The Austrian city of Salzburg, famous for its music and as the setting for the movie the Sound of Music, is blocking plans to open a hotel in a former home of the von Trapp family. Neighbors have complained that tourists would create traffic and become a nuisance.
The villa is the original home of the von Trapp family, who were immortalized in the Sound of Music. They lived in the house from 1923 until 1938 when they left Austria following the Nazi takeover. After they left, Nazi chief Heinrich Himmler used the villa until the end of the second world war.
Villa Trapp was the brainchild of entrepreneur developer Marianne Dorfer and her husband, Christopher Unterkofler.
Christopher Unterkofler, Manager of von Trapp hotel, said, "Salzburg is known because of 'The Sound of Music'. Is the second most seen movie in the world. The first is 'Gone with the Wind', the second is 'The Sound of Music'. Over two billion people saw the movie so far and they know Salzburg just because of this movie. So Salzburg's people should be happy that their history is shown here."
The Monks who occupied the house after the fall of the Nazi regime created a chapel to dispel the evil aura of its Nazi past. Opponents of 'Villa Trapp' worry that tourists would tie up traffic and become a nuisance. They also say it's an issue of respect for the victims of genocide.
