Pete Czerny willbrspeak at the Springville Senior Center, 65 East, 200 South, on Oct. 2 at 6brp.m., sharing his memories of surviving World War II.
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This event isbrfree and open to the public. Czerny was born in Germany during World War II tobrtwo faithful LDS parents. He, his parents, and 2-year-old older brotherbrexperienced the war just as horribly as people in those countries that Germanybrattacked.
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True miraclesbrkept them several times from being killed and yet they also were not spared thebrwrath of the conquering Russian soldiers as his family ended up behind the IronbrCurtain, in Communist East Germany.
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Their homebrdestroyed, they eventually had to start a new existence and felt inspired to dobrit in America by escaping as a family, first to West Germany. By the time hebrwas 12, Pete and his family had been refugees three times. He is one of thebryoungest survivors of the war who have actual memories of it and itsbratrocities.
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The war and thebrfew years he lived in post-war Germany robbed him of a normal childhood. Evenbrcoming to America was not without problems, since he spoke no English when hisbrfamily arrived. After graduating from high school, he served an LDS mission tobrAustria.
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He drafted intobrthe U.S. Army for six years, during which time he served in the active,brreserve, and stand-by army. During part of this time he was able to attend thebrUniversity of Utah, where he received a bachelor’s degree in secondarybreducation.
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While waitingbrfor a fall teaching position, he began a summer job at the BYU Motion PicturebrStudio as an assistant motion picture film editor. He soon became the studio’sbrsupervising film editor and has worked there in various capacities for almostbr50 years.
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Althoughbrretired, he still volunteers to take visitors on tours of the studio, and hebrprojects movies for the BYU Harold B. Lee Library’s film series. While at thebrstudio and during vacation times, he authored, photographed, and published thebrbook “The Great Salt Lake,” taking several years to finish.
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He has studiedbrmusic and has written many songs, hymns, poems, and piano solos. Because of thebrlasting scars of the war and his shattered childhood, he did not marry butbrinstead has risked his life in helping friends and relatives behind the IronbrCurtain and serving his church. Pete invites you to come and hear his story. Hebrwill have free handouts, and a question and answer period will follow thebrlecture. (Serve Daily submission by Diane King.)
