As for Brother Hankus, he died in 1954 as a result of the bad treatment he had received during the war. His wife endured faithfully and remained active during all those war years and until her death on May 16, 1982.

LIFE IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Brothers Hankus, Michiels, Floryn and Glowacz were taken to different prisons and concentration camps, one of which was situated near Strasbourg. There, for the least little thing they were beaten incessantly, either with a stick or with a whip. The SS called the Witnesses dogs from heaven. Food was reduced to a strict minimum. Yet they were required to do the strenuous work of widening roads, using the most primitive tools. Included in this work was the loading of small wagons with stones and then pushing the wagons along the rails to the required position. Sometimes a wagon went off the rails and the Kommando-Führer (chief of a group of guards) would keep the other prisoners at a distance while forcing just the four brothers to put the wagon back on the rails—that in spite of the fact that it weighed more than a ton!

One day a brother heard a corporal say to the Kommando-Führer: “They really are a strange people, those Bibelforscher [Bible Students]; the other prisoners, physically stronger, die like flies, while they carry on, full of strength. I think Jehovah helps them!”