Episode 50: On to A New Life

One day, I asked Agathe if the von Trapp family had indeed fled over the mountains from Austria to escape the Nazis.

“Vell,” Agathe said to me acidly, “If ve had gone over ze mountains, ve would haf been in Germany.”

Oh.

A quick look at a 1938 map of Europe proved her right.

A 1938 map of Northern Europe shows how Germany loomed over the

countries to its south, including Austria.

The captain didn’t have legal Austrian documents for all his children and couldn’t afford to buy them. However, they all had up-to-date Italian papers, even though the Hapsburg Empire, which included Italy, had collapsed at the end of World War I.

One fateful day, Hans the butler, came to the captain and told him the family had to leave immediately. So, despite being a Nazi, Hans remained dedicated to the von Trapps, and saved their lives.

When the time to leave Aigen arrived, the family walked out through the deep backyard of the property, wearing their traditional Austrian costumes and each carrying a backpack and a suitcase which held one set of regular clothes and a second costume. They all carried a musical instrument. The costumes they were wearing wouldn’t draw unwanted attention since many people still wore them day to day. They went across the railroad tracks and made their way to the Aigen bei Salzburg train station. The captain had a contract for a tour in America in his pocket.

The family took a train to France, passing through Switzerland, then took the ferry across the English Channel. They boarded the American Farmer ship in Southampton and left Europe behind for a new life in America.*

*Information and photos drawn from Agathe von Trapps's memoir, Memories Before and After The Sound of Music, available at Amazon.