In the summer of 1628, a man in Germany was tortured and forced to confess to crimes he didn't commit, and then was burned at the stake.

Saturday, Joseph Zuchowski told of the last days of Johannes Junius' life through a one-man show at the Friedman Branch Library, three days after the 380th anniversary of Junius' death.

"I hope those witnessing this will see that these are human beings, not just numbers," said Mr. Zuchowski, of the witch trials in Europe.

Johannes Junius, a mayor in Bamberg, Germany, was accused of practicing witchcraft. He wrote a brief letter to his daughter Veronica from his cell.

"The letter itself is very short," Mr. Zuchowski said. "I researched the man online and found trial transcripts."

Those additional pieces of information led to the creation of the one-act play.

Mr. Zuchowski said that in creating the play he wanted to bring light to the social injustices of that era and those that continue today.

Mr. Zuchowski has been a storyteller and actor for many years. He and his wife, Jezibell Anat, moved to the area from New York at the end of last year.

He developed his love of storytelling as a child listening to his grandmother, who was from the Ukraine.

"I was fascinated. She told stories of her home country, ghost stories," he said.

When he learned to read, authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, H.P. Lovecraft, William Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot grabbed his attention.

Mr. Zuchowski's storytelling will be featured at Arts in the Heart of Augusta. He will present Cat Tales, which includes works by Poe and Eliot, at the event.

He also hopes to return to the Friedman Library to do an October program of Poe's works and possibly a December program featuring Dickens' A Christmas Carol.