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.



WILMINGTON, NC, October 07, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- There is no shortage of information about WWII and its aftermath. But unfortunately, missing from history books, movies and the plethora of documentaries is the human story of Germany's postwar crisis. In 1945, the country faced political fragmentation, economic collapse, and profound social upheaval. For the people of Germany, the end of the war did not mean an end to hardship—it marked instead the beginning of a struggle to survive amid uncertainty and loss.

While countless accounts explore Germany's wartime experience, far fewer capture the daily realities and psychological toll of the years that followed. Trauterose, an award-winning memoir, brings those realities into focus through Elisabeth Haggblade's first-person testimony.

Orphaned at birth during World War II, Haggblade spent her first eleven years in the household of a former SS officer and his family. Her story offers a rare, very intimate view of postwar Germany—one shaped by lived experience and the demands of survival, adaptation, and grief.

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 account, 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 also conveys the physical and psychological scars of war, both in her own life and in the lives of those she encountered. Against a backdrop of fragile institutions and scarce resources, even ordinary routines demanded resilience. Yet her narrative also shows how faith and community helped people endure.

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 [email protected]. '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.

Read the original story here: https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/539348/trauterose-the-award-winning-memoir-by-wwii-survivor-elisabeth-haggblade-offers-a-first-person-account-of-post-world-war-ii-germany

Press Release Service and Press Release Distribution by 24-7 Press Release Newswire