Agathe von Trapp - Memories Before and After the Sound of Music

W henever I meet people and it dawns on them that I am a member of the actual von Trapp Family whose story inspired The Sound of Music , I am confronted with questions: Who are you in the movie? Are the play and the movie authentic? Did you escape from the Nazis over the mountains? Then people want to know all about my family and our lives before and after the era depicted in The Sound of Music (the stage play and the film). This interest is always genuine, and is touching to me.

But how can I tell the story of our large family and its adventures that took place over a period of more than a hundred years in a few minutes of conversation? Our life story has been told, reported on, and adapted ever since we first arrived in America to give concerts in 1938. Many people know of us as the Trapp Family Singers from our concerts, our record albums, and the Broadway play and motion picture based on our life story. Others are familiar with us because of the books written by my second mother, Maria Augusta von Trapp. Thousands have attended our music camp or visited the still operating Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.

Our story has also been distorted at times, with not only The Sound of Music resorting to a liberal dose of artistic license, but also many articles being written with incorrect information about our family. And since my second mother joined our family after seven of us children had already been born, her books do not reflect what our earlier life was like, our fathers and grandfathers impressive histories, or our first mothers important role. Nor do the books based on Marias story depict what transpired after she passed away in 1987. Indeed, few people know much about our lives before and after The Sound of Music became one of the most popular musicals of all time.

As the oldest daughter of Georg Ritter von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, I have long felt a need to answer the many questions posed to our family over the years and to respond to the widespread desire to learn more about our story that has fascinated so many.

I have often been asked to write down my memories of the untold era of our livesthe period of World War I and its aftermathwhen we lived in the secure home of our maternal grandmother. Looking back, I am grateful that we were allowed to take our first steps into the world in one of Austrias most beautiful areas, the shore of a lake surrounded by high mountains.

In this book, I will tell of our early years, of the invasion of Austria and how it changed our lives, of our life in America, of our tours as the Trapp Family Singers, of my reactions to The Sound of Music , and I will give an update on each of my brothers and sisters. I want to point out that these are my memories; my siblings may remember certain events differently, which is only natural because individuals may experience the same event in different ways. And as the oldest daughter, I lived through more of the familys history than most of my brothers and sisters.

My family lived through some of the twentieth centurys most trying times without compromising our deeply held beliefs. Often when the problems we faced seemed insurmountable and overwhelming, circumstances would suddenly change for the better to smooth our way into the next step of our journey. Some people would call these positively changed circumstances coincidences. I, however, do not think of them as such. Throughout the turbulent years of war and other difficulties, Gods guidance and protection kept us safe in the palm of His hand.

Agathe von Trapp
Baltimore, Maryland, 2002

T he Austria of my childhood was Austria at war. During World War I, which began in 1914, our father, Georg von Trapp, was the commander of a submarine. He was not only an outstanding commander in the Austrian Navy, a man of vision, courage, and exceptional presence of mind, but also a loving husband and father.

Pap was tall with a slender, well-proportioned build. Distinguished in appearance, he had dark hair, a mustache, and brown eyes that commanded attention in a gentle manner. His hands were strong, well shaped, and accentuated by his engagement and wedding rings. Attentive and sensitive to his surroundings, Pap walked erect and moved easily.

He looked good in whatever he wore. Paps clothes were always neat, clean, and well coordinated. As for colors, he wore mostly a mild, muted green. His suits were made of wool tweed. The trousers were knickers, according to the fashion of his time (between 1914 and 1925). Since the knickers reached only below the knees, men in those days wore knee-high stockings knitted in different patterns. These were overturned on the top to hide the garters. Jackets, vests, and trousers were of the same material and color. A white shirt with a tie completed the outfit. In the summer, Pap wore the traditional Lederhosen (short pants made of leather), a white shirt, and a gray jacket. The jacket was of a lighter woolen material, with moss green cuffs and a standing collar. Pap wore knitted knee-highs, even in the summer, and brown shoes. To me, he always looked handsome.

Pap was not only kind and loving to us, but also polite to strangers and a true friend to his friends and the crews of his ships. One could count on his word. Naturally dignified, he was not dependent upon what other people thought of him but lived his life according to his conscience. He always showed genuine friendliness. He did not have to say to us, I love you. We knew he loved us, and he knew we loved him.

I never saw Pap just lounge around. When he was tired, he stretched out on his sofa in the library and took a catnap. When he was worried or had to think things over, he paced back and forth in the living room, but he never burdened us children with his personal concerns. Pap had Mam as well as good friends with whom to talk things over. He was from the old school where fathers did not communicate with their children about finances or personal matters. As the father of a large family, Pap took his family responsibilities seriously.

He was also conscientious concerning his military responsibilities. Our father was a hero in the Austrian Navy, but Pap was not the first in our family to serve in the navy. Our grandfather, August Johann Trapp, was born in Germany, but he became an Austrian citizen, joined the Austrian Navy, and was stationed in Zara, a small Austrian harbor on the Dalmatian coast. Pap told us that our grandfather was appointed commander of the SMS Saida and was cruising in the Mediterranean, west of Italy, when a violent storm threatened the ship and crew. By his keen maneuvers, he was able to steer the vessel onto a sandbank and to save the crew single-handedly. For this heroic rescue, he was awarded the Iron Cross, Third Class, and was elevated to knighthood by Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria. From that dayNovember 18, 1876our grandfathers name was August Johann Ritter von Trapp.1

His son, my father, Georg, was born in Zara on April 4, 1880. Georg inherited his fathers title and later followed in his fathers footsteps by joining the Austrian Navy. When Pap was a very young child, his father died of typhoid fever, and his mother, my grandmother, Hedwig Wepler von Trapp, moved with her three childrenHede, Georg, and Wernerto Pola.2 There my grandmother made sure that her children went to a Lutheran elementary school, according to her and her husbands faith. As an officers widow, my grandmother received a small pension to support herself and her children. It did not provide for an extravagant lifestyle, but it enabled the family to survive at a time when the social order did not allow someone in my grandmothers position to seek employment. In those days an inheritance was very important to a woman, especially when she was a widow with young children. Later, when her sons had careers, they helped her financially, but their salaries were not large enough to permit them to send very much to their mother.