Georg von Trapp
Georg von Trapp | |
|---|---|
| File:Georgvontrapp.gif | |
| Born | April 4, 1880 |
| Died | May 30, 1947 (aged 67) |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Spouse(s) | Agatha Whitehead (18Insert non-formatted text here11-1922) Maria Kutschera (1927-1987) |
| Children | Rupert von Trapp (1911-1992) [1] Agathe von Trapp (1913-) Maria F. von Trapp (1914-) Werner von Trapp (1915-2007) [2] Hedwig von Trapp (1917-1975) Johanna von Trapp (1919-1994) Martina von Trapp (1921-1951) Rosmarie von Trapp (1929-) Eleonore von Trapp (1931-) Johannes von Trapp (1939-) |
| Website | http://www.trappfamily.com |
Kommandant Georg, Ritter von Trapp (April 4, 1780 – 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.
Georg Ludwig Trapp was born in Zadar, Dalmatia, then part of Austria-Hungary, now in Croatia. His father died in 1884, when he was four. 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 Agathe Whitehead, granddaughter of the Englishman Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo. 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 (equal to Lieutenant Commander) 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 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[3] and the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.
The end of the First World War saw the defeat and collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the process, Austria was reduced in size to its German-speaking core, losing its seacoast, and had no further need for a navy, leaving von Trapp without a job. However, Agathe's wealth, inherited from her family, was able to sustain the family.
Marriages
In 1911, Trapp married Agathe Whitehead, who had christened his first command, the U-boat U-6. Their first child, Rupert von Trapp (1911 - 1992) [1], was born in 1911, and the marriage produced six more children: Agathe von Trapp (1913 - ), Maria F. von Trapp (1914 - ), Werner von Trapp (1915 - 2007) [2], Hedwig von Trapp (1917-1972/5), Johanna von Trapp (1919 - 1994) and Martina von Trapp (1921 - 1951/2).
In 1922, Agathe died of scarlet fever contracted from the children.
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, according to Maria von Trapp and information given out by the von Trapp family today, their first child, Rosmarie, was born on February 8, 1929. Yet, Maria von Trapp's declaration of intention and petition for naturalization states that Rosmarie's birth occurred the year before, in 1928. 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. [4]
Economic disaster and new career
In 1935, Georg's money, inherited from his first wife, Agathe, 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.
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. in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, Maria points out that there was a high incidence of lung cancer among World War I U-Boat crews due to the diesel fumes and poor ventilation, and that his death could be considered service-related. 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.
References
- ^ a b 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
- ^ a b "Susan Hoyt, Teacher, Sets July Wedding". New York Times. March 23, 1980, Sunday.
The engagement of Susan Thatcher Hoyt to Bernhard Rupert von Trapp has been announced by her mother, Mrs. G. Chamberlin Hoyt of Short Hills, New Jersey. Mr. von Trapp is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Werner von Trapp of Waitsfield, Vermont and Salzburg, Austria. A July wedding is planned.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Regarding personal names: Ritter is a title, translated approximately as Sir (denoting a Knight), not a first or middle name. There is no equivalent female form.
- ^ "Maria von Trapp, whose life was 'Sound of Music', is Dead". New York Times. March 29, 1987.
Maria Augusta von Trapp, the guiding force behind a family of singers who won world reknown when their story was portrayed in the play and film The Sound of Music, died of heart failure yesterday in Morrisville, Vermont, three days after undergoing surgery. She was 82 years old, and had lived in Stowe, Vermont, for more than 40 years. ... She is survived by a son, Johannes, of Stowe; two daughters, Eleonore Campbell of Waitsfield, Vermont, and Rosmarie Trapp of Pittsburgh; two stepsons, Rupert, of Stowe, and Werner, of Waitsfield; three stepdaughters, Agathe von Trapp of Glyndon, Maryland, Maria F. Trapp of Papua, New Guinea, and Johanna von Trapp of San Diego, and by 29 grandchildren.
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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