The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (German: Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe) was created following the abdication of Prince Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe on 15 November 1918. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic, headed by a Minister President. The democratic government was suppressed during Nazi rule. At the end of World War II the British military occupation government decreed on 1 November 1946 the union of Schaumburg-Lippe, Hannover, Braunschweig, and Oldenburg to form the new state of Lower Saxony.