Corvette Captain Georg Johannes Ritter (Knight) von Trapp (4 April 1880 30 May 1947), often incorrectly referred to as Baron (Freiherr) von Trapp, was an Austro-Hungarian Navy officer. His naval exploits during World War I earned him numerous decorations, including the prestigious Military Order of Maria Theresa. Under his command, the submarines SM U-5 and SM U-14 sank 13 Allied ships totaling about 45,669 gross register tons (GRT).Following Austria-Hungary's defeat and subsequent collapse, Trapp returned to his family but lost his first wife to scarlet fever, in 1922. Five years later, Trapp married his children's tutor Maria Augusta Kutschera. Most of the family's wealth was wiped out during the Great Depression, after Trapp transferred his savings from a bank in London into an Austrian bank. Maria then trained the children to perform at various events as a way of earning a livelihood. The family came under increasing persecution from the Nazis after the Anschluss, when Trapp refused to serve in the German Navy due to his opposition to Nazi ideology. Fearing arrest, Trapp fled with his family to Italy and then to the United States, where he set up a farm and lived the remainder of his life there until his death in 1947.Maria later wrote of their time together in her book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. The story of his family served as the inspiration for the musical The Sound of Music (1959), and the hugely successful 1965 film, in which he was portrayed by Canadian actor Christopher Plummer. Show less «