Editing Bayreuth (section)

===20th century===

==== To the end of the Weimar Republic (1900–1933) ====
[[File:Notgeldbt1920.JPG|thumb|1920 [[emergency money]]: voucher for 25 pfennigs]]
[[File:Notgeldbayreuth.jpg|thumb|1923 emergency money: voucher for a million marks]]
The new century also brought several innovations of modern technology: in 1892, the first electric street lights; in 1908 a municipal electricity station, and, in the same year, the first cinema.

In 1914–15, one section of the northern arm of the Red Main was straightened and widened after areas along the river had been flooded during a period of high water in 1909.

After the [[First World War]] had ended in 1918, the [[Workers' council|Workers' and Soldiers' Council]] took power briefly in Bayreuth. On 17 February 1919, there was a three-day coup, the so-called ''Speckputsch'', a brief interlude of excitement in the otherwise rather staid town.

In a series of ''[[Völkisch movement|völkisch]]'' and [[Nationalism|nationalist]] "Deutscher Tag" (German Days), the [[NSDAP]] organised the event in Bayreuth on 30 September 1923. More than 3,300 military and civilian people gathered (equivalent to 15% of the inhabitants), although [[Minister of Defence]] [[Otto Gessler]] had forbidden the participation of {{lang|de|[[Reichswehr]]}} units.<ref>Martin Schramm: "[http://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/artikel/artikel_44699 Deutscher Tag, Bayreuth, 30. September 1923] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112105105/http://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/artikel/artikel_44699 |date=12 January 2012 }}", in: ''Historisches Lexikon Bayerns''</ref> Among the guests were mayor Albert Preu as well as [[Siegfried Wagner|Siegfried]] and [[Winifred Wagner]], who invited keynote speaker [[Adolf Hitler]] to [[Wahnfried]] house. There he met writer [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]], son-in-law of [[Richard Wagner]] and [[Antisemitism|anti-semitic]] [[Racism|race theorist]]. Also on that day, [[Hans Schemm]] met Hitler for the first time.

In 1932, the provinces of Upper and Middle Franconia were merged and [[Ansbach]] was chosen as the seat of government. As a small compensation, Bayreuth was given the merged state insurance agency for Upper and Middle Franconia. Unlike the provincial merger, the merger of those institutions was never reversed.

====Nazi era (1933–1945)====
A stronghold of right-wing parties since the 1920s, Bayreuth became a center of [[Nazism|Nazi]] ideology. In 1933, it was made capital of the Nazi [[Gau (country subdivision)|Gau]] [[Gau Bayreuth|Bavarian Eastern March]] (''Bayerische Ostmark'', in 1942 ''Gau Bayreuth''). Nazi leaders often visited the [[Bayreuth Festival|Wagner festival]] and tried to turn Bayreuth into a Nazi model town. It was one of several places in which town planning was administered directly from Berlin, due to Hitler's special interest in the town and in the festival. Hitler loved the music of Richard Wagner, and he became a close friend of [[Winifred Wagner]] after she took over the festival. Hitler frequently attended Wagner performances in the [[Bayreuth Festival Hall]].

Bayreuth was to have received a so-called ''Gauforum'', a combined government building and marching square built to symbolise the centre of power in the town. Bayreuth's first [[Gauleiter]] was [[Hans Schemm]], who was also the head (''Reichswalter'') of the [[National Socialist Teachers League]], NSLB, which was located in Bayreuth. In 1937 the town was connected to the new ''[[Reichsautobahn]]''.

Under [[Nazi dictatorship]] the [[synagogue]] of the [[Jewish Community]] in ''Münzgasse'' was desecrated and looted on [[Kristallnacht]] but, due to its proximity to the Opera House it was not razed. Inside the building, which is once again used by a Jewish community as a synagogue, a plaque next to the [[Torah]] Shrine recalls the persecution and murder of Jews in the [[The Holocaust|Shoah]], which took the lives of at least 145 Jews in Bayreuth.<ref>''Gedenkstätten für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus. Eine Dokumentation'', Vol. 1. Federal Office for Political Education, Bonn 1995, {{ISBN|3-89331-208-0}}, p. 119 f.</ref><ref>A list of the victims' names is found in "Denk / Steine setzen", published by the Bayreuth History Working Group (''Geschichtswerkstatt Bayreuth''), Bumerang Verlag, Bayreuth 2003. Bayreuth's Jews are considered to be those people who had lived for some time in Bayreuth, were born in Bayreuth or who were deported from Bayreuth.</ref>

During the Second World War, a [[List of subcamps of Flossenbürg|subcamp]] of the [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]] was based in the town,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanhistory/concentrationcamps.html| title = O'Keefe, Christine, ''Concentration Camps''}}</ref> in which prisoners had to participate in physical experiments for the [[V-2]]. [[Wieland Wagner]], the grandson of the composer, [[Richard Wagner]], was the deputy civilian director there in late 1944 and early April 1945.<ref>{{cite news |title= How Wieland Wagner, once Hitler's friend, lifted the Nazi shadow from Bayreuth|date=2017-07-20|url= http://www.dw.com/en/how-wieland-wagner-once-hitlers-friend-lifted-the-nazi-shadow-from-bayreuth/a-39856191|work= Deutsche Welle|access-date= 2017-08-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cleaver|first=Hannah |date=2003-08-02 |title=Wagner's son 'was in charge of Nazi slaves' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1437820/Wagners-son-was-in-charge-of-Nazi-slaves.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1437820/Wagners-son-was-in-charge-of-Nazi-slaves.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Telegraph |access-date=2017-08-23}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Shortly before the war's end branches of the [[People's Court (Germany)|People's Court]] (''Volksgerichtshof'') were to have been set up in Bayreuth.<ref>Source and details → [[People's Court (Germany)|People's Court]]</ref>

On 5, 8 and 11 April 1945 about one third of the town, including many public buildings and industrial installations were destroyed by heavy air strikes, along with 4,500 houses. 741 people were also killed. On 14 April, the U.S. Army occupied the town.

====Post-war era (1945–2000)====
After the war Bayreuth tried to part with its ill-fated past. It became part of the [[American Zone of Occupation|American Zone]]. The American military government set up a [[DP camp]] to accommodate [[displaced person]]s (DP), many of whom were [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]].<ref name="DP camps"/> The camp was supervised by the [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration|UNRRA]].

The housing situation was very difficult at first: there were about 53,300 inhabitants in the town, many more than before the war began. This increase was primarily due to the high number of refugees and expellees. Even in 1948 more than 11,000 refugees were counted. In addition, because many homes had been destroyed due to the war, thousands of people were living in temporary shelters, even the festival restaurant next to the Festival Hall housed some 500 people.<ref>Bernd Mayer, Wo jeder Zehnte einen Stuhl besaß. In: Heimat-Kurier das historische Magazin des Nordbayerischen Kuriers. No. 3/2004</ref>

In 1945, 1,400 men were conscripted by the town council for "essential work" (clean-up work on damaged buildings and the clearing of roads). A significant number of historic buildings were demolished post-war but cultural life was soon back on track: in 1947 [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] festival weeks were held in the Opera House, from which the Franconian Festival Weeks developed. In 1949 the Festival Hall was used for the first time again and there was a gala concert with the [[Vienna Philharmonic]] led by [[Hans Knappertsbusch]]. In 1951, the first post-war Richard Wagner Festival took place under the leadership of [[Wieland Wagner|Wieland]] and [[Wolfgang Wagner]]. Wieland Wagner's fresh and non-traditional stagings "restored credibility to a theater that had been totally ruined by Nazi ideology."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/en/how-wieland-wagner-once-hitlers-friend-lifted-the-nazi-shadow-from-bayreuth/a-39856191|title = How Wieland Wagner, once Hitler's friend, lifted the Nazi shadow from Bayreuth &#124; DW &#124; 27.07.2017|website = [[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref>

In 1949, Bayreuth became the seat of the government of Upper Franconia again.

In 1971, the [[Bavarian State Parliament]] decided to establish the [[University of Bayreuth]] and, on 3 November 1975, it opened for lectures and research. There are now about 10,000 students in the town.

In May 1972, a serious accident occurred at the folk festival in the town, when an overcrowded carriage derailed and several people were thrown out. Four died and five were injured, some seriously. At that time, it was the worst disaster on a roller coaster since the Second World War.

In 1979, US Army serviceman [[Roy Chung]] disappeared from the area and allegedly defected to [[North Korea]] via [[East Germany]].

In 1999, the world gliding championship took place at Bayreuth municipal airport.