This is a story of Manx heritage detective work, leading to a visit to the Island by 7 distinguished Germans, some with strong Manx connections. They are participating with others, in the Wagner and Internment Festival at the Erin Art Centre in Port Erin, from 5th to 7th August.
It all started with a search of the Baptismal Rolls in the Manx Museum by Pam Crowe, a leading member of the Rushen Heritage Trust Internment Team. She was researching for the new ‘Friend or Foe’ Internment Exhibition (now on at St Catherine’s Hall, Port Erin, 10.00 am to 4.00 pm daily from 28 July to 24 August 2016).
Pam was intrigued by one entry – the birth of Eva Rieger in Port Erin to internee parents, Julius and Johanna Rieger, on 21 November 1940. She discovered that the Manx Museum possessed a bible presented to Eva when she was baptised in the Victoria Square Methodist Church, now the Erin Arts Centre, and that Eva, now a Professor, had written an acclaimed biography of Friedelind Wagner, Richard’s granddaughter.
Friedelind (1918-1991), unlike her mother and other Wagner family members, left Germany in 1938, and was strongly anti-Hitler and anti-Nazi. She was interned for a few months in the Hydro Hotel, Port Erin (later the Ocean Castle Hotel) because the UK authorities were suspicious of her family’s close ties to Hitler. But she was released thanks to the efforts of Beverley Baxter MP, with financial and moral support from Toscanini, the famous conductor.
Pam managed to trace Professor Eva Rieger via Facebook, and invited her to the Isle of Man. The contact developed and Rushen Heritage Trust, with Erin Arts Centre and Dr John Bethel MBE, decided to mount a “Wagner and Internment” Festival at the Erin Arts Centre, linked to the new Friend or Foe Exhibition nearby at St Catherine’s Church Hall, Port Erin.
Distinguished visitors participating in this Festival include:
Professor Dr Eva Rieger. Professor at the University of Bremen. She is a global authority on the social history of music and an innovator on gender studies in German music, championing the cause of underrated female composers. She has lectured widely in USA, Europe and Japan, and is an expert on Wagner.
Professor Dr Chris Rieger is Eva’s brother and an authority on Economics, especially Asia Pacific. He was 6 years old in 1940, when he lived in Port Erin with sister Eva and has many memories of this period, which he will be sharing with local people, also children in Port Erin in 1940.
Dagny Beidler is a friend of Eva, and great granddaughter of Wagner’s first child, Isolde. She studied in the UK and USA, and followed a career as a secondary school teacher in Zurich. She contributed to the close friendship of her father, Franz Wilhelm Beidler (1901-1981), with Nobel Prize winning author Thomas Mann, and was friendly with Friedelind Wagner. Franz left Germany in 1933 in protest at its politics, and after WW2 never visited the Bayreuth Festival.
The key elements of this Wagner and Rushen Internment Festival at Erin Arts Centre are:
• “Re-enactment of 1940 Women Internees Concert” with multiple Cleveland Medal winners, Graham Crowe, and Karen Johnson with John Elliott, introduced by Eva Rieger, and produced by Dr John Bethell, on Friday 5 August at 7.30 pm. Tickets are ?12, including a glass of wine.
• “Reflections of a British Internee”. Professor Dr Chris Rieger shares his memories about his internee childhood in Port Erin. Saturday 6 August at 11.00 am. Tickets ?5.
• “Friedelind Wagner in Rushen Internment Camp” by Professor Dr Eva Rieger and “Friedelind: Life after Rushen” by Wagner’s great-granddaughter, Dagny Beidler. Saturday 6 August 7.30 pm. Tickets ?5.
• “Opera on Film: Lohengrin”, by Richard Wagner. Placido Domingo, Robert Lloyd, Cheryl Studer and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. Sunday 7 August at 2.00 pm. Tickets ?5.
Complete Festival Ticket with complimentary glass of wine is ?20.
Book your tickets on 01624 834614, The Erin Arts Centre on 01624 835858, or visit www.rushenheritage.org for more information.
Researching your Manx family history can be a very interesting and rewarding hobby. Trace your roots in the Isle of Man with our helpful of guide.
