The film “The Sound of Music” portrays the von Trapps fleeing Austria just weeks after their marriage. In reality, however, they enjoyed ten years of relative peace and security before the Anschluss occurred. During this period, Maria gave birth to two children of her own: a girl named Rosmarie and another girl they named Eleanor. Meanwhile, the original children were no longer so young. Rupert, the eldest son, graduated in medicine, while Agathe studied English, painting and tailoring.

But before all the children could move out on their own, a series of remarkable events occurred that brought the family together for the next eighteen years. In 1933, as political troubles loomed on the horizon, Georg withdrew the family fortune from the safety of the British banking system and entrusted it to an Austrian company in dire straits. This local bank was suffering the effects of Hitler’s total shutdown of Austria’s tourism industry, a situation that threatened to destroy the nation. As an ever loyal citizen, von Trapp showed his support for his homeland in the hope that the economy would not collapse. But to no avail, because before long the Trapps were notified that the bank was gone, along with his life savings.

The family still had the house and a small amount of money, but their lifestyle changed instantly. They gave up their car and most of the servants, and the family moved into smaller rooms to rent out the larger ones to guests. One of these guests brought with him a young priest named Father Wasner. When he heard the family sing together as they did every day, he criticized his performance and quickly became their choral leader. As he increased his repertoire, he also increased his enthusiasm for singing. The von Trapps’ practices increased to six hours straight, and in mid-1936 they were persuaded to perform at the Salzburg Folk Festival. To their astonishment, this first time singing in public was rewarded with the title of first prize, and the Trapps were bombarded with offers to tour throughout Europe.

While Georg was opposed to the idea of ​​his family singing for a living, he gradually gave in to the fervent requests of tour managers, and the “Salzburg Trapp Choir” was born. Over the next few months his fame grew exponentially, and as political troubles intensified, his singing was a rare and much-needed solace to heartbroken European citizens. Von Trapp’s audiences included Pope Pius XI, Queen Mary of England, and Mussolini. Unfortunately, the Trapp family soon became too famous for their own good when Hitler liked his style and asked them to sing for his birthday celebration. By this time, the Nazi dictator had seized control of Austria, and the Captain himself was “requested” to become a naval officer in the Third Reich’s army. Rupert received an offer from the Nazis to take the place of a Jewish doctor at a nearby hospital, and as the von Trapps were staunchly opposed to the Hitler regime and its unthinkable treatment of the Jewish people, they firmly rejected all three offers.

The family realized that it was no longer safe to stay in Austria. After much prayer, each family member left their beloved home with just one bag per person, walked across their property to the train station, and crossed the border into Italy. Sam von Trapp, Georg and Maria’s grandson, reflects: “I think one of the reasons the story is so popular is that the Trapps were one of the only families who said ‘No’ to Hitler and got away with it. . .” The family had a long way to go to reach their destination of America, but they had successfully escaped Hitler’s clutches.