Friedelind Wagner

Who was Friedelind Wagner?

Friedelind Wagner was the daughter of German opera composer Siegfried Wagner and his English wife, Winifred Williams and the granddaughter of the composer Richard Wagner. Born in Bayreuth, she was known by the nickname "Die Maus" or "Mausi". Along with other members of her family, from early in life Friedelind Wagner was involved with the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. In 1936, she began work as an assistant to Heinz Tietjen but her outspoken criticism of close family friend Adolf Hitler and the policies of the Third Reich led to her leaving Germany in 1939. She lived for a short time in Switzerland before emigrating first to England where she began writing anti-Nazi columns for the Daily Sketch newspaper.

With the help of Arturo Toscanini, in 1941 Wagner moved to the United States where she became involved with radio broadcasts of anti-Nazi propaganda. She also helped Professor Henry A. Murray, Director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic plus psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer and other experts to create a 1943 report for the OSS designated as the Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler. With writer Page Cooper, in 1945 Friedelind Wagner wrote her memoirs "Heritage of Fire."