GEORG RITTER VON TRAPP

Kommandant 'Georg, Ritter von Trapp' (April 4, 1880 – May 30, 1947) headed the Austrian singing family portrayed in ''The Sound of Music''. His exploits at sea in World War I earned him numerous decorations, including elevation to the Austrian nobility.

Contents

Birth and naval career

Marriage

Death of wife

Emigration

Notes

References

Further reading

Birth and naval career

'Georg Ludwig Trapp' was born in Zadar, Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary). His father died when he was four in 1884. In 1894 he followed his father's career into the Austro-Hungarian Navy, entering the naval academy at Fiume. He graduated four years later and completed two years of follow-on training voyages including a trip to Australia. In 1900 he was assigned to the armored cruiser ''Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia'' and was decorated for his performance during the Boxer Rebellion. In 1902 he passed the officer's examination.
He was fascinated by submarines, and in 1908 he seized the opportunity to be transferred to the newly-formed ''U-boot-Waffe''. In 1910 he was given command of the newly-constructed ''U-6'', which was christened by Agatha Whitehead, granddaughter of the Englishman Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo. Georg and Agatha were married in January of 1911. He commanded ''U-6'' until 1913.
On April 22, 1915, he took command of ''U-5'' and conducted nine combat patrols. In October 1915 he was transferred to the captured French submarine ''Curie'', which the Austrian Navy redesignated ''U-14''. He conducted ten more war patrols, until, in May 1918, he was promoted to ''Korvettenkapitän'' and given command of the submarine base in the Gulf of Kotor.
At the end of World War I, Trapp's wartime record stood at 19 war patrols, 12 cargo vessels totalling 45,669 tons sunk, the French armored cruiser ''Leon Gambetta'' (12,600 tons) and the Italian submarine ''Nereide'' (225 tons).
For his wartime service, Trapp was raised to the nobility and granted the right to use the word von (''of'' in English) before his name. Among other honors, he received a knighthood and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa. The title of Ritter appearing after his first name is sometimes incorrectly translated as Baron, but it is approximately equal to "rider" or knight. Its meaning is closer to the British sir. The introduction of "von" changes the title from a knighthood to a hereditary baronetcy, so in English parlance it would be equivalent to Sir Georg Ludwig von Trapp, Baronet.

Marriage

In 1911, Trapp married Agatha Whitehead, the granddaughter of Robert Whitehead, the inventor of the torpedo. Their first child, Rupert von Trapp (1911-1992) Social Security Death Index as "Rupert Vontrapp" 01 Nov 1911; 22 Feb 1992; 05672 (Stowe, Lamoille, VT); 127-14-1082; Social Security issued in New York, was born in 1911, and the marriage produced six more children: Agathe von Trapp (1913- ), Maria F. von Trapp (1914- ), Werner von Trapp (1915- ) Susan Hoyt, Teacher, Sets July Wedding , Hedwig von Trapp (1917-1975), Johanna von Trapp (1919-1994) and Martina von Trapp (1921-1951).
The First World War saw the defeat of Austria and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the process, Austria lost its seacoast, was reduced in size to its German-speaking core, and had no further need for a navy. In short, Trapp was out of a job. Fortunately, Agatha's wealth, inherited from her family, was able to sustain the family.

Death of wife

In 1922, Agatha died of scarlet fever. About 1926, one of the children, Maria, was recovering from an illness and was unable to attend school. Trapp hired a tutor for Maria from a local convent. The name of the tutor was Maria Kutschera. She and Georg married on November 26, 1927, and their first child, Rosmarie, was born on February 8, 1929. Georg and Maria would have two more children after that, Eleonore (b. 1931) and Johannes (b. 1939) bringing the total number of Georg's children to ten. Maria von Trapp, who's life was 'Sound of Music', is Dead
In 1935, Georg's money, inherited from his first wife, Agatha, was safely invested in a bank in London. At that time, however, Austria was under economic pressure from a hostile Germany, and Austrian banks were in a precarious position. To help a friend in the banking business, Georg withdrew most of his money from the London bank and deposited it in an Austrian bank. The Austrian bank thereafter failed, which wiped out most of the family's fortune. As Maria further indicates in her book, Georg was thoroughly demoralized and depressed at this turn of events, but was unable to engage in other gainful activities, and believed that it was beneath the dignity of the family to sing in public or otherwise work for a living. Prior to the loss of the family fortune, the family had engaged in singing as a hobby. Faced with an impossible situation of little or no money, and a husband effectively incapable of providing for her or for the family, Maria took charge and arranged for singing engagements, and otherwise began to make arrangements for the family to sing at various events as a way of earning a livelihood. At about that time, a Catholic priest, Franz Wasner, came to live with them. About the same age as Maria, he became the musical director of the group.

Emigration

In 1938, the family, opposed to Hitler's annexation of Austria, and having received offers to perform in the United States, left Austria, and fled to Italy by train (not to Switzerland on foot as in the film) and then to the United States. Georg Ritter von Trapp died of lung cancer in 1947 in Stowe, Vermont. His children by Agathe were Rupert, Agathe, Werner, Maria, Hedwig, Johanna and Martina; those by Maria were Rosmarie, Eleonore and Johannes. Johannes succeeded Maria as manager of the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, which remains among Vermont's most popular tourist attractions and is one of the major concert sites of the Vermont Mozart Festival.

Notes

References

Further reading

★ Trapp, Georg von. ''To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander.'' Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. 196 pages. ISBN 0803246676

★ Willam Anderson, David Wade, The World of the Trapp Family, 1998