On 5 March 1935 the first Gauleiter of the Gau Bavarian Eastern March, Hans Schemm, died in an airplane crash. For an interim period the Gau was run by the Deputy Gauleiter Ludwig Ruckdeschel in an acting capacity. However, on 5 December Wachtler was appointed the permanent Gauleiter in place of Ruchdeschel. This would engender a rivalry between them that would have dire consequences for Wächtler. The Gau capital of Bayreuth was home to the family of Richard Wagner and the site of the annual Bayreuth Festival, supported and regularly attended by Adolf Hitler. As such, its Gauleiter was considered a high-profile posting.Max Williams: The Senior Leaders of Hitler’s Praetorian Guard, Volume 3 (R-W), Fonthill Media LLC, 2017, , p. 300. Wächtler at the same time also succeeded Schemm as head of the National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB) and head (Hauptamtsleiter) of the Main Office for Education in the Party Reichsleitung (National Leadership). From January 1936 he also was the Expert on All School Questions on the Party headquarters staff of Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess. In this position he had supervisory authority over the Reichsschule Feldafing, an elite Party leadership school.
