Notes on the Trapp Family in Austria
From Maria's grandparents to summer 1939
Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2023. xi, 319 p. ISBN: 978-3-7528-3507-6.
€ 29,- (fixed price in Germany)
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brief description
This study examines the real Trapp family in Austria until 1939. Using scores of contemporaneous sources, this fully referenced book introduces Maria (von) Trapp's own, hitherto unknown, family: the Kutscheras, the Reiners (Rainers), and her foster family, the Kramers. (None of them came from Tyrol.) Moreover, the first chapter critically analyzes Maria's tales about her childhood and youth up to her wedding with Georg (von) Trapp in 1927.
The second chapter covers Georg, his family, his activities in war and business, as well as the family choir started in 1934. Several misconceptions, from Georg having been a baron to his alleged anti-fascism, get corrected here, too.
The third chapter overturns the central myth of the Trapp family story: there is no evidence that the Trapps ever received offers from the Nazis, or resisted them; on the contrary, Georg unsuccessfully tried to solicit business in Nazi Germany. Nor were the Trapps in danger of persecution, or "escaped" from Austria.
Filled with details as well as context—and based on a very broad range of sources and literature—these three "notes" present a history of the Trapp family different from and much more reliable than anything available up to now, including the family members' memoirs.
(But please note that this book is not about the adaptations of the family's stories, such as "The Sound of Music", nor does it contain illustrations.)
Table of Contents |
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| Preface | v | |
| 0 | Introduction | 1 |
| 1 | Maria – from her grandparents to her wedding | 7 |
| 1.1 | Maria's ancestors, paternal line | 7 |
| 1.1.1 | Josef Kutschera, Maria's paternal grandfather | 7 |
| 1.1.2 | Anna Rittner, Maria's paternal grandmother | 12 |
| 1.1.3 | Josef, Anna, and family – 1852 to 1867 | 13 |
| 1.1.4 | Anna and family – 1869 to 1887 | 16 |
| 1.1.5 | Karl Kutschera and Clara, née Reiner – 1887 to 1888 | 19 |
| 1.1.6 | Jacques, Anna, and Maria Deininger – 1891 to 1902 | 23 |
| 1.1.7 | Karl again – 1903 | 25 |
| 1.2 | Maria's ancestors, maternal line | 28 |
| 1.2.1 | Katharina Hatzmann, Maria's maternal grandmother | 28 |
| 1.2.2 | Karl Reiner and his ancestors | 30 |
| 1.2.3 | Katharina Hatzmann – 1870 to 1873 | 38 |
| 1.2.4 | Karl Reiner's ancestors, once more | 39 |
| 1.2.5 | Karl and Katharina Reiner and their daughters – 1873 to 1903 | 44 |
| 1.3 | Maria – 1905 to 1915 | 48 |
| 1.3.1 | Karl Kutschera and Augusta Reiner – 1903 | 48 |
| 1.3.2 | Maria Reiner and Franz Mayer – 1904 | 49 |
| 1.3.3 | Maria's birth – 1905 | 50 |
| 1.3.4 | Digression: Maria and Tyrol | 54 |
| 1.3.5 | Augusta's death and the family – 1905 to 1906 | 56 |
| 1.3.6 | The Kramer-Kutschera connection | 59 |
| 1.3.7 | The Kramer family | 60 |
| 1.3.8 | Maria's childhood and the Kramers – 1906 to 1914 | 64 |
| 1.3.9 | Maria and her father – 1906 to 1915 | 68 |
| 1.4 | Maria – 1916 to 1927 | 74 |
| 1.4.1 | "Uncle Franz" and school – 1916 to 1919 | 74 |
| 1.4.2 | Farewell to the Kramers and to Karl Kutschera jr. | 77 |
| 1.4.3 | Becoming a teacher – 1919 to 1924 | 80 |
| 1.4.4 | And becoming religious again? – 19XX to 1924 | 86 |
| 1.4.5 | Coming to Salzburg and Nonnberg Abbey school – 1924 to 1925 | 91 |
| 1.4.6 | From Nonnberg to the Trapps – 1926 to 1927 | 97 |
| 1.5 | Maria – the streamlined version | 105 |
| 2 | The Trapp family until early 1938 | 119 |
| 2.1 | Family | 119 |
| 2.2 | War | 127 |
| 2.3 | Citizenship and titles | 132 |
| 2.4 | Business and finance | 137 |
| 2.5 | Music | 145 |
| 2.6 | Father Franz Wasner | 154 |
| 2.7 | Politics and patriotism | 157 |
| 2.8 | Summary: The Trapps until early 1938 | 165 |
| 3 | The Trapps and Austria/Germany in 1938/1939 | 175 |
| 3.1 | March to September 1938 – Maria's recollections | 176 |
| 3.2 | March to October 1938 – other family recollections | 181 |
| 3.3 | Analysis | 187 |
| 3.3.1 | The "flag incident" | 187 |
| 3.3.2 | The visit to Munich | 188 |
| 3.3.3 | The Vienna "invitation" to Rupert | 190 |
| 3.3.4 | The German Navy's "invitation" to Georg | 194 |
| 3.3.5 | Singing for Hitler? – The Trapps and Germany | 198 |
| 3.3.6 | Leaving "Austria" in 1938 | 211 |
| 3.4 | Digression: The Villa Trapp – 1938 to 1948 | 219 |
| 3.5 | 1939: USA – "Austria" – USA | 223 |
| 3.6 | Synthesis | 232 |
| 4 | Afterword | 239 |
| References | 241 |
Errata:
p. 87, line 4: the reference "[BL:250]" should read "[B40:250]".
p. 120, line 10: According to the birth register entries of her three children [M176; M177; M178], Emilie Friederike Hedwig Wepler, Georg's mother, was born in
Eisenach, in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Her father Georg Wepler did work in Eisenach, but it still has to be ascertained whether Hedwig was born there, or in
Schloss Wildeck near Obersuhl, as most sources claim.
p. 240, middle of second paragraph should read: "In this context Georg and Maria were, sad to say, like rather ordinary Austrians, [...]".
17.10.2023