Maria Franziska von Trapp
Personalia
Born:
Died:
Profession:
Persecution:
Emigration in mid-August 1938
Curriculum Vitae
Maria Franzsika von Trapp was born in Thumersbach-Erlberg near Zell am See, the legitimate daughter of naval officer Georg von Ritter Trapp and his wife Agathe, née Whitehead. Her mother had moved there from Pola [now Pula, Croatia] after the outbreak of World War I. She lived there during the war with her siblings Rupert, Agathe, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna, and Martina, staying with her mother’s family.
Following the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the collapse of the dual monarchy, and the expulsion of the House of Habsburg, she moved with her family to a house called “Martinschlössl” in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, 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 her as a 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 helped shape the family choir. She initially served as the 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, Maria Franziska 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. 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, Maria Franziska 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, Maria Franziska von Trapp witnessed the liberation of Austria and the restoration of the republic in April and May 1945, respectively. However, the family decides not to return to their homeland, though they do support relief efforts for Austria, which is in dire straits. In 1948, she finally receives U.S. citizenship.
After the end of her regular choir tours, Maria Franziska von Trapp moved to Papua New Guinea. There, she devoted herself to Catholic missionary work for about three decades. Her half-sister Rosmarie worked alongside her for several years.
In her later years, Maria Franziska von Trapp returned to Vermont. In 2008, she visited the former family home in Salzburg-Aigen once more. Maria Franziska died on February 18, 2014, in Stowe, just a few months before her 100th birthday. She was the last of the seven children from Georg von Trapp’s first marriage to pass away, though not the last member of the extended family. She was laid to rest in the family cemetery near the Trapp Family Hotel.
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
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/Maria_Franziska_von_Trapp
