Is The Sound of Music a true story? The astonishing real history of the von Trapp family’s escape from Nazism

Since its movie release in 1965, 20 years after the end of the Second World War, The Sound of Music has cemented itself among the best historical films of its era.

It’s a timeless story of romance, family and the power of art and resistance, premiering on Broadway in 1959, before becoming the box office hit starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer later that decade. But behind the soaring musical numbers, it’s inseparable from the darker backdrop that serves as its setting – Adolf Hitler’s relentless ascent to power in Germany, culminating in the Anschluss: the annexation of Austria and the rise of Nazism in the adjoining country.

Clearly, it’s not entirely fiction.

But where is the line drawn? How much of the story of The Sound of Music is rooted in the true story of the von Trapp family?

How accurate is The Sound of Music overall?

The Sound of Music is a broadly accurate retelling of the story of the von Trapp family, their struggle to escape the clutches of Nazi officials, and the context surrounding the Anschluss.

There’s a lot of real history in how the film portrays Maria’s entry into the von Trapp household, her subsequent marriage to Georg, the family’s opposition to Nazism, and their eventual departure from Austria. Indeed, the real von Trapp family lived through profound political upheaval amid the transformation of Austria in the 1930s.

However, there are also substantial liberties taken with timelines, characterisation and events: Maria and Georg were married in the 1920s, not on the eve of the Anschluss; the children were older than portrayed, and their names were changed for the film. They really did flee the country shortly after the Anschluss – but not in the way the film suggests.

So, what’s the reality that inspired The Sound of Music?

Who were the real von Trapp family?

The von Trapps were an upper-middle-class Austrian family centred around Georg von Trapp, a decorated former naval officer, and Maria Kutschera, who entered the household as a tutor and later became stepmother to the children.

Their story became known mostly through Maria’s 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. The book inspired both a German film (Die Trapp-Familie) in 1956, and celebrated composer-and-lyricist duo Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The Sound of Music (1959), which in turn became the basis of the Hollywood film.

What was Maria’s early life like?

Maria Augusta Kutschera was born on 26 January 1905, on a train heading to Vienna.

Orphaned as a child, Maria grew up in a succession of foster homes and boarding schools. As a young adult, she studied at Vienna's State Teachers College for Progressive Education, aspiring to become a teacher.

But a chance encounter with a Catholic mass at the Karlskirche was a stark turning point. Finding the experience incredibly moving, she went on to join the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg as a novice.

It was from the abbey that Maria was sent to the von Trapp household in 1926. But she was not to be a governess for all the children. She was specifically tasked with the tuition of one child, Maria Franziska, who was recovering from scarlet fever.

When she arrived, she stepped into a house that was ruled by Georg von Trapp.

Who was Georg von Trapp?

Georg Ludwig von Trapp had been a submarine commander in the Austro-Hungarian Navy, earning honours during the First World War. The dissolution of the empire in 1918 ended his naval career.

Georg married Agathe Whitehead (granddaughter of the inventor of the torpedo) in 1911, and together they had seven children. When Agathe died of scarlet fever in 1922, Georg was left a widower raising a large family in a tumultuous Austria that was still finding its position in a rapidly changing Europe.

By the mid-1920s, the family lived in a villa in Aigen, near Salzburg, where the children learned instruments and sang together informally. This musical culture predated Maria’s arrival.

Another difference is that, in The Sound of Music, Captain von Trapp is portrayed as a stern, emotionally distant disciplinarian. It works as a dramatic device. But in reality, Georg von Trapp was widely regarded as a warm father who was deeply involved with his children.

How did Maria and Georg actually come to be married?

Maria’s role in the household gradually expanded from tutoring a single child to helping care for the whole family. She fostered close relationships with all the children and enjoyed the structure of family life that was in stark contrast to her time in the abbey.

Georg, meanwhile, valued her care, and her ability to organise the large household. Despite being 25 years her senior, he soon asked her to marry him.

Maria returned to the abbey to seek advice from her former mother abbess, who counselled her to accept the proposal. Maria took the advice and returned to the family.

Maria later wrote that she accepted Georg’s proposal partly out of affection and partly from a sense of duty. She believed the children needed a mother and that this calling aligned with her own developing sense of purpose. She said that, when Georg had proposed to her, she didn’t love him – but that those feelings grew with time.

Their marriage took place in 1927, a full decade earlier than depicted in the musical.

The couple went on to have three children together, further expanding the family.

Why did the von Trapps begin performing publicly?

The von Trapps did not initially plan to become a professional singing group.

In the 1930s, Austria was in economic crisis. The global depression hit the country hard, and the von Trapp family suffered a sharp financial blow when they lost much of their savings following the collapse of an Austrian bank with which Georg had invested heavily.

To reduce expenses, they dismissed most of the household staff and rented out parts of their home. Music became a more formal pursuit when Father Franz Wasner (a Catholic priest and musician) began coaching them. Under his guidance, the family developed a polished repertoire of Renaissance madrigals, Austrian folk music and sacred works.

They made their public debut in 1934, and in 1936 they won first prize at the Salzburg Music Festival, establishing themselves as a professional ensemble.

How accurate is the film’s portrayal of Austria in the 1930s?

The film’s backdrop – the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938 – is historically accurate. But the version that the film presents is simplified.

Interwar Austria was grappling with political instability, economic turmoil and competing visions of national identity. Many Austrians supported unification with Germany. But many also opposed Nazism and valued Austria’s sovereignty.

By 1938, the Nazi Party had gained considerable influence within Austria. When German troops crossed the border on 12 March 1938, they met little formal resistance. Austria was swiftly absorbed into the Third Reich.

The merged political context placed individuals like the von Trapps in a difficult situation. Georg von Trapp was viewed by the German authorities as a potentially valuable figure for propaganda or naval leadership.

In reality, the family’s opposition to Nazism was firm, but not as theatrically defiant as portrayed in the film.

Rather than ripping apart Nazi flags, their resistance took the form of refusing to perform and engage with events for the new regime, and declining offers that would have aligned them with the German state.

How did the von Trapp family really leave Austria?

The Sound of Music concludes with the family’s escape over the Alps to Switzerland.

It’s cinematic and brings the film back to where it began: in the mountains above Austria. But while cinematic, it’s also geographically impossible. Salzburg borders Germany, not Switzerland, and crossing the mountains in that direction would have brought the family deeper into Nazi territory.

The real story is less dramatic but far more plausible.

In August 1938, the family left Austria by train, travelling openly to Italy. Georg still held citizenship rights from his birthplace (the coastal town of Zadar, which after the First World War became part of Italy) and this provided a legal route of departure.

From Italy, the family travelled on to London via France, and then to the United States, where they had previously toured as a musical group. They settled first in Pennsylvania and later in Stowe, Vermont, where they opened the Trapp Family Lodge, which remains in operation today.

The family did not flee under pursuit. Rather, they chose not to return to Austria after their US concert tour, recognising the political climate and the growing risks associated with Georg’s refusal to serve the Nazi regime.

What became of the von Trapps in America?

In the United States, the Von Trapp Family Singers built a successful career, touring nationally throughout the 1940s and early 1950s.

They became naturalised American citizens, and their life in Vermont gave them a new stability. Maria, in particular, became a prominent figure in their emerging business ventures and later ran the lodge after Georg’s death in 1947.

The family ensemble eventually disbanded, but several members continued musical careers independently.

Maria continued writing and lecturing, and her memoir became the basis for later adaptations of the family’s story.

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