Arts & Entertainment
Hidden Memories
Part memoir, part history and part detective story, Detroit-centric Annie's Ghosts
uncovers an almost 60-year-old family secret.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
"When I heard that
my mother had been
hiding the existence
of a sister, I was
bewildered," says
Luxenberg of the
impetus for Annie's
Ghosts.
S
teve Luxenberg, 56, has built a
journalism career investigating
public figures, but the probe
that could have the most dramatic
impact for him involves family.
Luxenberg, an associate editor at the
Washington Post, grew up in Detroit and
went on to establish himself in a jour-
nalism career in Baltimore and later
Washington, D.C., without a clue that
his mother (Beth Cohen Luxenberg)
had a sister (Annie Cohen).
Information about his deceased aunt
surfaced indirectly in recent years —
more than 30 years after her death. His
mother, during that time, was suffering
with declining health, making ques-
tions impossible about her dying claim
(later proved false) that Annie had been
committed to a psychiatric hospital at
age 2.
But the mystery of a hidden relative
stirred Luxenberg's inquisitive nature,
and he sought the reasons after his
mother was laid to rest. His detective
work and the facts he found fill the
book Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a
Family Secret (Hyperion; $24.99).
The text describes how his aunt was
involuntarily placed in a mental hospi-
tal at age 21 with little family contact
afterward, and it seeks to disclose why
the author's mother did not visit or
mention her sister.
Luxenberg uses the family situation
as a platform for discussing the treat-
ment and rights of mental patients and
the influence of the Jewish immigrant
culture. Detroit readers are likely to rec-
ognize some of the people referenced in
the author's account of his journey.
"I think I achieved some of the goals
I set out to achieve," says Luxenberg,
who will discuss Annie's Ghosts 7 p.m.
Tuesday, July 7, at the Community
House in Birmingham.
"While I didn't find out everything
about my aunt that I wanted to know, I
think that the book restores her iden-
tity. She lived her life after age 21 pretty
much anonymously."
Using the techniques employed by
reporters — tracking down people with
Author Steve Luxenberg joined the Washington Post in 1985 as deputy editor of the
newspaper's investigative/special projects staff, headed by then assistant managing
editor Bob Woodward.
firsthand knowledge and obtaining rel-
evant records — Luxenberg discovered
and revealed multiple health problems
faced by Annie, the conditions she
encountered at the Eloise Hospital in
what is now Westland and the attitudes
of people who knew of her.
"The gestation period for the book
was six years, but the true amount of
time actually writing it was a year," says
Luxenberg, whose quest introduced him
to distant relatives, early friends of his
mother and people active in the health
community, both at the time of his
aunt's hospitalization and since.
"My family [two half-sisters and two
brothers] had many discussions about
my project. One brother still doesn't
know why I wanted to do this. He was
supportive, but he thought it was a
fruitless task.
"My wife [Mary Jo Kirschman] and
two grown children [Josh and Jill] have
been partners in this enterprise. Mary
Jo has been the best traveler [as I went
to interview people], and my kids read
the book before it was published and
gave me feedback."
Luxenberg has been interested in the
reporting process since he was 12 when
he would go to the library, take a reel
of microfilm and read eyewitness press
accounts of famous events. He wrote for
student newspapers at Henry Ford High
School in Detroit and at Harvard, where
he majored in history; and he worked
at the Baltimore Sun for 11 years before
joining the Washington Post.
The journalist, who has been a mem-
ber of a Reconstructionist congregation,
devotes part of his book to recounting
the Holocaust experiences of a relative,
a survivor who expresses disapproval of
his mother's actions.
"I think of this as a universal story,
but I also believe Jewish readers will
identify with things in the book that
other readers won't;' he says. "I think
they'll identify with the immigration
experiences, but [then] so will Italians,
Irish and people of other nationalities
and ethnicities."
Dr. Toby Hazan, the psychiatrist who
treated the author's mother toward the
end of her life, believes that the condi-
tions giving rise to the secret are con-
siderably changed.
"The stigma of these illnesses has
significantly diminished, and the bur-
den of shame is less severe," says Hazan,
whose practice is in Farmington Hills.
"Still, the burden to caregivers con-
tinues to take its toll. Many self-help
support groups have arisen to provide
caregivers with the support they need
and should seek.
"JARC, Kadima and the Jewish Family
Service are examples of agencies that
now are serving the needs of the chron-
ically mentally ill as they also support
the needs of their caregivers.
"The state mental health code makes
it impossible for individuals to be hos-
pitalized involuntarily without due pro-
cess, and many more treatment options
are available."
As Luxenberg learned more about
his mother's rationale for keeping the
secret, he felt he understood the pain
that brought about the web of nondis-
closure. In a larger sense, he defines the
current pain for those suffering with
mental illness as they wind up home-
less or in jail instead of being placed in
a care facility.
"We haven't struck the right balance
yet:' he says. "We're still a groping soci-
ety." ❑
A NN1' E
STS
• -ST EV E 1..1.1 X E N•B E
Steve Luxenberg will discuss Annie's
Ghosts 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, at the
Community House, 380 S. Bates, in
Birmingham. The event is sponsored
by the Program for Holocaust
Survivors and Families, a division
of West Bloomfield-based Jewish
Home & Aging Services. There is no
charge for the program. For more
information, call (248) 661-2999,
ext. 328.
May 28 0 2009
B9