Elisabeth Haggblade's award-winning memoir, Trauterose, provides a firsthand account of life in post-World War II Germany, a period often overshadowed by the war itself. Orphaned at birth during the war, Haggblade spent her first eleven years in the household of a former SS officer, giving her a unique and intimate perspective on the challenges of survival, adaptation, and grief in a country grappling with political fragmentation, economic collapse, and profound social upheaval.
The book has earned the 2024 IndieReader Discovery Award in the Memoir category and First Place Non-Fiction in The Authors Show 2024 Book Cover Awards. More than a personal story, Trauterose illuminates a pivotal historical moment through the details of everyday life, revealing how instability and deprivation shaped the choices people faced. Haggblade's testimony conveys the physical and psychological scars of war, both in her own life and in those she encountered, while also showing how faith and community helped people endure.
In a recent talk for the AAUW book club in Santa Barbara, California, Haggblade described the daily struggles of the postwar period: "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."
Haggblade wrote the book as a reaction to what she saw as glamorous portrayals of the postwar years in German magazines and to positive comments from Americans about their understanding of that time. "Both impressions were in contrast to my experience growing up and those I came in contact with," she stated. "They told only one side of the story." By looking back, she believes we can learn how Germany has reckoned with its past and trace the changes the country has undergone politically, sociologically, and economically.
Reviewers have praised Trauterose for its uncompromising and moving portrayal. Craig Jones of IndieReader called it "an uncompromising, moving, and elegiac memoir of a deprived childhood in postwar Germany." Midwest Book Review noted that "libraries seeking powerful, personal memoirs that hold political and social lessons and insights will find Trauterose a study in adaptation, survival, and growth." An Amazon reviewer wrote, "It offers an unforgettable window into a time and place that few Americans know about."
The memoir is available in print, ebook, and audiobook formats at Amazon, and more information can be found at https://www.trauteroseauthor.com. Haggblade's work serves as a cautionary tale on the inherited guilt created by rampant nationalism and a painfully honest view of one person's search for humanity.
