In the 1920s, some years before the rise of the Nazi party, Winifred Wagner became a close friend of Adolf Hitler. Because of this, Bayreuth was able to continue getting a lot of money during the Nazi period. Wagner's works were used by the Nazi as propaganda tools. It is strange that Hitler went to performances in Bayreuth that included Jewish and foreign singers, long after they had been banned from performing in all other places in Germany. Winifred's influence with Hitler was so strong that Hitler even wrote a letter to the anti-fascist Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, begging him to lead the festival. Toscanini refused.