From the diary of Anne Frank to the Holocaust Memorial Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the horrific experiences of Jewish people in Nazi Germany is well documented. As many as 6 million Jews were tormented and executed in concentration camps under the tyrannical rule of Adolf Hitler. But what about the black people who lived in Germany-occupied territories? 

Born in 1925, Afro-German author Theodor Michael has first-hand knowledge of what it was like to live as a black person in Nazi Germany. In a new clip for the German-based media outlet, DW, he details his childhood experience of being forced to appear in a human zoo where he had to re-enact racist clichés about Africa. "I hated human zoos," he said. "For me, it was hard because people touched my hair, rubbed my skin." When it came to navigating day-to-day life as a black person in Nazi-Germany, the 92- year-old author said, "There was only one thing to do: keep your head down, lie low and keep your mouth shut." 

The video is part of a larger project by DW Stories, which chronicles the black experience in Germany. Check out the clip below.

GermanyNazi GermanyTheodor Michael