operas during the Unification of Germany in 1871, and in spite of the opera's overall warning against cultural self-centeredness, became a potent symbol of patriotic German art. Hans Sachs's final warning at the end of Act III on the need to preserve German art from foreign threats was a rallying point for German nationalism, particularly during the Franco-Prussian War. Die Meistersinger was soon performed outside Germany as well, spreading throughout Europe and around the world: Bohemia: 26 April 1871, Prague Livonia: 4 January 1872, Riga Denmark: 23 March 1872, Copenhagen (in Danish) Netherlands: 12 March 1879, Rotterdam United Kingdom: 30 May 1882, London, Drury Lane Theatre under Hans Richter. Hungary: 8 September 1883, Budapest (in Hungarian) Switzerland: 20 February 1885, Basel Belgium: 7 March 1885, Brussels (in French) United States: 4 January 1886, New York, Metropolitan Opera House under Anton Seidl. Sweden: 2 April 1887, Stockholm (in Swedish) Italy: 26 December 1889, Milan (in Italian) Spain: 6 March 1894, Madrid, under (in Italian) Poland: 3 March 1896, Poznan France: 30 December 1896, Lyon (in French), Opéra National de Lyon Russia: 15 March 1898, St. Petersburg (in German) Argentina: 6 August 1898, Buenos Aires, Teatro de la Opera Portugal: January 1902, Lisbon Brazil: 3 August 1905, Rio de Janeiro South Africa: 1913, Johannesburg Finland: 17 November 1921, Helsinki Monaco: February 1928, Monte Carlo Yugoslavia: 15 June 1929, Zagreb Australia: March 1933, Melbourne Romania: December 1934, Bucharest At the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival in 1924 following its closure during World War I was performed. The audience rose to its feet during Hans Sachs's final oration, and sang "Deutschland über Alles" after the opera had finished. was frequently used as part of Nazi propaganda. On 21 March 1933, the founding of the Third Reich was celebrated with a performance of the opera in the presence of Adolf Hitler. The prelude to Act III is played over shots of old Nuremberg at the beginning of Triumph of the Will, the 1935 film by Leni Riefenstahl depicting the Nazi party congress of 1934. During World War II, was the only opera presented at the Bayreuth festivals of 1943–1944. The association of with Nazism led to one of the most controversial stage productions of the work. The first Bayreuth production of following World War II occurred in 1956, when Wieland Wagner, the composer's grandson, attempted to distance the work from German nationalism by presenting it