The von Trapp Family Wasn't Jewish, but They Left Austria out of Fear of Adolf Hitler

The movie The Sound of Music is, as the title suggests, a musical. And the main storyline involves a nun-in-training turned governess who slowly warms the von Trapp family father to her as they fall in love. But another theme is the looming Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler's rule and the dangers that the family faces, even though they aren't Jewish themselves. And since the family was real, why did the von Trapps flee Austria in real life?

Although The Sound of Music is based on a real family, and there are some stark differences between what happened IRL and what happened in the musical, we'll get to that later. For now, though, we can focus on what happened in real life and why, at the end of the movie, it's such a big deal that the von Trapps, and the singing governess thank you very much, headed for the hills of Switzerland.

In The Sound of Music, the von Trapp family patriarch Georg von Trapp is a naval officer. He's also strict with his seven children following their mother's death, however he gradually warms to them, and the governess Maria, as well as singing, toward the middle of the movie. But when he is called upon to work with the Kriegsmarine, the Nazi Germany's navy, he can't go against his personal beliefs and principles.

Instead of agreeing to work with the Nazi-led navy, Georg decides to leave Austria as soon as he and his family can and before they are punished for denying the regime. In real life, the real von Trapps fled Austria for the same reason. However, they did not leave in the middle of the night, nor did they climb mountains to reach Switzerland with their suitcases and musical instruments in tow.

The real story is that they left their home in Austria in broad daylight and rode a train to Italy, with the public knowledge being that they planned to travel to America for a concert, which was true. In 2003, Maria von Trapp told Opera News, "We did tell people that we were going to America to sing. And we did not climb over mountains with all our heavy suitcases and instruments. We left by train, pretending nothing."

There are parts of The Sound of Music that are true to the real story. However, there are many more components that appear to have been manipulated to make for a better story. Like the character of Georg being a cold disciplinarian to his children. According to reports, he was the opposite of that in real life.

And there were 10 von Trapp children in total instead of the seven in the film. But, most important of all, the family never climbed the Alps to reach Switzerland for safety, because they would have reached what was Nazi Germany at the time, geographically.