Bayreuth Bayreuth Bayreuth (; ) (Bavarian: Bareid) is a medium-sized city in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the early 21st century, it is the capital of Upper Franconia and has a population of 72,148 (2015). It is world-famous for its annual Bayreuth Festival, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. The town is believed to have been founded by the counts of Andechs probably around the mid-12th century, but was first mentioned
Gau Bayreuth Gau Bayreuth Gau Bayreuth (until 1942, "Gau Bayerische Ostmark" (English: Bavarian Eastern March)) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Lower Bavaria, Upper Palatinate and Upper Franconia, Bavaria, from 1933 to 1945. From 1926 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party for these areas. The Nazi Gau (plural Gaue) system was originally established in a party conference on 22 May 1926, in order to improve administration of the party structure. From 1933 onwards, after the Nazi seizure of power, the "Gaue" increasingly replaced the German states as administrative subdivisions in Germany. At the head of