GU produces Holocaust documentary, 'Carla, the Rescuer'

By Mary Stamp

The 2025 Spokane Area Jewish Family Services Jewish Film Festival, from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2, will be the Pacific Northwest Premiere for the locally produced documentary, "Carla, the Rescuer."

Kristine Hoover and Clement Lye of Gonzaga University collaborated with Holocaust survivor and educator Carla Peperzak of Spokane to co-produce a 90-minute documentary on her life and her work as a Jewish member of the Dutch resistance during World War II.

The documentary is a testament to Carla's commitment to encourage everyone to embrace tolerance as she continues to this day to give talks to schools and community organizations.

"Carla's message of hope resonates today," said Kristine, chair of the master's program in organizational leadership in Gonzaga's School of Leadership Studies.

"As a teen in Amsterdam, Carla risked everything to aid fellow Jews, forging ID cards and providing shelter from the brutal Nazi regime and collaborators," Kristine said. "Growing up alongside Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank, Carla witnessed the harrowing realities of the Holocaust, enduring the loss of three-quarters of her extended family."

From this tragedy, Carla emerged with "an unwavering determination to speak out against injustice"—a mission she continues at 101 years of age.

From multigenerational interviews with Carla and her family, including a great-granddaughter who is now the same age Carla was during World War II, the documentary captures Carla's enduring message of tolerance and inclusion, Kristine said.

Expert insights shed light on the significance of her narrative.

"Carla is a living testament to the transformative power of individual action in shaping a brighter future," Kristine said.

Through the documentary, Carla shares the gift of her story as a firsthand witness and truth-teller, inspiring everyone to find their voice and make a positive difference in the world today.

Kristine and Clement are sending a trailer and summary to various film festivals. They hope the documentary or a 40-minute video will be viewed at schools, community conversations and religious gatherings in the Pacific Northwest and around the U.S. Updates about how to access the documentary can be found at carlatherescuer.org.

"We supported the idea to do the documentary as a way to continue to take her presentations to schools," Kristine added. "Carla and her family were working to make a book of her presentation in schools. The movie and book assure her voice will continue to be directly heard into the future."

Kristine is helping the family set up a nonprofit to continue to promote Carla's initiatives.

The book, "My Journey," is on the years she lived in The Netherlands and how she came to do the work to help save the lives of more than 40 people when she was living under Nazi control.

Carla's first book, "The Keys of My Life"—published several years ago on Amazon—gives a bigger picture of her story.

Kristine has worked with Carla and her family on writing the book, "My Journey." Because it is intended for school children, Kristine arranged for it to be published by an academic publisher, which will help distribute it into more schools. Innovative Ink Publishing, a branch of Kendall Hunt Publishing, will publish it as a softcover book, but it will also be available in hard copy and electronically.

The book includes personal photos, documenting Carla's stories.

The project started three years ago, when Carla invited Kristine to her home on a Wednesday morning in January.

"I came in and Carla immediately said, 'Happy birthday.' Here was a 97-year-old woman who knew it was my birthday from Facebook," said Kristine. "That's illustrative of warmth, humor, kindness and caring from a woman who lived through starvation. She grew up using a typewriter and now she's on Facebook, staying connected."

Kristine said Mary Noble, who is on the Spokane Observance of the Holocaust Committee and who worked with Carla on presentations at schools, suggested the documentary as a way to connect with more students.

The documentary of her life is told by four generations of Carla's family: Marian Cummings, Yvonne Peperzak-Blake and Joan Conner, her three daughters; Marc Peperzak, her son; Megan Knowles, her granddaughter, and Aubrey Knowles, her great-granddaughter.

Carla believes that "the biggest success of her life" over the Nazis was to have a full and loving family after losing three-fourths of her family in the war. All 54 members of her family appear in the documentary.

She said that of 150,000 Jews in the Netherlands before the war, only 20,000 survived. That means that more than 86 percent were killed. In contrast, two-thirds of all Jews in Europe were killed.

There are also comments from Paul Regelbrugge of the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle, from Ray Sun, associate professor of history with a focus on Holocaust and genocide studies at Washington State University, and from Rabbi Tamar Malino of Temple Beth Shalom and Congregation Emanu-El in Spokane. The documentary also spotlights Andre Wicks, principal of the Carla Olman Peperzak Middle School in Spokane.

Kristine is the producer and director of "Carla, The Rescuer."

Clement, who is the film's co-director and made the video, is associate director for instructional design and development at Gonzaga and has worked with Kristine on other video projects.

Clement thought they were going for a one-time video interview with Carla for a half-hour video, but he had never met or talked to a Holocaust survivor before then. He only knew about the Holocaust from reading the Diary of Anne Frank and from learning about World War II.

He had left Spokane and spent about 10 years in the film industry in Los Angeles before marrying in 2009 and returning to Spokane. He began work at Gonzaga in 2012.

"I was wowed by her story and wanted to give more to it and do a documentary. We spent three days interviewing her, and I followed her around, going to a presentation she gave to sixth graders who would be the first class at Carla Peperzak Middle School," said Clement, who took 40 hours of video.

"The simple thing I learned from Carla was when a family member asked for an ID to pass as non-Jewish to avoid death, she did it because of what her faith had taught her," he commented.

As a follower of Jesus, Clement expressed his frustration that some today associate Jesus' name with hate.

"I wanted to do this video because what she said is in line with what my faith commands me to do—to love God with all my heart and love my neighbor as myself. I did this documentary out of love, to make her story known. I hope it moves people to take action," said Clement, who attends Turning Point Open Bible Church.

"For both of us, it was a labor of love," said Kristine.

"My professional commitment to the story is about lessons of leadership and how we create more inclusive organizations and communities, and how we support cultures of dignity," she said.

Two pilot showings of "Carla, the Rescuer" were held on Nov. 20 and 21.

One was for students at Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh. The relationship with the school grew from connections at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, a conference held in 2018 after the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. Kristine connected as director of Gonzaga's Center for the Study of Hate. The summit draws people globally to prevent hate-fueled violence. The school's Jewish Student Union asked to show the documentary as part of its Global Education Week.

The second pilot showing was for students at Bard College in New York, arranged by Ken Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, a partner with Gonzaga's Center for the Study of Hate.

Kristine will present portions of the documentary and lead a discussion for a workshop at the Eastern Washington Legislative Conference, which is being held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25, at Spokane Valley United Methodist Church, 115 N. Raymond.

For information, call 419-308-0571, email lyec@gonzaga.edu or visit carlatherescuer.org.