Georg von Trapp | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1880-04-04)4 April 1880 |
| Died | 30 May 1947(1947-05-30) (aged 67) Stowe, Vermont, U.S. |
| Resting place | Trapp Family Cemetery,Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, Vermont |
| Nationality | Austrian; Italian |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 10, includingAgathe,Maria Franziska, andJohannes |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Austria-Hungary |
| Service | Austro-Hungarian Navy |
| Years of service | 1898–1918 |
| Rank | Korvettenkapitän (lieutenant-commander) |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | Boxer Rebellion World War I |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of theMilitary Order of Maria Theresa (1924) |
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp[a][3][4] (4 April 1880 – 30 May 1947) was an officer in theAustro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of theTrapp Family Singers.
Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander ofWorld War I,[b] sinking 11 Allied merchant ships totaling 47,653GRT and two Allied warships displacing 12,641 tons.[5] Trapp's accomplishments during World War I earned him numerous decorations, including theMilitary Order of Maria Theresa.
His first wifeAgathe Whitehead died of scarlet fever in 1922, leaving behind seven children. Trapp hiredMaria Augusta Kutschera to tutor one of his daughters and married her in 1927. He lost most of his wealth in theGreat Depression, so the family turned to singing as a way of earning a livelihood. Trapp declined a commission in theGerman Navy after theAnschluss and emigrated with his family to the United States.[1]
After his death in 1947, the family home inStowe, Vermont, became theTrapp Family Lodge.[6] Maria von Trapp's 1949 memoirThe Story of the Trapp Family Singers was adapted into the West German filmThe Trapp Family (1956), which served as the basis for theRodgers and Hammerstein musicalThe Sound of Music (1959) and the1965 film adaptation directed byRobert Wise.
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was born inZara in theKingdom of Dalmatia, then acrown land of theAustro-Hungarian Empire and now inCroatia. His father,Fregattenkapitän August Johann Trapp (1836-1884), was a naval officer, and his mother, Hedwig Wepler (1855-1911) had immigrated to theAdriatic Coast from theGrand Duchy of Hesse.[7] His father had been raised to theAustrian nobility with the hereditary title ofRitter, upon being made a member of theOrder of the Iron Crown; he died oftyphoid fever in 1884 (aged forty-eight), when Georg was four.[8][9] Trapp’s older sister was the Austrian artistHede von Trapp, and his brother Werner died in 1915 duringWorld War I.[9]
In 1894, aged fourteen, Trapp followed in his father's footsteps and joined theAustro-Hungarian Navy, entering theImperial and Royal Naval Academy atFiume.[9] As part of their required education, all naval cadets were taught to play a musical instrument; Georg von Trapp selected the violin.[3] He graduated four years later and completed two years of follow-on training voyages, including one toAustralia, as a cadet aboard the sail training corvette SMSSaida II.[3] On the voyage home, he visited theHoly Land, where he met aFranciscan friar who took him on a tour of all the Biblical sites he wanted to see. Among other things, Trapp bought seven bottles of water from theJordan River which were later used tobaptize his first seven children.[9]
In 1900, he was assigned to theprotected cruiserSMS Zenta and was decorated for his performance during theBoxer Rebellion in China, in which he participated in the assault on theTaku Forts.[3] In 1902, he passed the final officer's examination, and was commissioned aFregattenleutnant (frigate lieutenant, equivalent tosub-lieutenant) in May 1903.[3] He was fascinated bysubmarines, and in 1908 seized the opportunity to transfer to the navy's newly formed submarine arm, orU-boot-Waffe, receiving promotion toLinienschiffsleutnant (ship-of-the-line lieutenant, or lieutenant) that November.[3] In 1910 he was given command of the newly constructedSM U-6.[10] He commandedU-6 until 1913.[11]
On 17 April 1915, Trapp took command ofSM U-5. He conducted nine combat patrols inU-5, and sank two enemy warships. One was the French armored cruiserLéon Gambetta, sunk at39°30′N18°15′E / 39.500°N 18.250°E /39.500; 18.250 on 27 April 1915, 25 kilometres (13 nautical miles; 16 miles) south of Cape Santa Maria di Leuca. In hunting and sinkingGambetta, Trapp achieved a notable success as commander of the first-ever underwater nighttime (and only the second) submarine attack on a vessel in the Adriatic.[3] Just over three months later, he sank the Italian submarineNereide at42°23′N16°16′E / 42.383°N 16.267°E /42.383; 16.267 on 5 August 1915, 250 metres (270 yd) offPelagosa (Palagruža) Island.[12] He also captured the Greek steamerCefalonia offDurazzo on 29 August 1915. Some sources incorrectly credit Trapp with sinking the Italian troop transport andarmed merchant cruiserPrincipe Umberto,[13] which resulted in the greatest loss of life in any submarine attack in World War I, but the ship was actually sunk byU-5, commanded by Friedrich Schlosser.[14]
Trapp was transferred to theSM U-14, the formerFrench submarineCurie, which had been sunk and salvaged by the Austro-Hungarian Navy.[15] He conducted ten more war patrols in the much larger submarine, attacking merchant ships instead of warships. Between April 1917 and October 1917,U-14 sank 11 Allied merchant ships under Trapp's command.
In May 1918, he was promoted toKorvettenkapitän (equal tolieutenant commander) and given command of the submarine base atCattaro in theGulf of Kotor. However, Austria-Hungary's defeat in World War I led to the empire's collapse. The territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided among seven countries, with theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes keeping most of the seacoast. TheRepublic of German-Austria was landlocked and no longer had a navy, putting an end to Trapp's naval career.[9]
Trapp's patrols inU-5 andU-14 made him the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of World War I, sinking 11 Allied merchant ships totaling 47,653GRT and two Allied warshipsdisplacing a total of 12,641 tons.[5][b]
| Date | Vessel | Nationality | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 April 1915 | Léon Gambetta |  French Navy | Sunk |
| 5 August 1915 | Nereide |  Italian Navy | Sunk |
| 29 August 1915 | Cefalonia |  Greece | Captured |
Trapp marriedAgathe Gobertina Whitehead,[23] the eldest daughter and third child of Countess Agathe Gobertina von Breunner-Enckevoirth (1856–1945), Austro-Hungarian nobility, andCavaliere (Knight) John Whitehead (1854–1902), son ofRobert Whitehead (1823–1905) who invented the moderntorpedo and a partner at the family'sFiumeWhitehead Torpedo Factory[23] (not, as frequently stated, a niece of the British Government ministerSt John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton). The British government rejected Whitehead's invention, but Austrian EmperorFranz Josef invited him to open a torpedo factory inFiume.[9] Trapp's first command was the U-boatU-6 which was launched by Agathe.[9][24]
Agathe's inherited wealth sustained the couple and permitted them to start a family, and they had two sons and five daughters over the next ten years. Their first child wasRupert,[25] born on 1 November 1911 atPula while the couple were living at Pina Budicina 11.[Map 1] Their other children were:Agathe, also born in Pula;Maria Franziska,Werner;[26]Hedwig, andJohanna, all born at the family home the Erlhof inZell am See;[Map 2] andMartina, born at the Martinsschlössel atKlosterneuburg, for which she was named.[Map 3]
On 3 September 1922, Agathe von Trapp died ofscarlet fever contracted from her daughter Agathe.[9] Trapp then acquired Villa Trapp in Aigen, a suburb ofSalzburg, and moved his family there in 1924.[9][Map 4] During this period, he delivered several lectures and conducted interviews on his naval career.[3]
About 1926, Maria Franziska was recovering from an illness and was unable to go to school, so Trapp hiredMaria Augusta Kutschera, anovice from the nearbyNonnberg Abbey as a tutor.[27] They were married on 26 November 1927 when he was 47 and she was 22.[9][28][better source needed] They had three children:Rosmarie, born on 8 February 1929,[29][better source needed] Eleonore (called Lorli), born 14 May 1931, andJohannes, born 17 January 1939 in Pennsylvania.[30]
In 1935, Trapp's money, inherited from his English first wife, was invested in a bank in England. Austria was under economic pressure from a hostile Germany, and Austrian banks were in a precarious position. Trapp sought to help a friend in the banking business, Auguste Caroline Lammer (1885–1937), so he withdrew most of his money from London and deposited it in an Austrian bank. The bank failed, wiping out most of the family's substantial fortune.[10]
At about that time, a Catholic priest,Franz Wasner, instructed the children in music.[31][32] Around 1936,Lotte Lehmann heard the family sing, and she suggested they perform paid concerts. When the Austrian ChancellorKurt von Schuschnigg heard them on the radio, he invited them to perform inVienna.[33] Father Wasner became the group's musical director.
According to Maria von Trapp's memoirs[citation needed], Georg von Trapp found himself in a vexing situation after theGerman takeover of Austria in 1938. He was offered a commission in theGerman Navy. This was a tempting proposition, particularly when Georg von Trapp saw the technological advances in 1930s U-boats unthinkable compared to those he had once commanded in World War I, but Trapp decided to decline the offer out of hostility toNazi ideology. He also politely declined a request for the family choir to perform atHitler's birthday concert. After his eldest son also announced his intention to refuse to benefit fromanti-Semitism and to similarly decline a medical position at a prestigious Vienna hospital that had just fired allJewish doctors, Georg von Trapp realized that the writing was on the wall. He summoned all his children and warned them that no family could safely refuse three successive offers from a man likeAdolf Hitler. After Georg advised them that they must choose between a life of comfort or becomerefugees and keep their honour,[29] the Trapp family decided to emigrate fromNazi Austria.
On leaving Austria, the Trapps traveled by train to Italy (not over the mountains by foot toSwitzerland as is depicted inThe Sound of Music). The family had a contract with an American booking agent when they left Austria. Once in Italy, they contacted the agent and requested fare to America,[29] first traveling to London, before sailing to the United States for their first concert tour.[29][34]
In 1939 the family returned to Europe to tourScandinavia, hoping to continue their concerts in cities beyond the reach of the Third Reich. During this time, they went back to Salzburg for a few months before returning toSweden to finish the tour. From there, they traveled toNorway to begin the trip back to the United States in September 1939, just afterWorld War II broke out.[10]
After living for a short time inMerion, Pennsylvania, where their youngest child, Johannes, was born, the family settled inStowe, Vermont, in 1941. They purchased a 660-acre (270 ha) farm in 1942 and converted it into theTrapp Family Lodge.[1] In January 1947, Major GeneralHarry J. Collins turned to the Trapp family in the US pleading for help for the Austrian people, having seen first-hand the suffering of the residents ofSalzburg when he had arrived there with the42nd Infantry Division after World War II. The Trapp Family founded theTrapp Family Austrian Relief, Inc.; the priest Franz Wasner, their pre-war friend, became its treasurer.[citation needed]
Trapp died oflung cancer on 30 May 1947 in Stowe, Vermont.[35] InThe Story of the Trapp Family Singers (1949), Maria von Trapp pointed out that there was a high incidence of lung cancer among World War I U-boat crews, due to the diesel and gasoline fumes and poor ventilation, and that his death could be considered service-related. She also acknowledged in her book that, like most men of the period, he was a heavy smoker.[36]
| Image | Name | Mother | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rupert | Agathe Gobertina née Whitehead | 1 November 1911[9] | 22 February 1992(1992-02-22) (aged 80)[25] | He married Henriette Lajoie (1927) in 1947 and had two sons and four daughters; they later divorced. He later married Janice Tyre (1920–1994), and had no children with her.[37] He was a physician.[10][38][39] | |
 | Agathe | 12 March 1913 | 28 December 2010(2010-12-28) (aged 97)[40][41] | She worked as a singer and an artist, and lived inBaltimore, Maryland. Agathe ran a kindergarten with her longtime friend of 50 years, Mary Louise Kane, at the Sacred Heart Catholic parish inGlyndon, Maryland. She had no children.[1][37] | |
 | Maria Franziska | 28 September 1914[42][43] | 18 February 2014(2014-02-18) (aged 99)[37][44][45][46][47][48] | She worked as a singer and missionary inPapua New Guinea, no children. In 2008 she visited the ancestral home.[37][49] | |
| Werner | 21 December 1915 | 11 October 2007(2007-10-11) (aged 91)[38][50][51] | He married Erika Klambauer in 1948 and had four sons and two daughters, includingElisabeth von Trapp.[26][37][52] | ||
 | Hedwig | 28 July 1917 | 14 September 1972(1972-09-14) (aged 55)[1][50] | She worked as a teacher, lived inHawaii, and died of asthma, no children. | |
 | Johanna | 7 September 1919 | 25 November 1994(1994-11-25) (aged 75) | She marriedErnst Florian Winter in 1948 and had three sons, one died, and four daughters. She lived inVienna and died there.[37] | |
 | Martina | 17 February 1921 | 25 February 1951(1951-02-25) (aged 30)[50] | In 1949, she married Jean Dupiere (died before 1998). She died of complications during childbirth and had astillborn daughter. | |
| Rosmarie | Maria Augusta von Trapp née Kutschera | (1929-02-08)February 8, 1929 | 13 May 2022(2022-05-13) (aged 93)[53] | Rosmarie worked as a singer and missionary in Papua New Guinea. She most recently lived inPittsburgh, and had no children.[37] | |
| Eleonore | (1931-05-14)May 14, 1931 | 17 October 2021(2021-10-17) (aged 90)[54] | She married Hugh David Campbell in 1954 and had seven daughters. She lived with her family inWaitsfield, Vermont.[1][37] | ||
| Johannes | (1939-01-17)17 January 1939 (age 86)[28] | Married 1969 to Lynne Peterson and has one son, Sam von Trapp, and one daughter, Kristina von Trapp-Frame. Johannes managed the family resort inStowe, Vermont, with his son Sam.[37][55] |
Trapp has been portrayed in various adaptations of his family's life such asThe Sound of Music, both the 1965film and the Broadway musical, as well as two German films,The Trapp Family (1956) andThe Trapp Family in America (1958).[56] However, these adaptations often altered the portrayal of the Captain. In real life and in the memoirThe Story of the Trapp Family Singers, written by his second wife Maria Augusta Trapp, the Captain has been described as being a warm and loving father who was always around.[57][58] However, the Captain was portrayed in a more negative light in many adaptations. For instance, in the 1965 film, Georg von Trapp was portrayed as a disciplinary man who always went away and did not care for his children or their feelings at the beginning of the film.[59] BBC Radio presented a different account of the family in October, 2009, in a play by Annie Caulfield calledThe Von Trapps and Me, focused on Princess Yvonne, "the woman Captain Von Trapp jilted in order to marry Maria."[60][61]
... membership of the Order of Maria Theresa could impart the title of baron. In this respect, membership of these orders could socially elevate noblemen.
Maria Kutschera and Georg von Trapp married in 1927. They had three children together: Rosmarie (born 1928 or 1929) , Eleonore (born 1931), and Johannes (born 1939).
George Ritter von Trapp, of von Trapp Family Singers fame ... was also skipper when she torpedoed ... the loaded Italian troop transportPrincipe Umberto ...
Overall, Austro-Hungarian submarines in the Adiratic and Mediterranean sank 196,093 GRT of enemy and neutral merchant ships. The top aces were Lieutenant Commander Zdenko Hudecek and Georg von Trapp, who accounted for 47,788 and 44,595 GRT, respectively.
... show clearly that the Austrian submarine ace of the period was not George von Trapp, but Zdenko Hudeček, who with his submarine U-28, sank 12 enemy ships, totaling 48,000 tons gross weight.
The leading commanders in terms of tonnage sunk were Germany's Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière ... and for Austria-Hungary's much smaller effort, Georg von Trapp, who sank 60,294 tons ...
1. von Trapp, U-14, 11- 44 595 BRT* 2. Hudecek, U-17, U-28, 11- 39 727 BRT
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