Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
The quotation stems from Niemöller’s lectures during the early postwar period.
Different versions of the quotation exist. These can be attributed to the fact that Niemöller spoke extemporaneously and in a number of settings.
“The Sound of Music” turned 50 on March 2, 2015, and is still just as iconic as ever, decades after Julie Andrews starred as Maria in the 1965 classic.
The film, starring JulieAndrews and famous for such classic songs as Sixteen Going on Seventeen and My Favorite Things, is based on the writings of Maria von Trapp who detailed how her family escaped Austria when it was ruled by the Nazis.
Many locations in the movie are instantly recognizable for fans, including the Leopoldskron Castle, now a 67-room hotel, which was used as the Von Trapp residence in the film.
That has led to The Sound of Music fans from around the world visiting the sites and that has made money for local tours.
“After about ten years ago they found out they make money with the movie. It was already since 25 years clear that people, especially English-speaking people, are coming because of the movie, you know.
“And we had the luck that, you know, the owner was married with an American (winks) and he knows about the movie and he said we can make money with that. And so they started in 1976.
Since this time we make the Sound of Music tour and it’s the best tour we have,” said the manager of Bob’s Tours, Eviline Truhlau.
There are many sites in Salzburg that were used in the film, as Truhlau explains, “When they filmed here they really hopped around. They put things together that are not really together, by example the house.
“They used the castle, a Rococo castle, they used a Baroque castle for the front and for the back, you know. The gazebo moved in the meantime but it was built for the movie so it was used for that, it never belonged to the castle – I guess it was just the kind of thing to make something extra in this movie.”
Although The Sound of Music will always be associated with the hills and mountains of Austria, the manager of the Leopoldskron Hotel claims the movie does not have quite the same level of popularity at home as it does in other parts of the world.
There are plans for more Sound of Music celebrations this year and there was even a reference to the film during Lady Gaga’s Oscars performance.
Julie Andrews and Diane Sawyer took a trip down memory lane as they traveled through the hills of Austria.
~Julie Andrews Interview: Lady Gaga’s Oscars Tribute~
~Published on Mar 11, 2015~
In celebration of the 50th Anniversary Edition of “The Sound of Music,” which is now available to own with XFINITY On Demand, Dame Julie Andrews sits down with entertainment editor David Onda to talk about sharing the Oscars stage with Lady Gaga and her upcoming 80th birthday.
