Roswitha “Rosi” Ehrhardt
Parker Perkins
The story of Roswitha “Rosi” Ehrhardt begins in Czechoslovakia, the year 1943, where she was born to German parents. Her childhood in Czechoslovakia was a tough one; Her and her family were forced out of the country for being ethnic Germans. After returning to Germany, she started classes at the University of Heidelberg at the age of 18. She studied with the Department of Interpretation and Translation, which gave her the opportunity to study English at Oxford University in 1962. Two years later, she acquired a visa at the American embassy in London, and moved to Dallas, Texas. Even though there were many Germans already in Dallas, she found that Americans found her strange and exotic. She did not like Dallas at all. She eventually received a permanent resident card, in addition to her German passport. This caused her some issues when she went to Italy to continue her language studies, after her passport expired. She could not get into Germany to renew her passport because she was no longer registered there, and she could not get an American passport because she couldn’t get into the county without one. This left her stranded for a little while, until her father fixed the issue, and she could return to the United States. At the age of 26, she married Robert Harrison Wagner, and in 1973, she applied for citizenship. She was granted citizenship, got a passport, and registered to vote. She settled down in Austin, Texas, which she loves, and has lived there ever since.
