Martina Alice Dominika Dupire (geb. von Trapp)
Personalia
Born:
Died:
Profession:
Persecution:
Emigration in mid-August 1938
Curriculum Vitae
Martina Alice Dominika von Trapp was born in Klosterneuburg near Vienna as the legitimate daughter of naval officer Georg von Ritter Trapp and his wife Agathe, née Whitehead. She lived there with her siblings Rupert, Agathe, Werner, Maria Franziska, Johanna, and Hedwig, and her father in a house called “Martinschlössl,” where her father worked as a shipping entrepreneur. In 1922, she lost her mother.
In 1925, her family finally settled near Salzburg, in the town of Aigen. Due to Maria Franziska von Trapp’s poor health, the abbess of the Benedictine Abbey of Nonnberg sent Maria Augusta Kutschera to serve as her private tutor. On November 26, 1927, Georg Ritter von Trapp married Maria Augusta Kutschera; Rosmarie was born in 1929, and Eleonore in 1931. Together with the priest Franz Wasner, her stepmother shaped the family choir. She sang second soprano.
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 revenue. 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, Martina von Trapp and her 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. In early 1938, the family traveled through Italy. The strictly Catholic and legitimist family was vehemently opposed to National Socialism.
On March 12, 1938, 17-year-old Martina 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, 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 church (note: the Maria Plain Pilgrimage Basilica) was already closed, but the sacristan let us in and lit all the candles on the altar, and then we received our final blessing in Austria.
"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 the United States of America, Martina von Trapp witnessed the liberation of Austria and the reestablishment 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, which was in dire straits. In 1948, she became a U.S. citizen.
In 1949, Martina von Trapp married the Canadian Jean Dupire. She returned to Salzburg in 1950 as part of a concert tour. Martina Dupire died unexpectedly on February 25, 1951, at the age of only 30, as a result of complications from a cesarean section. Her daughter Notburga died shortly after her baptism. Martina Dupire and her daughter Notburga were laid to rest in the family cemetery 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.
Lucy, Catherine (2001): 'Snapshot in Time: A visit from Hedwig von Trapp' (Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet)
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
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
SalzburgWIKI unter wiki.sn.at/wiki/Martina_von_Trapp-Dupire
