Memories Before and After the Sound of Music
An Autobiography
Agathe von Trapp
With Illustrations by the Author
This book of memories
is dedicated to
my father, the Captain,
with love
and admiration for a life
lived selflessly for his country
and his family.
Contents
Prelude
1. The Captain, Our Father
2. Mamá, Our Sunshine
3. Life with Gromi
4. Two Special Occasions
5. The Postwar Era
6. Years of Change
7. Our New Home Near Salzburg
8. A New Mother and Two Baby Sisters
9. Spreading My Wings
10. Adventures with Papá
11. We Love to Sing
12. The Invasion
13. We Come to America
14. On the Road as the Trapp Family Singers
15. Our Green Mountain Home
16. A New Beginning
17. Oh! The Sound of Music
18. Where are the “Children” Now?
Notes
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Prelude
Whenever 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 father’s and grandfather’s impressive histories, or our first mother’s important role. Nor do the books based on Maria’s 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 lives—the period of World War I and its aftermath—when 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 Austria’s 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 family’s history than most of my brothers and sisters.
My family lived through some of the twentieth century’s 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, God’s guidance and protection kept us safe in the palm of His hand.
Agathe von Trapp
Baltimore, Maryland, 2002
The Captain, Our Father
The 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.
Papá 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, Papá walked erect and moved easily.
He looked good in whatever he wore. Papá’s 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, Papá 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. Papá wore knitted knee-highs, even in the summer, and brown shoes. To me, he always looked handsome.
Papá 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 Papá 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. Papá had Mamá 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, Papá took his family responsibilities seriously.
He was also conscientious concerning his military responsibilities. Our father was a hero in the Austrian Navy, but Papá 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. Papá 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 mane
uvers, 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 day—November 18, 1876—our grandfather’s name was August Johann Ritter von Trapp.1
His son, my father, Georg, was born in Zara on April 4, 1880. Georg inherited his father’s title and later followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the Austrian Navy. When Papá was a very young child, his father died of typhoid fever, and his mother, my grandmother, Hedwig Wepler von Trapp, moved with her three children—Hede, Georg, and Werner—to Pola.2 There my grandmother made sure that her children went to a Lutheran elementary school, according to her and her husband’s faith. As an officer’s 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 grandmother’s 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.
At the age of fourteen, Georg von Trapp entered the naval academy in Fiume.3 Toward the end of a rigorous training period, he and his classmates were assigned to a sailing ship, the SMS Saida II, to complete their training. Ironically Georg was assigned to a ship with the same name as the ship that his father had previously commanded. Having no single destination, the ship was to sail around the world with the newly trained cadets. The trip was scheduled to take the crew through the Suez Canal, heading east through the Indian Ocean to Australia. There the SMS Saida II was welcomed with open arms, and the cadets and officers were entertained as honored guests. The Austrian emperor even granted an extension of their visit, at the request of their captain. In his description of this trip, Papá mentioned the Marquesas Islands as being especially beautiful. These islands impressed him to such an extent that he always dreamed of going back to them at some future time.
The journey of the SMS Saida II came to an early end, however. Signs of unrest and hostilities by thousands of followers of a secret society, known as the Boxers, against missionaries and other foreigners in China caused great concern among Western nations. These nations then sent ships to China to monitor the situation, watching for serious actions that the Boxers might take against their embassies and the quarters where Westerners lived.4 Because of the perilous state of affairs, the captain of the SMS Saida II received a telegram on June 9, 1899, ordering the ship with the cadets to return home. At that time she was sailing north along the coast of China as far as Shanghai.
From Woosung Harbor, Cadet von Trapp wrote to his mother in Pola:
Hurrah, this moment we received a telegram that we are going home! On board one sees only happy faces. Our route goes back via Hong Kong, Batavia [now Jakarta, Indonesia], Port Mahi [on the Seychelles], Aden, then back to Pola. We shall arrive in Pola most likely the middle or end of October. By then you will already have more accurate dates.
Your faithful Son,
Georg
Cadet von Trapp did not see much of his mother when he reached Pola. After a short furlough, he was assigned to the navigation staff of the Austrian cruiser SMS Zenta, on an operational mission to China where the Boxer Rebellion was increasing in intensity.5 Thus, Cadet von Trapp had the opportunity to get a firsthand education in the field of navigation, working side by side with those most experienced in this field.
The Coast of China circa 1900
The SMS Zenta had instructions to proceed to the harbor of Shanghai. After passing through the Strait of Formosa, the ship encountered threatening weather; it had entered the zone of heavy typhoons. The Zenta had already braved several storms on the way, but this one was a full-blown typhoon. Its raging waters had swallowed several steamships and Chinese junks. The little cruiser, however, survived the height of the storm with very little damage and finally arrived, many hours late, in Shanghai. There the ship and the crew were welcomed with salutes from the other Western ships already anchored in the harbor.
As I write about this part of my father’s trip to China, it occurs to me that he could have easily lost his life in order to help save the Western population there from sure death. There would have been no Trapp Family, no Trapp Family Singers, no Sound of Music, if God had not held His hand over this little cruiser to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the raging sea during this typhoon.
In Shanghai the captain of the SMS Zenta followed his orders, transmitted via the Austrian consul, to continue immediately north after loading coal and provisions. Their course took them through the China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Along the way the captain and crew of the Zenta received news of terrible atrocities occurring in the vicinity of Nanking. Consulting together, the commanders of the Western ships decided to sail to the harbor of Tientsin to be closer to Peking. There the attack upon the Western quarters began just when the ships arrived. The international force of English, American, French, German, Italian, and Austrian soldiers and sailors stormed the forts and freed the inhabitants in a fierce hand-to-hand battle. Georg von Trapp and his detachment excelled in this encounter, and he was later decorated for bravery and promoted.
The things that Papá saw during the battle in China were so terrible that he never told us about them. I later read a report about this conflict in a newspaper (Neue Illustrierte Wochenschau of May 1, 1960). This newspaper article, “Sixty Years Ago: Boxer Rebellion,” described the horror of the Boxer War and featured the heroism of Georg von Trapp and his crew. Published posthumously on the occasion of my father’s eightieth birthday, it recounted his rescue actions during the rebellion.
Papá told us a humorous story of a happening in the mountains of China where his detail was sent for a few days of rest. It was very cold, and they were accommodated in an inn with no heat. To make his guests comfortable, at least during the night, the landlord provided hot water bottles. These were placed in the foot of the beds under the blankets before the guests retired for the evening. There were no electric lights in the inn; the guests had to use oil lamps.
During the first night after everyone had retired, a strange noise came from one room. Alarmed, some of the crew went toward the noisy room. Lantern in hand, they opened the door. What did they find? One of the officers was hitting his bed frantically with a stick while a swinging lamp, suspended from the ceiling, was hitting him on the head.
He had gone to bed in the dark, unaware that he would find a “warm friend” under his blankets. When he stretched out, his feet felt the warmth of the hot water bottle, but he thought it was an animal, perhaps a rat. He jumped out of bed and went for his walking stick to drive the imagined animal out of his bed. He must have felt pretty silly when he discovered that he had been frightened stiff by a hot water bottle and a lampshade!
On the way back from the Orient, the SMS Zenta made a stop in the Holy Land. Papá was fortunate to have a private guide, a kind Franciscan padre, who gave Papá a tour of the holy places and showed him where to buy souvenirs. Among other things, Papá bought many clear glass bottles of Jordan water embossed on one side with the words Jordan Water and on the opposite side with a cross. Perhaps he had in mind that someday he would have a big family, and Jordan water would be a special way to have his children baptized.
Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey, was another stop where the crew was able to go ashore. This town’s specialty was its handmade carpets. The shopkeepers’ entertainment was to see whether the customers were smart enough to barter the carpet down to an acceptable price. I do not know how Papá rated in their estimation, but he bought some beautiful carpets in Turkey that later adorned our home.
One souvenir from his trips to China that always intrigued me was a wood block with Chinese characters carved into it. In the early 1950s, when we gave concerts in H
awaii, a professor from the University of Hawaii translated the words on the block for me. It was a house blessing that read: “A Thousand Blessings Be Upon You.”
When the SMS Zenta arrived back in Pola at the end of the mission to China, a great welcome awaited her brave crew.
After his first military adventure, the next great event in Papá’s life was his marriage to my mother. It is a story that Edwyn Gray, an English writer on marine subjects and the invention of the torpedo, describes in part in his book, The Devil’s Device.6 He mentions that Papá met and married Agathe Whitehead, the granddaughter of the torpedo’s inventor, Robert Whitehead, an Englishman.
In 1908 the naval authorities sent Georg von Trapp to Fiume to study firsthand the construction of submarines and torpedoes. When one of the first submarines constructed in the Whitehead factory, the U-5, was launched in 1909, Agathe Whitehead was asked to perform the ceremony. At that occasion, Georg von Trapp was standing next to her on the flag-bedecked platform, unaware that he would be assigned to command this very submarine, and that she who launched the vessel would one day become his wife. This story is told in detail in the next chapter.
Memories Before and After the Sound of Music Page 1