Book, film continue Holocaust education

 

By Mary Stamp

At 101, Holocaust educator Carla Olman Peperzak continues to believe that "respect is the most important word in our vocabulary" and to believe as Anne Frank did in the goodness of humanity.

When Carla has given presentations for middle schools, high schools, faith groups and community organizations, she has taught people what her parents taught her and what she taught her four children—to be good people, good neighbors and open-minded people who accept and respect people with different viewpoints and faiths.

Carla was involved in the Dutch resistance as an 18-year-old when she helped 40 family members and friends hide from Nazis during World War II in Amsterdam.

Even though Carla has given many talks to classes and other groups since 2011, it is still difficult each time for her to share her experiences because she thinks of aunts, uncles, friends and all the others who were killed.

By the end of the war, she had lost three-quarters of her extended family.

"I give presentations in their memory," said Carla. "It's important for people, especially youth—but also adults—to know what happened in the Holocaust and to know that the Holocaust was real. So I put my feelings aside.

"Giving presentations has become more routine over the years, but it is never really routine, just easier to do," she said.

While she can now read books about the Holocaust, she still cannot watch a stage play such as "The Diary of Anne Frank," who was a neighbor.

Carla is attuned to who is in an audience, because it makes a difference in what she says.

"With some high school students, I know they are lost before I begin, but I know some are very interested. I want them to know that the Holocaust really happened," she said, repeating that she encourages them to do good things and respect people.

"Respect" is the key message she wants to convey.

Even though Carla still feels uncomfortable talking about the Holocaust, she wants to have the message continue.

Her first book, Keys to My Life, written over 12 years and published five years ago, tells her whole life story.

Recently, she published a 134-page book with 107 photos, My Journey, through an educational book publisher Gonzaga University uses. That book is the content of her presentations. The book will be available for purchase on amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.

In addition, a new 90-minute documentary film, "Carla, The Rescuer," focuses on her experiences and the Holocaust.

The Pacific Northwest premiere of the documentary will be on the opening night of the Spokane Area Jewish Family Services' Jewish Film Festival at 7 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25, at The Magic Lantern, 25 W. Main.

In that documentary produced by Gonzaga University's Kristine Hoover and Clement Lye, Carla, her family, Rabbi Tamar Malino and Holocaust educators present and discuss her story.

As part of the film, her daughters, Marian Cummings, Yvonne Peperzak-Blake and Joan Conner, her son, Marc Peperzak, her granddaughter Megan Knowles and her great-granddaughter Aubrey Knowles share what she has taught them about the Holocaust and life.

Carla realizes that, even though her husband, Paul, told their children not to ask her about the Holocaust, they learned about it from her over the years and from attending events where she spoke about it.

In addition to their roles in the documentary, Carla said her daughters Marian and Yvonne helped her write My Journey.

"As the second generation, they can now talk about it. I did the second book and the documentary that can be used when I am no longer able to give presentations," said Carla, noting that the Anti-Defamation League has asked her to speak for Yom HaShoah on April 23 in Denver. "If I can't go, the movie can be shown instead."

Carla hopes that the legacy of her presentations on the Holocaust will be to reduce antisemitism. In that sense, her role as a Holocaust educator is a continuation of her rescuing role, informing people what happened and what can happen.

"It's important for people to know that Jewish people are the same as anyone," she said. "People are people, and please let it never happen again.

"Jews should not be killed because they are Jews, nor should Muslims be killed because they are Muslim. No one should kill someone because of their faith or any other difference," Carla said, concerned about the rise of hate in recent years in the U.S.

"Hate is so ruthless, so awful. We need to get rid of hate. A person does not need to love everyone, but we need to respect people. Genocide should not happen again," she repeated.

"How do we learn respect? How do we teach respect?" Carla asked, convinced that even three-year-olds can learn respect in their homes. "Children can learn not to be selfish, learn they are not more important than those around them and learn that everyone is important."

Carla knows that the political parties have long disagreed with each other, but today it seems that they are more divided, and some do not like each other.

She is concerned that as hate in the U.S. has grown more intense than it was 20 years ago, there are more threats.

While Carla was scared of the Dutch Nazis after the German Nazis invaded the Netherlands in World War II, she was not afraid of them before the invasion.

"In Amsterdam before that, Jews—who were 15 to 20 percent of the population—experienced little discrimination. The Netherlands was an open society. Schools closed during the Jewish high holy days," she said.

When asked where her courage to be part of the resistance came from, Carla said her parents always helped other people, so helping people was simply an expected part of her life.

After her father arranged that she would not have to wear a star or have J in her ID papers because her mother was not born Jewish, Carla helped people hide as her way of "helping other people" and fighting the Germans.

"I could help, so I did. It's as simple as that," she explained.

"If we respect other people, we think about what makes them tick. We put ourselves in their place and treat them as we want to be treated," she explained.

Carla is honored and grateful to have a school named after her, Carla Olman Peperzak Middle School in Spokane. The school promotes five principles she values—Holocaust education, civic engagement, inclusive community, collaboration and a "house system" to build community beyond instruction. The school also has a library section with Holocaust resources.

The school's design also supports a sense of belonging and equity in learning. The school motto is "All day. Every day. Becoming my best self."

Along with schools setting such an atmosphere for learning and with parents modeling behavior and respect, Carla believes that leaders and media also should model respect.

She knows there is an impact from news media that report primarily on the negative, on conflicts and on what's wrong, rather than on positive stories about people.

Aware that it's really just a handful of people doing bad things and they tend to get the attention, Carla shares Anne Frank's optimistic outlook that most people are good.

To reinforce that, she tells students to be good and to be the best they can be. Carla wants that message of hope to continue as part of telling about the Holocaust so the world can be more tolerant and peaceful.

In honor of her impact as an educator, Carla has received two honorary doctoral degrees, one from Gonzaga University in 2023 and one from Washington State University in 2024, and numerous other human rights awards.

For information, visit carlatherescuer.org.