Martina von Trapp

Martina von Trapp
Petition for Naturalization, 1948
Born	(1921-02-17)17 February 1921 Klosterneuburg, Austria
Died	25 February 1951(1951-02-25) (aged 30) Stowe, Vermont, U.S.
Nationality	Austrian
Occupation	Singer
Spouse(s)	Jean Dupire
Children	Notburga Dupire (stillborn)
Parent(s)	Georg von Trapp Agatha Whitehead

Martina von Trapp (17 February 1921 – 25 February 1951) was a member of the Trapp Family Singers and was the seventh child of Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agatha Whitehead von Trapp. She was a member of the Trapp Family Singers, whose lives were the inspiration for the play and movie The Sound of Music. She was portrayed as the character "Gretl".

Named after the house she was born in, the Martinsschlössel, Martina von Trapp had brown hair and brown eyes. She grew up in Klosterneuburg, and later in Salzburg with her siblings Rupert (1911–1992), Agathe (1913–2010), Maria Franziska (1914-2014), Werner (1915–2007), Hedwig (1917–1972), and Johanna (1919–1994). The family moved from Zell-am-See to Klosterneuburg after their home in Zell-am-See, a hotel called Kitzsteinhorn, was flooded. They also lived at one time on a farm called Erlhof near their maternal grandmother and aunts. When Martina was one and a half years old, her mother Agathe died of scarlet fever during an epidemic. Three years later, Georg von Trapp moved his family to the Aigen district of Salzburg.

In 1926, her older sister Maria Franziska became ill and was unable to attend school. During her recovery her father arranged for a teacher from a local convent to tutor her; the novice, Maria Augusta Kutschera, married Georg von Trapp the next year. Georg and Maria Augusta had three children together: Rosmarie (born 1928 or 1929), Eleonore (born 1931), and Johannes (1939). In the 1930s Georg suffered serious financial losses. Maria Augusta, who had taught the children to sing, organized a series of concerts in order to pay the bills. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1948.