. After the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany in 1933, agitation in Eupen-Malmedy increased and many inhabitants began to wear swastika badges. Local socialists began to distance themselves from calls to return to Germany. In 1935, an openly pro-Nazi party emerged locally, known as the Homeland-Loyal Front ("Heimattreue Front"), which achieved a majority in all three of the Eupen-Malmedy districts in the elections of 1936 and 1939.