Joseph Komito was born in the small town of Mielec, Poland. In 1939 [Annotator's Note: September 1939], the Germans invaded Poland. The first thing the occupiers did was force everyone to work for them in various ways such as cleaning their cars and boots. A week later, special troops trained to destroy people arrived [Annotator's Note: the SS Einsatzgruppen followed the German Army as killing squads]. That group burned down the synagogue with all the people in it. Anyone outside the synagogue were thrown in the burning building. If someone tried to escape, they were shot. Komito's father was a kosher butcher who attended synagogue twice a day. His family was very religious. After the Germans occupied Mielec, they formed a Judenrat, which was a council of Jews designated to implement German directives. When the Germans first arrived, they broke down the doors of homes to grab people to do work. When they did so at Komito's home, they pointed a gun at him. He was lucky not to be shot. The Judenrat offered to supply the German demands for people instead of the invaders having to break down doors and accost individuals. Because Komito's father was too old to work, he went to the Judenrat and volunteered to work in his stead. Komito worked clearing forests, draining swamps, and leveling roads plus other tasks for a German company [Annotator's Note: Komito later reveals the company to be the Bayer Company]. For the first two years after the invasion, Komito worked and was paid for his efforts. He wore an armband with a star of David to identify himself [Annotator's Note: as a Jew]. Everyone over a certain age had to wear the identification. Komito was 12 years old when he volunteered to work and represent the family. He was young and strong and a was accepted. He would ultimately work more and more days per week until it was every day of the week. The Germans took over Komito's father's store and equipment. Komito's father continued to work as a kosher butcher but was incarcerated overnight by the Gestapo [Annotator's Note: German Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] for continuing to do so. The Germans would whip individuals wearing the armband if they did not yield the sidewalk to them. Komito was once hit so hard after such an offense that he passed out. When working for the Germans, he missed his last paycheck because he was resettled. Komito ultimately received social security and pension payments from Germany for his wartime work. He had to fight before the German consulate to receive the funds. Komito was very reluctant to discuss his experiences until the Holocaust deniers said the events never happened. His name was in the records but misspelled as Komitr to appear more Jewish. In 1942, there was a conference to make all the towns "Juden frei" [Annotator's Note: the Wannsee Conference was held near Berlin, Germany in January 1942 to define the methods to achieve European Juden frei or Jew free towns]. Shortly thereafter, the Jews of Mielec were gathered in the town center and forced marched out of town. Anyone not capable of walking was shot. After reaching a hanger eight miles away, 85 young Jews were selected to go to a work camp. Komito's family remained in the hanger which was adjacent to rail tracks and cattle cars. Komito was selected to work because he was physically fit. The family had considered moving to the Russian border before the German invasion, but Komito's father did not want to go. He did not want to shave his beard.

Joseph Komito had a sister who became involved in the resistance. She obtained papers showing her to be a German citizen born in Poland. Many Germans had remained in Poland after the First World War. There were numerous German farmers in Poland. Komito's father used to buy cattle from his friends who were German farmers [Annotator's Note: Komito's father was a kosher butcher in his hometown of Mielec, Poland]. In addition to the citizenship papers she had obtained, Komito's sister looked German with her blue eyes and blond hair. Komito worked in the garden at the airplane factory in Mielec. He had to plant, grow, and harvest potatoes and cabbages to supply the German kitchen. He would make compost for the garden during the winter. Living conditions were very bad. Komito became sick with typhoid. Many died because there was no medicine. Many people were brought in from different cities and the initial group of 85 workers grew to 8,000. Komito's supervisor helped him recover from the typhoid. The Germans would not aid people with typhoid. If an individual did not recover in a few days, they would be transported to the forest and left there to die. No bullets would be wasted on them. The only thing available to fight infection was urine or [Annotator's Note: inaudible]. Komito was tattooed with KL for Konzentrationslager [Annotator's Note: German for concentration camp]. That was an identifier for anyone who attempted to remove their armband and escape [Annotator's Note: the armband had the star of David indication that the wearer was a Jew]. The same needles were used on multiple prisoners receiving a tattoo so blood poisoning was rampant [Annotator's Note: Komito shows his tattoo to the camera]. Escapes were minimal because of the repercussions. Anyone who escaped resulted in every remaining tenth prisoner being shot. Komito had a chance to escape using his sister's help, but he did not because of the implications. He had no guards when he worked in the garden but again chose not to attempt to leave the camp. He did not want the resulting executions on his conscience. While working in the kitchen, Komito sometimes surreptitiously brought an empty barrel into the cooking facility to smuggle out food waste that could be eaten by the nourishment deprived inmates. He was caught once and beaten and kicked viciously at the police station. He was half dead and told to run to the camp and outrun the guard dogs. When he reached the camp, the Kapos [Annotator's Note: kapos were prisoner trustees who worked for the Germans in the concentration camp system as guards or disciplinarians for the promise of better treatment], camp police, took him inside. Komito was taken to the Kapos' office. He was stitched up without any medicine. Only needle and thread was used. There was never any medicine available. It took three or four weeks to recover. He had to work all that time. It affected his ability to eat on the side of his mouth that was kicked and later stitched up.

Joseph Komito knew most of the people working in his first camp in Mielec [Annotator's Note: his hometown of Mielec, Poland]. As a result, his food supply was adequate. He had prewar friends who helped him obtain food from the smokehouse. He could have been killed for stealing that food. The kapos [Annotator's Note: kapos were prisoner trustees who worked for the Germans in the concentration camp system as guards or disciplinarians for the promise of better treatment], Jewish police, never bothered him. Komito came to realize that he stayed in 11 concentration camps not counting Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland] where he remained in a railcar for six days without being allowed to leave it. The worse thing that Komito witnessed was German soldiers throwing babies from the second floor windows of a hospital for their comrades to catch with their bayonets on the ground floor. That occurred in Mielec when the Germans first arrived. Kimoto worked near Krakow [Annotator's Note: Kraków, Poland] where Schindler [Annotator's Note: Oskar Schindler; German industrialist who saved numerous Jews while manufacturing German war materials in Krakow; the story was captured in Steven Spielberg's movie "Schindler's List"] was. Krakow was near the Wieliczka [Annotator's Note: Wieliczka, Poland] salt mines. The Poles had hidden their machinery in the salt mines but the equipment had rusted and would not work. After a while, the Komito and others were sent to Auschwitz where they stayed for six days never departing the rail car or receiving food, water, or sanitary conditions. About the same time that Schindler got his people out of Krakow, Komito and the others in the rail car were sent to Germany to work. The time in the rail car was the worst hunger that Komito experienced. He had to sleep on dead bodies. The inmates were intended to be sent to Flossenburg [Annotator's Note: Flossenbürg concentration camp in Flossenbürg, Germany] but when the cattle cars were needed for other tasks, the Germans took the prisoners off the trains and forced marched them. It was very cold weather. It turned into a death march. Prisoners had to stay in line. When a person jumped to get a piece of bread that a German had thrown, he was shot. After several days of marching, Komito was disgusted enough to tell a German soldier to shoot him. The German told him that he would not waste a bullet on him since he was going to die anyway. When the column stopped at night, the captives stayed outside in the cold while the guards spent the night inside cars and trucks. Anyone who did not keep up was shot. At Mittweida [Annotator's Note: a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp], a female was in charge of the camp. She selected good looking men and had them tattooed and then killed. She made lamp shades out of their skin. Komito does not remember going to Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] as the German records report. Instead, he recollects going to Czechoslovakia where he worked at blowing up tunnels out of limestone in a mountain. Many people died from inhaling the limestone dust from the explosions. Next was Dachau after stopping in small camps that Komito cannot remember. He was next sent to Natzweiler [Annotator's Note: Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp near Natzweiler and Struthof, Germany] on the French border. It was the first time he worked in a factory. He was a riveter in aircraft manufacturing. He had never riveted prior to that. Following the factory, he was put on a train once again and traveled for a couple months from one place to another. American planes fired their machine guns at the train without knowing prisoners were in the cars. Those who tried to escape the shooting were shot by the guards.

Joseph Komito traveled many days on a train not knowing where he was bound [Annotator's Note: the Germans were relocating concentration camp prisoners to avoid Allied advances]. The guards told their captives at one point that they were free. That was a week or so prior to their real liberation. Komito went into a barn and found a cow and drank fresh milk. The guards rounded the prisoners back up. Anyone not moving fast enough back to the cattle car was stabbed in the back with bayonets by the soldiers. Komito was taken to a small town. He discovered one morning that all soldiers had disappeared except for some old guards with guns. American soldiers arrived shortly thereafter and the inmates were freed. Komito only weighed 80 pounds. He could hardly walk. The former prisoners were given local homes to stay in. Komito restrained from eating too much because of the possible damage it would do to his stomach. After a week there, the soldiers who replaced the liberators moved the freed prisoners to a DP or displaced persons camp. Komito did not need medicine, but it was available for those who did need it. The DP camp was Feldafing [Annotator's Note: Feldafing, Germany] near Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. After two weeks, he was sent to a small town called Pasing [Annotator's Note: Pasing is a district in Munich, Germany]. He stayed there until he went to America. He wanted to go to Palestine, but a relative in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] told him to go there before he reached the age of 21. From America, he was told that he could then go to Palestine. The American consulate representative told Komito that he would be sponsored as long as he was younger than 21. Komito stayed in Chicago for three months but had language difficulties so he left for New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. More people would be able to understand him there. He stopped to visit relatives on the way and ended up staying there. He worked in Pleasantville [Annotator's Note: Pleasantville, New Jersey]. Meanwhile, his relatives in Chicago neglected to tell him about his mother and sister trying to find him. The Chicago relatives were angry at Komito because he left them. Komito's cousin saved the envelope because of its stamp. Komito could never relocate his mother and sister.

Joseph Komito was at Natzweiler [Annotator's Note: Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp near Natzweiler and Struthof, Germany] for about six months. He has a difficult time putting durations against the numerous places he was enslaved. He worked in an airplane factory there even though he had never performed that type of work before. He backed up a riveter in the factory. People were so hungry that they ate human flesh. They died from it. Sabotage of the work was not possible because of the overseers that checked the work. If it was done incorrectly, a person could be killed. Komito witnessed executions. The worst was when prisoners in Mielec [Annotator's Note: his hometown of Mielec, Poland] were hung by their hands tied behind their back. It pulled the arms out of the sockets. In Czechoslovakia, dynamite was used to excavate. Rocks were put in small carts that were used to move them in and out of the location. If a prisoner did not move fast enough, he was whipped. Komito was in so many small camps, he could not remember them all. Flossenburg [Annotator's Note: Flossenbürg concentration camp in Flossenbürg, Germany] was a transit camp. Prisoners were made to carry rocks up and down the mountain to keep them occupied. The inmates would put on empty concrete bags to provide warmth from the cold. There were no gloves and only wooden shoes similar to those found in Holland. Komito worked in a factory similar to that found in "Schindler's List" [Annotator's Note: Oskar Schindler; German industrialist who saved numerous Jews while manufacturing German war materials in Krakow, Poland; the story was captured in Steven Spielberg's movie "Schindler's List"]. During the war, Komito worked on roads for two years in his hometown. Another two years involved laboring in an airplane factory there. He spent another two years working in numerous small camps. He was enslaved by the Nazis for almost six years. He blocked out many of the experiences until 50 years after the war. That was brought about by the advent of Holocaust deniers. Komito applied for and now receives German social security and pension for his wartime work. He does not need the money but he applied because of the principle of proving he performed slave labor. He wants what is coming to him. The Polish people did not treat the Jews very well before the Germans arrived. That was why Komito's father did not want to leave Mielec for Russia. He had been a soldier in the German army during World War 1. He thought German treatment could be no worse than that of the Poles. Poland was antisemitic before Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. While Komito attended a Catholic school before the war, his schoolmates would put rocks in snowballs and throw it at him. Komito fought back. The Polish government supported companies that were not Jewish in an attempt to limit business for the Jews.

Joseph Komito saw his parents for the last time on a train. The Nazis gave everyone in Komito's camp a postcard to send back to family to say they were getting relocated for work. It was an attempt by the Germans to hide what was happening. Komito discovered after the war that his parents and other town members were sent to Belzec [Annotator's Note: Belzec death camp near Bełżec, Poland]. A monument to his hometown [Annotator's Note: Mielec, Poland] is there. His people were gassed and cremated there. A close friend from those times of enslavement was in charge of the Holocaust Museum in Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. Komito's friend had been with him before and during the war years until the very end. The prisoners were sent to Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] or Mauthausen [Annotator's Note: Mauthausen concentration camp near Mauthausen, Austria]. Komito went briefly to Dachau but his friend went to Mauthausen. Besides the friendship aiding his survival, Komito mainly wanted to see the defeat of Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and get a loaf of rye bread with butter. Nothing else mattered to him. Komito had many friends because he managed to secretly get food for other inmates. Komito was a good worker and was promoted to foreman in Mielec. When an individual was resting, Komito's supervisor told him to give the man 25 lashes. When Komito refused, he was given the lashes instead. Komito had nightmares and screamed at night. His wife had to wake him. The dreams continue to this day. Komito does not think the war changed the world much. The Germans did not get the punishment they should have because of the Americans and Russians taking scientists. The SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] got away with murder. It is good to have museums such as The National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the Holocaust Museum [Annotator's Note: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum] in Washington, D.C. to remind people of what happened. The name of the poison gas manufacturer was removed from the empty canisters on display. Bayer made those cans of poison. While Komito was a captive, he had no news except when he talked to his sister. [Annotator's Note: Komito's sister looked like a German and had forged papers saying she was a German citizen. She worked for the underground in Poland until her execution.] Most people did not know what was happening. When they were being moved a lot by the Germans, the prisoners felt the war was nearing an end. Komito believes that people should help each other and not have prejudice. He is willing to help those with problems. Komito was part of a class action suit against the German government to get social security and a pension for his time as a concentration camp worker. He feels he has been lucky all his life.