About The Author
Claudia Chotzen experienced a wild childhood, one full of chaos, politics, adventure, danger, and love. She is one of eight children born to Holocaust refugees who fled Nazi Germany and met and married in the U.S. She grew up in the inner city of Seattle and was immersed in the turbulent social and civil unrest of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Her mother, a charismatic person, was so busy with her photography career and her political activities that the eight children were often left to fend for themselves. To the outside world, her family seemed “picture perfect,” but inside their home, a darker reality existed. Her mother, who should have been her fiercest protector and strongest advocate, was her greatest danger.
After graduating from high school, Claudia postponed college to join a dance troupe in Greece, then participated in an archaeology excavation in Israel. Returning to Seattle, she continued to dance and worked as a part-time mail carrier. She started college full time at 21, then sped through law school in two years. She was selected by a Hawaii Supreme Court Justice for a prestigious legal clerkship. When she finished that, she recalibrated to a new true professional passion: producing and directing award winning documentary films for two network TV affiliates in Honolulu.
Giving birth to her first child propelled her into a deeper dive into her family history, dark secrets she had barely acknowledged previously. Her hard work was inspired by a desire to not pass on the legacy she had endured from her own mother- maternal sexual abuse.
Claudia and her husband, Hap Freund, met in Olympia, WA, and have since lived in Santa Monica, CA, Honolulu, HI, Ashland, OR, Bainbridge Island, WA, and since 2001, in Santa Barbara, CA. They raised two wonderful and accomplished sons and are grandparents to four boys.
Her memoir, The Dark Room, tells a story, which, despite her traumatic childhood, is one of love, resilience, hope, and triumph.
Her mother, a charismatic person, was so busy with her photography career and her political activities that the eight children were often left to fend for themselves. To the outside world, her family seemed “picture perfect,” but inside their home, a darker reality existed. Her mother, who should have been her fiercest protector and strongest advocate, was her greatest danger.
After graduating from high school, Claudia postponed college to join a dance troupe in Greece, then participated in an archaeology excavation in Israel. Returning to Seattle, she continued to dance and worked as a part-time mail carrier. She started college full time at 21, then sped through law school in two years. She was selected by a Hawaii Supreme Court Justice for a prestigious legal clerkship. When she finished that, she recalibrated to a new true professional passion: producing and directing award winning documentary films for two network TV affiliates in Honolulu.
Giving birth to her first child propelled her into a deeper dive into her family history, dark secrets she had barely acknowledged previously. Her hard work was inspired by a desire to not pass on the legacy she had endured from her own mother- maternal sexual abuse.
Claudia and her husband, Hap Freund, met in Olympia, WA, and have since lived in Santa Monica, CA, Honolulu, HI, Ashland, OR, Bainbridge Island, WA, and since 2001, in Santa Barbara, CA. They raised two wonderful and accomplished sons and are grandparents to four boys.
Her memoir, The Dark Room, tells a story, which, despite her traumatic childhood, is one of love, resilience, hope, and triumph.
