Bayreuth 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
Bayreuth Festival banned her from administration of the Bayreuth Festival and its assets, which fell eventually to her two sons, Wolfgang and Wieland. During American occupation of the region after World War II, the theatre was used for army recreation and religious services for American soldiers. Only popular concerts and mixed entertainment were allowed: comedy, dancing, acrobatics, and then only "Die Fledermaus" was staged. When the Festival House was handed over to the city of Bayreuth in 1946, it was used for concerts of the Bayreuth Symphony Orchestra and the performances of such operas as "Fidelio", "Tiefland", "Madama Butterfly" and "La traviata".