On Saturday, June 21, 2025, about 100 attendees welcomed a new resident at Peperzak Middle School – a small horse chestnut tree sapling that was planted on May 12.
This wasn’t just any tree, though.
The sapling, a gift from the Anne Frank Center USA, is a descendant of the famous tree that Anne Frank wrote about in her diary while hiding with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
The school received the tree through efforts of its namesake, Carla Olman Peperzak, a Holocaust survivor and Dutch Resistance fighter who had attended synagogue and Hebrew school in Amsterdam with Anne’s older sister, Margot Frank. Carla has spent the past two decades visiting schools across the Inland Northwest to speak about her experiences so the tragedies of the Holocaust are never repeated.
“As we plant this tree, may it grow strong and may the values it represents take root; the values of dignity, respect, and the understanding that every life holds worth,” said School Board president Nikki Lockwood at the dedication ceremony.
Carla was surprised with the announcement of the gift at an all-school assembly on her 101st birthday, as she learned that the sapling would be the 18th tree planted in the United States.
“With the spirit of Anne Frank coursing through its branches, reminding us to empathize and care for others just as Carla did, and to challenge all forms of prejudice and hatred, may it flourish for many years,” said Gillian Walnes Perry, author and co-founder of the Anne Frank Trust UK.
IN THE NEWS
The Spokesman-Review: Peperzak Middle School honors its 101-year-old namesake and Holocaust survivor with a dedication ceremony for a sapling from Anne Frank’s tree
FāVS News: Carla Peperzak Middle School receives Anne Frank sapling
KXLY: Chestnut sapling planted at Peperzak Middle School as tribute to Anne Frank