<P> In 1935, von Trapp's money, inherited from his English first wife, was invested in a bank in England . Austria was under economic pressure from a hostile Germany, and Austrian banks were in a precarious position . von Trapp sought to help a friend in the banking business, Auguste Caroline Lammer (1885--1937), so he withdrew most of his money from London and deposited it in an Austrian bank . The bank failed, wiping out most of the family's substantial fortune . </P> <P> At about that time, a Catholic priest, Franz Wasner, around Maria's age, came to live with them and became the group's musical director . Around 1936, Lotte Lehmann heard the family sing, and she suggested they perform paid concerts . When the Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg heard them on the radio, he invited them to perform in Vienna . </P> <P> According to Maria von Trapp's memoirs, Georg von Trapp found himself in a vexing situation after the German takeover of Austria in 1938 . He was offered a commission in the German Navy, a tempting proposition for a Captain without a navy, but decided to decline the offer, being opposed to Nazi ideology . Knowing that he could not decline the offer without the threat of arrest, possibly for his entire family, von Trapp decided to leave Austria . The family took a train to Italy, then sailed to the United States for their first concert tour, then in 1939 went back to Europe to tour Scandinavia, hoping to continue their concerts in cities beyond the reach of the Third Reich . During this time, they went back to Salzburg for a few months before returning to Sweden to finish the tour . From there, they traveled to Norway to begin the trip back to the United States in September 1939 . </P> <P> After living for a short time in Merion, Pennsylvania, where they welcomed their youngest child, Johannes, the family settled in Stowe, Vermont, in 1941 . They purchased a 660 - acre (270 ha) farm in 1942 and converted it into the Trapp Family Lodge . In January 1947, Major General Harry J. Collins turned to the Trapp family in the US pleading for help for the Austrian people, having seen firsthand the residents of Salzburg suffer when he had arrived there with the 42nd Rainbow Division after World War II . The Trapp Family founded the Trapp Family Austrian Relief, Inc., and the priest Franz Wasner, their pre-war friend, became its treasurer . </P>

When did the von trapp family leave austria