Elisabeth Haggblade's eyewitness account, winner of the 2024 Indie Reader Discovery Award, will likely be regarded as one of the best accounts ever written about post-World War II Germany.
Though not often found in our history books, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, Germany confronted a crisis of epic proportions. By 1945, the end of the war had left the state vulnerable to political disintegration, severe economic ruin, and profound social dislocation.
Although scholarly and popular literature addresses Germany’s wartime experiences, comparatively fewer studies and narratives examine day-to-day conditions and psychological consequences endured by ordinary individuals in the subsequent postwar period.
Trauterose, an award-winning book, presents such an account through the first-person testimony of Elisabeth Haggblade. Orphaned at birth during the height of World War II, she spent the first eleven years of her life in the household of a former S.S. officer and his family. The book offers readers an unusually rare perspective on postwar Germany—one grounded not in retrospective reconstruction alone, but in an experiential record of survival, adaptation, and loss.
The work has also received notable recognition, including the 2024 IndieReader Discovery Award (Memoir category) and First Place Non-Fiction in The Authors Show 2024 Book Cover Awards. More than a personal narrative, Trauterose provides a sustained and insightful window onto a pivotal historical moment, illustrating how daily life was continually shaped by instability and deprivation.
As reflected in her testimony, Haggblade—along with others she encountered during childhood—was marked both physically and psychologically by wartime violence and its aftermath. In a period when Germany’s social institutions and material conditions were especially fragile, the effort to navigate everyday existence often required constant negotiation. Yet the narrative emphasizes, as well, the enduring roles of faith and communal support in sustaining resilience.
Elisabeth writes, “One person aiding and delivering faith: The late Pope Benedict XVI, known then as Herr Joseph Ratzinger, teacher of catechism in our fourth-grade class in the 1950s. After he left our school, his hand-written letter spelled out the proper path to follow in growing up : ‘If one buttons one’s coat the wrong way, one would have to undo all of it and start over again to make it right. So it is with life,’ admonishing us ‘to choose the right beginning.”’
“I wrote this book as a reaction to reports and pictures of that time that I saw: Glamorous portrayals in German magazines of the postwar years,” Haggblade stated. “More importantly, I wanted to respond to positive comments I kept hearing from Americans about their understanding of the postwar years. Both impressions were in contrast to my experience growing up and those I came in contact with. They told only one side of the story.
“On a personal level, I wanted to bring the reader into the picture: How life had to go on, war or no war. I let the rooms and the furniture be witnesses to our family’s daily struggle.
“By looking back, we learn how Germany has reckoned with its past. We can trace the changes the country has undergone and what it has become politically, sociologically, and economically on account of its size and influence in Europe and in the world today. Baruch Spinoza exhorts us: ‘ To understand, not judge.’”
In a recent talk for the AAUW book club members in Santa Barbara, CA, she described in detail some of the challenges faced during that time.
“One had to make an effort to establish a routine, to bring some kind of order into one’s life. What was it like to get up in the morning, trying to find soap, comb, toothbrush, warm water–not a small task in those times.
“We had to find food and ways to cook it.
“One still had to go to school, without public or private transportation, in all seasons. Find a place to do homework. Find proper clothes and shoes to wear; gear for rain, clothes for winter; Find thread for mending clothes. And we had to deal with sickness and death in the family.
“All the while, people still had to suffer the usual annoying indignities of adolescence, middle age crises, old age problems.”
In short, 'Trauterose' is the account of one person's search for humanity in existence—a cautionary tale on the inherited guilt created by rampant nationalism, and a painfully honest and often humorous view of the world through the eyes of a young woman who found her way to freedom and purpose.
Readers and reviewers have expressed praise for Trauterose. Craig Jones of IndieReader wrote, "TRAUTEROSE (Growing Up in Postwar Munich) by Elisabeth Haggblade offers an uncompromising, moving, and elegiac memoir of a deprived childhood in postwar Germany." Midwest Book Review said, "Libraries seeking powerful, personal memoirs that hold political and social lessons and insights will find Trauterose a study in adaptation, survival, and growth. It also deserves attention from young adult and adult book clubs seeking memoirs that reflect not just individual experience, but a sense of the culture and times."
One Amazon review stated, "The book is extremely well written, and I would recommend it highly." Another said, "I highly recommend this book. It will touch your heart." Another wrote, "It offers an unforgettable window into a time and place that few Americans know about."
Elisabeth Haggblade is available for media interviews and can be reached at don@freepublicitygroup.com. 'Trauterose' is available in both print, ebook and audiobook forms at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Elisabeth-Haggblade/author/B0CTRXLF9G?. More information is available at her website at https://www.trauteroseauthor.com.
About Elisabeth Haggblade:
Elisabeth Haggblade holds a B.A. in German, a B.A. in Russian, a Master's in Linguistics from California State University, Fresno, and a PhD in English Philology from the Freie Universität Berlin. She retired from teaching part-time English and Linguistics at California State Universities and the Freie Universität Berlin. Her publications began with academic articles and book reviews as well as book reviews of fiction in The Los Angeles Times. She resides in California.
Contact:
Elisabeth Haggblade
don@freepublicitygroup.com
https://www.trauteroseauthor.com
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