‌Have you heard of The Trapp Family? They were a group of singers from the family of former Austrian naval commander Georg von Trapp. The family won attention in their original singing career in their native Austria during the interwar period, later became famous in the US.
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‌Maria Von Trapp is said to be the matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She grew up in Austria, lost her parents at a very young age. The condition of her family was very poor and being an orphan it was difficult to study. Yet her urge to study made her random jobs and finally she entered, State Teachers College for Progressive Education in Vienna from where she graduated.
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‌She wanted to be a Nun but her life wasn't a fair game. She married Captain von Trapp; later in her biography, she mentions that she wasn't in love with him and she wanted to be a nun but she loved his children and it's like she married for the children.
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‌Her family became a popular touring act after performing at a festival in 1935. Nazis were a problem to them when Germany annexed Austria. They were intolerant to witness the hostility shown towards Jewish children and the induction of Georg into the German Navy.
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‌The family lost most of its prosperity through the worldwide depression when their bank failed in the early 1930s. That's when she seriously decided to turn her passion into a profession.
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‌‌The family left Austria and journeyed to Italy, then to England and finally the United States. The Nazis made use of their abandoned home as Heinrich Himmler's headquarters.
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‌‌Calling themselves the "Trapp Family Choir", began to perform in the United States and Canada and later changed their name to 'Trapp Family Singers.'
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‌The Trapp Family Singers won several blockades like the Siena Medal – an award given by Theta Phi Alpha women's fraternity to "an outstanding woman to recognize her for her endurance and great accomplishment."
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‌Maria von Trapp died of heart failure in 1987 leaving the legacy of the Trapp family behind.