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 for 15 million francs. Bayreuth became the capital of the Bavarian district of Mainkreis, which later transferred into Obermainkreis and was finally renamed as the province of Upper Franconia. As Bavaria was opened up by the railways, the main line from Nuremberg to Hof went past Bayreuth, running via Lichtenfels, Kulmbach and Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg to Hof. Bayreuth was first given a railway connexion in 1853, when the Bayreuth–Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg railway was built at the town's expense. It was followed in 1863 by the line to Weiden, in 1877 by the railway to Schnabelwaid, in 1896 by the branch line to Warmensteinach, in