Hitler made an annual pilgrimage to Bayreuth for the Wagner Festival every year through 1940 when he attended a performance of Gotterdammernug Tuesday, July 23 at 3:00PM. He sat alone in his box for the next four hours.

He didn’t come back in 1941, and after that he never returned again. He made a big deal about Wagner, his operas, and held him up as a model of German culture. In particular, his favorite opera was Der Meistersinger of Nuremberg.

One of Wagner’s descendants is still reacting against Hitler — Miss Wagner and current opera goers, who must reserve tickets years in advance. She responsible for current performances at Bayreauth in the Festspielhaus, designed for perfect performances of Wager’s ten mature operas.

Apparently in a recent performance of Der Meistersinger, when the would-be singer presents himself to the master he gives him a Cubist painting. During the riot, the rioters toss paint from Andy Warhol soup cans. During the entrance of the guilds for the final contest, they carry icons that get swept into the trash. Hans Sachs orders up 2 naked statues of Goethe and Schiller done in the style of Arno Breker, the Nazis’ favorite sculptor, warning opera goers about the “fruits of unthinking reverence”.

This might sound rather strange. But it might show the tortures Germans are enduring trying to figure out what significance Hitler had for them. Perhaps he’s supposed to be one of the rats in the Lohengrin chorus.