Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-1939): Bamberg Conference (1926)

The Bamberg Conference was a meeting between all the leaders of the Nazi Party and was held to address a growing North / South split in the Nazi Party.

In the north of Germany National Socialism appealed to many through its socialist element. Supporters and leaders persuaded the working class in Germany to support the Nazis with a focus on the benefits for workers and regularly criticised capitalists for their ‘crimes against workers’.

This was in stark contrast to the activities of Nazis in the south of Germany (including Hitler) who focused on the “National” in National Socialism. It was this nationalist element which supported a strong government and leader and the anti-Semitism in which Hitler and the Nazis believed.

As a result of the Bamberg Conference, the splits were lessened and key players such as Joseph Goebbels from the north were promoted (he was appointed party leader in Berlin).

The main result from the conference was that Hitler’s rhetoric of nationalism was placed at the centre of Nazi ideology at the expense of socialism