Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp
Personalia
Born:
Died:
Profession:
Persecution:
Emigration in mid-August 1938
Honors:
Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold
Silver Medal for Bravery, 2nd Class
Russian Order of St. Stanislaus
Curriculum Vitae
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was born in Zara [today: Zadar] in Croatia as the legitimate son of naval officer August Ritter von Trapp and his wife Hedwig, née Wepler. After elementary school, he attended the Naval Junior High School in Pola and then, from 1894 to 1898, the Naval Academy in Fiume, from which he graduated on July 1, 1898, as a second-class naval cadet.
In 1900, Georg von Trapp took part in a mission aboard the SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia during the Boxer Rebellion in China and was promoted to first-class naval cadet on July 1, 1901. On May 1, 1903, he was promoted to ensign, and after completing various specialized training programs, he became commander of the torpedo boat Krokodil in 1907. On November 1, 1908, he was promoted to lieutenant in the line, transferred to Fiume to serve in the then-new submarine branch, and served as commander of the SM U 6—one of Austria-Hungary’s first submarines—between 1910 and 1913.
Georg Ritter von Trapp married Agathe Whitehead in 1911. The marriage produced seven children: Rupert, Agathe, Maria Franziska, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna, and Martina. After completing the advanced artillery officers’ course in Pola [today: Pula, Croatia] between 1913 and 1914, he first assumed command of Torpedo Boat 52 and subsequently that of the submarine SM U 14. In 1915, he sank the French armored cruiser Léon Gambetta and the Italian submarine Nereide. On May 1, 1918, he was finally promoted to lieutenant commander.
With the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the collapse of the Dual Monarchy, and the subsequent expulsion of the House of Habsburg, his active military service came to an end on November 1, 1918.
Starting in 1921, the family lived in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, where Georg von Trapp worked as a shipping entrepreneur. His wife died there on September 3, 1922. In 1925, he moved with his children to Aigen near Salzburg. On November 26, 1927, he married Maria Augusta Kutschera at the Nonnberg Abbey Church. They had three children: Rosmarie, Eleonore, and later Johannes (Johannes was born in the United States of America). The family was particularly musical.
After suffering significant financial losses following the bankruptcy of the Lammer banking house in 1934–35, renting out living quarters and income from the family choir—founded in 1936—became important sources of income. After the von Trapp family won a folk singing competition at the 1936 Salzburg Festival, they were asked to perform on a half-hour radio program, which led to them performing before Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg.
After performing twice in Vienna and at the 1937 Salzburg Festival, Georg Ritter von Trapp and his family—who called themselves the Salzburg Trapp Chamber Choir or the Trapp Chamber Choir—embarked on a European tour that took them to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, England, and Norway. At the beginning of 1938, the family traveled through Italy. The strictly Catholic and legitimist family was vehemently opposed to National Socialism.
On March 12, 1938, Georg von Trapp witnessed the downfall of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Since the family did not want to live under Nazi occupation, they decided to emigrate. In mid-August, they traveled by train from Salzburg to St. Georgen in Brunek in South Tyrol. From there, they traveled via France and England on October 7, 1938, aboard the SS American Farmer to the United States, where they arrived in New York on October 17, 1938.
"The Trapp Family" made its first appearance as a family choir in the United States on October 21, 1938, at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Between March 1939 and the summer of 1939, the family toured Europe once more, finally traveling on September 27, 1939—immediately after the outbreak of World War II—on the S.S. Bergensfjord from Oslo to New York, where they arrived on October 7, 1939. In 1942, the family purchased a farm in Stowe, Vermont.
In Stowe, Georg von Trapp witnessed the liberation of Austria and the restoration of the republic in April and May 1945, respectively. However, the family decided not to return to their homeland, though they supported relief efforts for Austria in need.
Georg von Trapp died at the age of 67 and was laid to rest in the family cemetery near what would later become the Trapp Family Hotel in Stowe.
In 1956, the story of the von Trapp family was adapted into a film based loosely on the story. The film was primarily based on Maria Augusta von Trapp’s hugely successful memoir, *The Trapp Family: From the Convent to World Fame* [original title: *The Story of the Trapp Family Singers*].
Places
Residence:
Citations
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Litten, Frederick S. (2023): Notes on the Trapp Family in Austria. From Maria’s grandparents to summer 1939. (Norderstedt). S 105–118 und 232–238.
Angetter, Daniela (2015): „Trapp, Georg Ritter von“, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950, Bd. 14, (Wien). S. 424–425.
Gearin, Joan (2005): „Movie vs. Reality: The Real Story of the Von Trapp Family“ unter www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps-html
Trapp Family Lodge & Resort: „About Us / Trapp Family Chronology“ unter www.vontrappresort.com
Library Hungaria unter library.hungaricana.hu/en/collection/austrian_state_archives_RangUndEinteilungslisteMarine/
Salzburg Museum: „Emigration in die USA“, Online-Ausstellung „Die Trapp Familie“ unter https://www.smca.at/deutsch/sonderausstellungen0/aktuelle-sonderausstellungen/trappfamilie/emigration/
Wikipedia unter de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Trapp-Familie
Wikipedia unter de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathe_von_Trapp
