Winifred Wagner | |
|---|---|
_1931.jpg) Wagner in 1931 | |
| Born | Winifred Marjorie Williams (1897-06-23)23 June 1897 |
| Died | 5 March 1980(1980-03-05) (aged 82) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
Winifred Marjorie Wagner (néeWilliams; 23 June 1897 – 5 March 1980) was the English-born wife ofSiegfried Wagner, the son ofRichard Wagner. She ran theBayreuth Festival after her husband's death in 1930 until the end ofWorld War II in 1945. She was a friend and supporter ofAdolf Hitler,himself a Wagner enthusiast, and she and Hitler maintained a regular correspondence.
Wagner was born Winifred Marjorie Williams inHastings,[1] to John Williams, a Welsh journalist and critic, and his English-Danish wife, Emily Florence Williams, née Karop. Orphaned before the age of two, she initially was raised in a number of homes. Eight years later, she was adopted by a distant German relative of her mother, Henrietta Karop, and her husbandKarl Klindworth, a musician and a friend ofRichard Wagner.[2]
TheBayreuth Festival was seen as a family business, with the leadership to be passed from Richard Wagner to his sonSiegfried, but Siegfried, who was secretlybisexual, showed little interest in marriage. It was arranged that Winifred Klindworth, as she was called at the time, aged 17, would meet Siegfried Wagner, aged 45, at the Bayreuth Festival in 1914. A year later, they were married.[3] It was hoped that the marriage would end Siegfried'shomosexual encounters and the associated costly scandals and provide an heir to carry on the family business. Following their marriage on 22 September 1915, they had four children in rapid succession.[3] After the death ofSiegfried Wagner in 1930, Winifred Wagner took over the Bayreuth Festival, running it until the end of World War II.
In 1923, Winifred Wagner metAdolf Hitler,[1] who greatly admired Richard Wagner's music. When Hitler was jailed for his part in the MunichBeer Hall Putsch, Wagner sent him food parcels and stationery on which Hitler's autobiographyMein Kampf may have been written. Although Wagner remained personally faithful to Hitler, she denied that she ever supported theNazi Party. Her relationship with Hitler grew so close that by 1933 there were rumours of impending marriage[1] (there were similar rumours about her love for English novelistHugh Walpole).[4]
HausWahnfried, the Wagner home inBayreuth, became Hitler's favourite retreat.[1] He stayed there on numerous occasions without his bodyguards, despite fears of his SS colleagues.[5] Hitler gave the Bayreuth festival government assistance and tax-exempt status, and treated Wagner's children solicitously.
According to biographerBrigitte Hamann, Wagner was reported to be "disgusted" by Hitler's persecution of the Jews. In one notable incident, in the late 1930s, a letter from her to Hitler preventedHedwig andAlfred Pringsheim (whose daughterKatia was married toThomas Mann) from being arrested by theGestapo.[6] Alfred Pringsheim was a fan of Richard Wagner, who he corresponded with and supported financially. He was also a patron of the Bayreuth Festival.
According toGottfried Wagner, Winifred Wagner's grandson, she never admitted any error to her ways. After the war, her posthumous devotion to Hitler, whom she referred to as "USA" – forUnser Seliger Adolf (our blessed Adolf) – remained undimmed. She corresponded with Hitler for nearly two decades. Scholars have not been allowed to see the letters, which have been kept locked away byAmélie Lafferentz, one of Winifred Wagner's grandchildren, who has insisted that they not be released until the whole family agrees to do so.[7]
Like Hitler, Wagner believed profoundly in the rite of asecular cult ofGerman nationalism, ofNordic self-realization, andvölkisch aspiration. After the defeat ofNazi Germany, adenazification court banned her from the Bayreuth Festival, which she passed to her sons Wieland and Wolfgang.[1] In the 1950s, she again became a political hostess. Her grandson Gottfried Wagner later recalled that
"My aunt Friedelind was outraged when my grandmother again slowly blossomed as the first lady of right-wing groups and received political friends such asEmmy Göring,Ilse Hess, the former NPDAdolf von Thadden,Gerdy Troost, the wife of the Nazi architect and friend of HitlerPaul Ludwig Troost, the British fascist leaderOswald Mosley, the German NS-movie directorKarl Ritter and the racist author and former Senator of the ReichHans Severus Ziegler."[8]
In 1975, Wagner gave a filmed interview toHans-Jürgen Syberberg in which she appeared unrepentant concerning her past. "To have met him [Hitler]," she declared, "is an experience I would not have missed."[9] She was interviewed that year byDavid Irving, who reported that she had said she would still welcome Hitler at her door and that she had discussed with Hitler the saving of some individuals.[10] She died inÜberlingen, one of the best preserved medieval sites, on the shore ofLake Constance on 5 March 1980 at the age of 82 and was interred at Bayreuth.[citation needed]
The friendship of Wagner and Hitler is treated fancifully inA.N. Wilson's novelWinnie and Wolf (2007).[11]The Music Keeper, an American play from 1982 byElliot Tiber andAndré Ernotte, takes place two days before Wagner's death and is about her relationship with Hitler.
