Sarah Rhoten Larry Neuburger Com 102-127 15 October 2012 Henry Mikols Testimony Henry Mikols is a very strong

man who preserved through his life as a slave and medical prisoner, and he proudly tells his testimony today. Henry was born in August 1925, he lived with his mother and father in Poland, Henry was not Jewish instead he was raised Roman Catholic. However when the Germans invaded Poland the Nazis assumed that his family was Jewish thus they were forced to be evacuated. His family had nowhere to go, so they went to live with Henrys aunt. Life in Poland after the German invasion was very difficult for families to survive, so one day in an attempt to be helpful and seek a break from starvation, Henry made a trip to the bakery in order to buy bread. However whilst on his way to the bakery Henry was captured by the Nazi soldiers along with many other young strong boys to be shipped to medical examination, that day was the last time we would ever see his parents. The German officials were telling the young people not to be worried that they were going to be working and making money, however at that point he was unaware of the slave labor that would be forced upon him. The Nazis needed polish boys like Henry because the German boys that had been working on the farms joined the Nazi army, thus they needed strong young boys to take their place. One Sunday afternoon, Henry and four other Polish boys from his city decided to attempt run away from the farm were they were working in Germany; however they were caught by the police and put in jail, once released he was sent to another farm to work. At the new farm where Henry worked one day one of the other workers told the Nazis that he was listening to anti-German propaganda on the radio. Thus Henry was arrested again and sent to Giessen, a massive prison in

Germany. After two weeks in the prison, he was sent to a concentration camp, in the concentration camp he was treated like an animal, they conducted medical experiments on him and 60 other people who were in the medical blocks. In the quarantined atmosphere of the medical blocks the people were fed food that was infected with typhoid disease, the doctors then observed each prisoner and decided who would receive the serum, only eight of the 60 medical prisoners survived. After given the injection Henrey was released into the general population of the concentration camps. Henry was then put on a death train being transported to another concentration camp, where they had to march two and one half miles to the actual camp. Henry fortunately was deported to Bergon-Belson concentration camp, which luckily was liberated days later by the British Soldiers. For many years Henry had horrendous nightmares, however with the same inner strength he used to survive the concentration camps he was able to overcome these haunting nightmares and live a happy life. Quotes: Interviewer: What did you think when they picked you up? Henry: I did not understand! But there was captain there assuring us, you are going to Germany, you will be working and making money. We thought it would not be bad then I didnt know I would become a slave. I said, God maybe, maybe the time has arrived, maybe I am chosen to survive.