Trauterose: Growing Up in Postwar Munich received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Elisabeth Haggblade.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Trauterose: Growing Up in Postwar Munich, published 09-02-2023.
What’s the book’s first line?
“How did my story begin”?
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The pitch in about 25 words: A first-person account of the postwar years in Munich, Germany, with the war as an ever-present shadow leaving its physical and psychological marks.
And in a longer pitch of about 160 words: What was it like to be orphaned at birth in the winter of 1942 in Munich, to spend the next eleven years as a foster child in the family of a former SS-officer? What was it like, after the death of my foster mother, to live for seven years in a home for children under the aegis of Catholic Sisters? What was it like to immigrate to the United States at age eighteen without family support or knowledge of English?
In telling my story, I draw portraits of people that have affected my life for good or ill. I describe the rooms and furniture as silent witnesses to our family’s daily struggle.
I book-ended my work with critical thoughts about nationality: Being considered German in the United States versus being American in Germany. I close with reflections on today’s Germany, with the past intruding on the present, and with my inherited trauma and inherited guilt still pursuing me.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
A series of events, or rather experiences: In the United States, people I encountered and listened to at work, at gatherings, and in public talked about the phenomenal rise of Germany immediately after the war, with the Marshall Plan and the German work ethic, as if miraculously the war was left behind and a new leaf turned over practically overnight.
But that was not my experience growing up, nor that of my family, nor of those I knew in our neighborhood and in school.
My thoughts were confirmed by a British author’s comment that the postwar years were actually more difficult for the larger population than the war years, because in 1945 there was truly nothing left, a situation further complicated by the refugees streaming in from the East.
I wanted to answer my audience by adding a personal voice to that period in German history, to show another point of view, to present another experience.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
In my research, I found the available literature consisting mainly of two types: First, histories, meaning more in the academic sense; or, second, intimate stories that lack reference to the larger backdrop.
Against this backdrop, I wanted to lead the reader through a type of Bildungsroman, to examine stages of development: To take the reader through the daily routine, through the years, and to show how the situation in my surroundings and in Germany in general began to change. By describing the lives of various people (including myself), I wanted the reader to experience how the daily hardscrabble preoccupation with food and shelter was complicated by additional issues such as health and behavior, and how it was even mirrored in recreational pursuits.
When did you first decide to become an author?
During my years of academic work in linguistics, which included writing papers and publishing book reviews, I devoted spare time to reading literature and related reviews. I began writing a couple of fiction reviews for the LA Times. Periodically, I read through my stacks of hand–written notes (that was before the computer age) I had accumulated over the years about my German experience. Slowly, I started to write nonfiction short stories based on certain episodes in my youth to see if I could find an audience. After submitting to journals and after receiving countless rejections, I did get three of my stories published over a period of two to three years. They formed the beginning of my authorship. Based on these, I wanted to bring my ideas together in a continuous narrative. Each story concentrated on a particular person or place. I have basically adhered to that system by consigning each to a separate chapter, as reflected in the table of contents of my book.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes. This is my first actual book, but I have been writing a long time and have helped others with their writing projects. I feel that I have been writing all my life. I liked writing in grammar school and composed poems at an early age.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I am retired now. I read three daily newspapers, three literary journals, and various books (in English, German, and French), all in hard copy form. I read and watch the daily news streaming on the internet from Germany and France to keep up-to-date. I practice piano; I am an adult learner. I keep tabs on my book, to see how it is developing; e.g, checking on reviews, tracking correspondence and bookkeeping. I keep a diary to monitor the book’s progress. Without that record, it would be easy for me to get buried in the paperasse at the age of 80.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
Once I am in a story or chapter, I write for hours. I lose track. But when I reach a stumbling block, a problem that needs to be resolved, then that has to wait for another day, weeks, or maybe even months. Trying to solve it is like untying a knot.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best: To be able to publish.
The hardest: To get recognition
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Don’t let the rejections fester. Each day is a new start. Sometimes, pleasant surprises are lurking just around the corner, so don’t give up.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
I have a fabulous publisher/editor whom I would not trade for another.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I am pleased to get my story published, to be able to add to the narrative of the German postwar period, and for readers to be able to share that experience.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Living: Annie Erneaux because of her courage and honesty.
Dead: Gustave Flaubert because of his ability set an entire scene in a few sparse words; e.g., the first words in “Madame Bovary”: “Nous étions à l’étude, quand le Proviseur entra,.. ” (We were in class when the principal entered,..); i.e., his unexpected entry changed the entire mood in class.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
I have read so many books by superior authors that I would be hard pressed to choose.