Bamberg Conference

The Bamberg Conference (1926) was held during the "wilderness years" of the Nazi party. Hitler's decision to call the meeting was something of a gamble. His aim was to restore some resemblance of party unity and agree to a future programme. To achieve this, he had to put pressure on his rival Gregor Strasser's delegates to fall into line. What was meant to be a debate was quickly turned into a five-hour monologue, dominated by Hitler. Bamberg was chosen as it was situated on the way to the northern Gauleiter, but still on Bavarian soil. Hitler slowly began to regain support and by mid-1926 he was in control of the party once again. At this conference the young Joseph Goebbels, an associate of the Strasser brothers switched sides and joined Hitler.The conference was called shortly after Hitler's release from prison for attempting to take over the country (the Munich Putsch) and by this time support for the Nazi party was in decline due to the relative prosperity the country was experiencing under Stresemann. The socialist/nationalist split in the Nazi party would have been a problem which needed to be solved as soon as possible if the party was to succeed and if Hitler were to become Chancellor.At the conference, Hitler spoke largely about his autobiography 'Mein Kampf', written while he served his time in the comforts of Landsberg prison. He specifically spoke of creating 'Lebensraum' (Living Space) and 'Volksgemeinschaft' (A people's community). Furthermore, Hitler decided to announce his new policy of 'legality' in the belief that it was better for the Nazi regime to be able to claim a legal background if they were voted into power. Hitler was particularly concerned with legality, having seen what happened to the Provisional Government in Russia in 1917. Hitler received particular opposition from the Strasser brothers (Gregor Strasser later had to flee to America later due to several assassination attempts on his life). Many scholars argue that it was at this point that Hitler gained true control of the Nazi party, while others argue he did not have full power until the late 1930s when he finally had control of the Reichswehr, at which point he still did not have control of the German economy. With legality, the Nazis would not be banned in any states, as they had been in Prussia in 1922/3 and even Bavaria, the 'breeding ground for revolutionaries'. Bamberg was a truly memorable conference as it marked a new direction for the Nazis, and a triumph of Hitler over his biggest adversaries within the party.