Winifred Wagner, oder, Hitlers Bayreuth

Chronicles the life of Winifred (1897-1980), and of the Wagner family and the activities and feuds around the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, in the context of the history of her times, especially the Nazi period. After an unhappy childhood in England, Winifred was adopted by a German couple. Her adoptive grandfather, a musician, was a great admirer of Wagner, with whom he had had personal ties. At the age of 18, Winifred married Wagner's son, Siegfried. Both in the home of her "grandparents" and in Bayreuth she was immersed in a nationalistic and antisemitic atmosphere, which she readily imbibed. Any lack of success of a Wagner performance was attributed by her "grandfather" and the Wagner family to Jewish critics; both detested modern, "Jewish" productions of Wagner's operas and modern, "Jewish" music in general. They denounced the Jews as a destructive element in German culture and politics. Describes Winifred's enthusiasm for Hitler and the familiar relations between the Wagner household and "Uncle Wolf". After Hitler came to power, Winifred did respond to pleas to use her influence for the sake of politically or racially persecuted persons. In many cases she succeeded, even though after 1940 (perhaps because of her interventions) Hitler distanced himself from her. As director of the Festival after Siegfried's death, she defended her continued employment of "non-Aryan" musicians. She explained that she was against the Jewish influence in Germany but could not tolerate injustice to individual Jews. She was sure Hitler was not informed of the atrocities committed by his followers. Until the end of her life, she remained devoted to the memory of Hitler and she remained an outspoken antisemite. Includes bibliographical references (pages 645-675) and index. 687 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.