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HF: I did send them the book. I was
really worried. I sent them a letter
assuring them I love them and I
made every effort to protect their
identity. I [didn't] hear a word from
my mother.
I did get a really nice letter from
my father a week later, like lightning.
He congratulated me. He thought
the writing was superb. I was really,
really touched he could do that. In
the course of the letter, he said he
was relieved I changed the names to
protect identities.
People don't keep something of
this magnitude a secret for 50 years
and then say, "Oh, nice job, Helen."
Under the circumstances, it was
more than I expected.

JN: Where does your family name,
Fremont, come from?
HF: As far as I know today, that is
my real name, my [baptismal] name,
the name that appears on my pass-
port. I do not know what my moth-
er's first name is. I know what her
maiden name was, and it was that
maiden name that enabled my sister
and I to find the pages of testimony
at Yad Vashem.

JN: You're open about your homo-
sexuality and came out to your par-
ents. Do you feel this book in any
way "outs" your parents by calling
attention to what they'd prefer to
keep secret?
HF: It is not about outing them. It is
not a malicious sort of ripping off
their protection, although I have felt
terrified — it's not an understate-
ment — about how I would be per-
ceived by own family.
It's a really difficult line to draw,
where you have the right to say,
"This is who I am," without expos-
ing unnecessarily the others who will
be outed. It might have been a lot
easier for me to write it as a novel.

JN: How has discovering your
Jewish roots affected you?
HF: My sister and I looked at each
other and said, "One doctor. One
lawyer. OK, we're Jewish!" (laughs)
... I find myself really drawn to
Judaism. In some ways it feels like I
am really coming home. But I don't
know the language. I don't know the
traditions. I don't know what I'm
doing.
And I'm also very impatient. I
can't seem to remember how to pro-
nounce [something] or how it goes. I
feel it will be a lifelong commitment.
It's just a matter of being able to

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pace myself and not feel I have to
immediately run to Israel and live on
a kibbutz.

JN: What are the chances that you
have distant relatives who might
find you as a result of the book?
HF: As each year goes by, the likeli-
hood of finding survivors in my fam-
ily decreases.

John Turiasychuk Detroit Free Press
January 8th. 1999

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JN: Do you feel you're missing
something because you lack extend-
ed family?
HF: I grew up without grandparents,
without anybody. You don't necessar-
ily know that you're missing [some-
thing] if it's never been there. I do
have a very extended family of

"I find myself
really drawn to
Judaism. In some
ways it feels like
I am really
),
coming home.

— Helen Fremont

friends and, what I would say is that
now I have more of a sense of peace.
I understand why this is the
makeup of my family, where we fit
in the picture. My life makes more
sense. What I think was missing was
an understanding of why we are the
way we are.

JN: What's next?
HF: It's been really refreshing to go
back to fiction. What I'm writing
right now tends to be in a much
lighter vein. I think I'm on the
rebound (laughs). I feel very ener-
gized about writing fiction and hav-
ing fun. fl

Helen Fremont speaks at the Jewish
Book Fair 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 14,
at the D. Dan and Betty Kahn
Building of the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit,
co-sponsored by Children of
Holocaust Survivors in Michigan,
Jewish AIDS Coalition and Simcha.

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