Bayreuth Festival named by Bavaria's culture minister, Thomas Goppel, to take over the Festival. They were to take up their duties immediately, since their father had announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2008 Festival. They were chosen ahead of the pair of their cousin, Nike Wagner, and Gerard Mortier, who had placed a late bid for the directorship on 24 August. The conductor Christian Thielemann has agreed to act as chief adviser to the new directors, effectively taking the role of music director of the Festival. The festival draws thousands of Wagner fans to Bayreuth every summer. It is very
Bavarian Political Police the Nazis took power in Bavaria on 9 March 1933, and split off the political department of the Munich police into a separate entity, the Bavarian Political Police (BPP). The Bavarian Political Police operated outside the framework of the law in the state. The new force experienced no great changes in staffing compare to the pre-Nazi era, with almost all previous staff being either retained or new staff coming from the existing Bavarian police force. The Bavarian Political Police pre-dated its Prussian counterpart, the Gestapo, which was formed on 26 April 1933. In the early stages the two organisations were