Geneva 99
Geneva University 92
German armed forces
occupation of much of Europe (1940) 233
restricted by Versailles Treaty (1919) 140
German Confederation 12–13, 20
German Day 133
German Democratic Republic 260, 279
German empire 38
German Gobineau Society 98
German Left 19, 20
Germanic saga 19
Germany
1848 revolution 9
assumption that memories of ‘Third Reich’ would fade 289
‘Basic Law’ 260
cause of German unity 13
de Gaulle on 8
defeat in First World War 91, 130
Dichter und Denker (poets and thinkers) xiii
economic boom (1870s) 20
effect of Versailles Treaty 139
end of parliamentary democracy for sixteen years 173
first concentration camps 173
four post-war occupation zones 249
German business 13
German character xiii
German intellectual antisemitism 69
German Jews’ emancipation (1869) 65
Germans increasingly despised 259–60
hyperinflation 139–40
immigrants 140
invades Holland and Belgium 216
Jewish population 67–8
Jews blamed for recession 68, 86–7
Jews emigrate 199, 200
Lenin’s definition of Germans 18–19
and liberal reform 13
Mann attacks German intelligentsia 276, 277, 278
national debt 139
national unity 20, 46, 328
nationalist pressure groups 107
Nazi efforts to transform 198–200
NSDAP wants to form a ‘greater Germany’ 140
preference for a soft ‘revolution from above’ 18
Reich’s business ties with the United States 145
reunification 283–4
reparations 139, 140, 153
RW’s contempt for his own countrymen 6
stock market crash (1873) 68, 86–7, 89
stock market crash (1929) 153
strikes 140
surrender of 242
unemployment 163, 200
Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) 17, 18, 22, 23, 71, 77, 80, 183, 224, 307
Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth see Society of Friends of Bayreuth Gestapo 200, 240
founded 174
and Friedelind 213, 214, 218
and Preetorius 230, 277, 278
Geyer, Ludwig (RW’s stepfather) 25, 82, 87
Glasenapp, Carl Friedrich 101
Globke, Hans 283
Gluck, Christoph Willibald 292
Glück, Otto 262, 263
Gobineau, Joseph-Arthur, Comte de 73, 79–80
Essai sur l’inégalité des races huma-nines (Essay on the Inequality of Human Races) 68–9
Goebbels, Joseph 187, 236
and Chamberlain 153
despises Göring 229
diary 176, 182, 183, 203
dislikes Parsifal 182
favours Wieland 229
and Friedelind’s disclosures about Hitler 215
and Furtwängler 247
indirectly helps Wieland 226
keen to promote ‘lighter’ music 185
and Kristallnacht 203
Kulturkammer (Chamber of Culture) 178
Nazi propaganda minister 146, 173, 200
organises ‘Day of Potsdam’ 173–6
rivalry with Göring 183
and RW’s music 183
on Siegfried 146–7, 151
supports Bayreuth festival 190
and Tietjen 197–8, 230
visits Wagners at Wahnfried 146, 163–4
and Wagner children 192
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von xiii, 90, 126, 131, 187, 279
Faust 326
Gollancz, Victor 294
Göring, Edda 288
Göring, Emmy 288
Göring, Hermann 236, 288
‘beer hall putsch’ 142
Friedelind’s claim 143
most flamboyant of the Nazi leaders 142
Nuremberg trial 252
and Potsdam show (1933) 173
‘rescued’ by Wolfgang 204
rivalry with Goebbels 183
and RW’s music 183
and Tietjen 198, 229, 230
Goslar, Germany 88
Gottfried (character) 286
Gravina, count Biagio 52, 111
Gravina, countess Blandine Elisabeth (née von Bülow) 112, 124
birth (1863) 33, 51
compared with Daniela 52
death of her husband 52
lives in Italy 52, 111
marriage 52, 53
Siegfried visits 156
Gravina, Gilberto (Gil) 111–12
Gravina, Manfredi 111, 156
Great Expectations (Dickens) 136
Greco-Turkish War (1897) 119
Greece, Greeks 155
ancient 16–17, 19, 45, 66, 104
Greek art 45
Greek myth 254
Grieg, Edvard 45
Grimm Brothers 341
Grisi, Ernesta 48
Gross, Adolf Wilhelm Benedikt von 126, 136, 165
and 1883 Bayreuth festival 56, 57
Cosima and Siegfried as RW’s heirs 56–7
Cosima’s adviser 56, 63–4, 138
death (1931) 138
friction with Wahnfried 138
and Isolde 124
keen on a clear line of succession at Wahnfried 124
RW’s children’s guardian 56
and Siegfried’s bisexuality 122
and Wagner clan’s wealth 111
Gross, Marie von (née Feustel) 56
Grunsky, Karl 98
Guinness, Bryan (later Lord Moyne) 210
Gurnemanz (character) 149
gypsies 199
Haas, Willy 293, 294
Habsburg empire 86
Hagen (character) 327
Haley, Bill 287
Hall, Sir Peter 345
Hamburg 117
Hamburg Opera 294
Hamburger Nachrichten 99
Hanslick, Eduard 45, 85
Harden, Maximilian 122, 126, 129, 130, 147
Harris, Clement Hugh Gilbert 118–21, 144
Paradise Lost 118, 121
Harris, Walter 119
Harris family 121
Hartmann, Karl Amadeus 256
Hastings, Sussex 133
Haus Pellet, near Lake Starnberg 27, 35
Hawaii 341
Heine, Heinrich xiii, 13, 70, 71, 73, 74, 175
Helgoland 107
Herdecke, North Rhine-Westphalia 338
Herrenchiemsee castle, Germany 40
Herzl, Theodor 89
Herzog, Werner 345
Hess, Ilse 288
Hess, Rudolf 288
at Houston Chamberlain’s funeral 154
flees to Scotland 234
Hitler dictates Mein Kampf to 142
Hesse, Alexander Friedrich, Landgrave of 118
Heuss, Theodor 244, 282
Hight, George Ainslie 100
Hilger, Ewald 337
Himmler, Heinrich 212, 213, 236
and the Potsdam show 173
sets up Germany’s first concentration camps 173
visits Wahnfried 193
and Volkswagen 237
Hindemith, Paul 150, 167, 256
Hindenburg, Paul von 163, 173, 174
Hitler, Adolf
as Alberich 220, 221, 267
antisemitism 132, 141, 186, 187, 326
appearance 197
appeasement of (1930s) 310, 350
assassination plot (1944) 233, 240, 334
at Bayreuth festival 44, 145, 177, 183, 187, 210, 233
becomes chancellor of the Reich (1933) 145, 172
, 174
‘beer hall putsch’ and imprisonment (1923) 131–2, 142–4, 148, 175
Chamberlain’s fan letter 131
comes to power 62
Concordat with the Vatican 175
conditions ideal for 89
death (30 April 1945) 177, 189
declares war on United States 233
and ‘degenerate art’ 203
demagoguery 141, 175
and demonisation of RW 4
drive to destroy the Jews 66
enabling law 174, 310
erotic allure 133
explains Röhm purge to Wagner family 202
failure and poverty as an artist in Vienna 134
favours Wieland 195–6, 251, 290, 324–5, 349
financial backing for Bayreuth festival 189, 190, 228, 249, 258, 286, 293
first visit to Wahnfried (October 1923) 140, 141, 143, 146, 263, 270
foreign policy 200–201, 210
Friedelind compares him to Alberich 220, 221
and Friedelind’s articles in the Daily Sketch 215
Friedelind’s descriptions of him 271
and Furtwängler 163, 247
grandiose design for Bayreuth 285
health 240
and Henry Ford 144–5
involvement with women 146
and Kristallnacht 203
letter to Toscanini 164, 168
and lost RW manuscripts 40
love of RW’s music 141, 176–7, 185–6, 263, 321, 325
marries Eva Braun 189
and the Mitford sisters 108
obsessed with Britain and her empire 209–210
opinion on Siegfried 147
orders invasion of Soviet Union 233
and Parsifal 61
personality 141, 321
post-putsch change of strategy 163
and the Potsdam show 174
rails against trends in music 179
relationship with Winifred xii, 130, 133, 171, 184, 189–91, 234, 250–51, 259, 263, 321–2, 348
reveres Houston Chamberlain 91, 153, 154, 189
and RW’s prose works 187, 188
sees Wieland regularly in Berlin 229–30
shaken position 173
and Tristan 181–2
and Unity Mitford 210–211
visits Bayreuth to address German Day rally (1923) 131, 133
visits Wahnfried 140, 141, 143, 146, 160, 163, 201, 233, 286
and Volkswagen 236
and Wagner children 145, 163, 189, 191, 192
and Wagner manuscripts 239–41
welcomed as a ‘bulwark against communism’ 310
Winifred keeps some of his letters 251
wins control of the DAP (1921) 140
‘Wolf’ pseudonym xii, 145
and a Wunderwaffe (miracle weapon) 237
Mein Kampf (My Struggle) 132, 133, 140, 142–5, 170, 176, 187, 188
Hitler Youth movement 203
Hoare, Sir Samuel 209
Hoesslin, Franz von 190
Hohenloe, Marie 30–31
Holender, Ioan 347–8
Holloway prison, London 216
Holocaust 66, 72, 175, 182, 328, 329, 331, 348
Holocaust (American TV series) 351
Holy Roman Empire 173
Home Office (British) 216
homosexuals 200
Honegger, Arthur 256
Hong Kong 120, 121
Hugo, Victor 48, 90
Humperdinck, Engelbert 63, 117–18
hyperinflation 139
Ich bin’s nicht, Adolf Hitler ist es gewesen (I’m Not Responsible – It Was Adolf Hitler) (Berlin play) 348
immigration 140
industrialisation 107
industry 172
Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique 315, 334
internment policy 216–17
‘iron curtain’ 260
Isle of Man detention camp 216, 218
Isle of Wight 106
Isolde (character) 63, 297, 299
Israel
Eichmann’s trial 311
Gottfried’s experiences in 331
Wagner’s music boycotted 329
Italian school 180
Italy
1848 revolution 9
becomes RW’s salvation 51–4
RW and Cosima on holiday (1876) 51
Siegfried’s love of 52–3, 111, 150, 156
Janáček, Leos 167
Jane Eyre (Brontë) 136
Janssen, Herbert 220
Jean Paul (Johann Paul Friedrich Richter) 91
Jesuits 86, 104
Jesus Christ xi, 66, 77, 78, 80, 90, 105
Jews 65–89
and Antisemiten Liga 68
Beidler, Jr.’s close ties with Jews 245
blamed for recession in Germany 68, 86–7, 140
and the ‘Bolshevik threat’ 140
boycott of Jewish businesses 174, 175
British internment policy 216
Chamberlain attacks 103
conversion to Christianity 188
and crusade aimed at achieving ‘regeneration’ of mankind 64
degrees of Jewishness 70
deportation to death camps 350
diaspora 66
emancipation 65, 69, 78, 86, 88, 141
emigration from Germany 199, 200
fighting for Vaterland 65, 67
‘final solution’ 187
Hitler’s drive to destroy them 66
Holocaust TV series 351
Jewish conspiracy theories 85, 86–7, 89
‘Jewish problem’/‘Jewish question’ 65, 73, 76, 132, 188
Kristallnacht (1938) 199, 202–3
Lieselotte Schmidt on 201–2
looted Jewish wealth 350
‘march out of the ghettos’ 66–7
Mischlinge (hybrids) 70
NSDAP seeks to deny them equal rights 140
Ostjuden (Jews in the east) 69, 103
persecution through the ages 66
population statistics 67–8, 88–9, 199
and Preetorius 230, 277
privileged 66
and racial degeneration pseudo-science 68–9
RW forced to beg for help from 11–12, 14
RW refuses to sign anti-Jewish immigration petition 68, 75–6
RW’s ‘all Jews should be burned’ retort 74–5
RW’s ambivalence towards 150
Siegfried’s defence of 147–9
‘stab in the back’ legend 130, 140, 148
theory of disguised Jews in RW’s work 80–81
treatment in Die Grundlagen 107–8
witchhunt against 179
see also antisemitism
Joukowsky, Paul von 54
Judaism 77, 147
judiciary 200, 283
Jung, Carl Gustav 253
Junge, Traudl 184, 185
Junges Deutschland (Young Germany) movement 13, 71
Junker (Prussian landowners) 86
Kaim, Isidor 65
Kant, Immanuel xiii, 21, 69
Karajan, Herbert von 247
Karbaum, Michael: Studien zur Geschichte der Bayrether Festspiele (Studies in the History of the Bayreuth Festival) 329–30, 351
KdF see Kraft durch Freude
Keilberth, Joseph 294
Kestenberg, Leo 245–6, 256
Keynes, John Maynard 139
General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money 200
‘Keynesian economics’ 200
Kiel 29
Kiesinger, Kurt Georg 309, 312
King, James 323
King Mark (character) 123
Kipnis, Alexander 149, 220
Kirchner, Alfred 345
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig 203
Klee, Paul 203
Kleiber, Erich 219, 248
Klemperer, Otto 150, 165, 167, 174, 248, 291, 299
Klindworth, Henriette 134–7
Klindworth, Karl 134, 135, 136
Klingsor (char
acter) 18, 53, 79, 292
Knappertsbusch, Hans (Kna) 247, 293, 343
Korean War (1950-53) 268
Koussevitzky, Serge 274
Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy; KdF) 200, 227, 228, 235, 236
Krauss, Clemens 225, 247
Krenek, Ernst 150, 167
Kristallnacht (1938) 199, 202–3
Kubelík, Rafael 248
Kubizek, August 176, 185
Kuhse, Hanne-Lore 338
Kundry (character) 49, 79, 81, 248
Kupfer, Harry 345
La Scala, Milan 155, 336
La Spezia, Italy 53
Laban, Rudolf von 157
labour unions: dissolved 174
Lafferentz, Amélie (later Hohmann) 330, 351
Lafferentz, Bodo 330
appearance 235
Bayreuth research establishment 235, 238, 264, 288
death (1974) 236, 340
denazification 264
heads Kraft durch Freude 235, 236
marries Verena 235–6
personality 235, 237
research ‘firms’ 236, 237–8
SS Obersturmbannführer 236, 252, 264
and Volkswagen 236
and the Wagner manuscripts 239–42, 315–16
Lafferentz, Verena (‘Nickel’; née Wagner; RW’s granddaughter) 306, 330
appearance 205
birth (2 December 1920) 137
childhood 192
feels shunted aside by her brothers 265
and Friedelind 279, 281
and funds from the sale of the archive 318
and Hitler 205
marries a senior SS officer xii, 205, 235–6
at Nussdorf 241, 337, 340
the pet of the Wagner family 195
and Tietjen 197
Lake Garda, Italy 113
Lake Starnberg, Germany 27, 35, 37, 124, 128
Lamoureux, Charles 63
Länder 282, 311, 312
Landgrave, the (character) 157
Landsberg prison 132, 142, 145, 163
Launay, Louise (Nike’s daughter) 340
Laussot, Jessie 24–5, 26, 45
League of Nations 111, 153, 175
Lebensraum (living space) xiii Legge, Walter 170, 171
Léhar, Franz 185
Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) 184
Lehmann, Lilli 61
Lehndorff, Count Heinrich von 334
Lehndorff, Marie Eleonore Gräfin (Nona) 334
Lehrs, Samuel 74
Leider, Frida 194, 208, 211–12, 217, 270–71, 299
Leinsdorf, Erich 220
Leipzig 84
fund-raising scheme (launched 1920) 138
RW born in Brühl area (1813) xii, 82
RW meets Nietzsche 2
Lenin, Vladimir 18–19
Leoncavallo, Ruggero 180
Pagliacci 178
Leopold II, King of Belgium 118
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim: Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise) 74–5
Levi, Hermann 47, 48, 61, 62, 63, 74, 187–8
Ley, Robert 236, 237, 252
liberalism 88
liberals 172, 181, 309
Liebnecht, Karl 139
Ligeti, György 314
Linderhof castle, Germany 40
The Wagner Clan Page 51