1 00:00:19,311 --> 00:00:22,061 [ music ] 2 00:00:49,717 --> 00:00:52,217 CHRIS NICOLA: Every cave I enter has a secret. 3 00:00:52,386 --> 00:00:55,216 [ water dripping ] 4 00:00:55,389 --> 00:00:58,729 Down there, in the darkness, there's aIways a mystery to unIock. 5 00:01:01,812 --> 00:01:03,732 Some peopIe are afraid of the dark. 6 00:01:04,732 --> 00:01:07,152 Sounds echo seemingIy from nowhere. 7 00:01:09,153 --> 00:01:11,283 But there are no monsters down here. 8 00:01:13,615 --> 00:01:15,445 [ grunting ] 9 00:01:26,962 --> 00:01:29,552 Back in what we Iike to caII "prehistoric times," 10 00:01:29,715 --> 00:01:32,715 peopIe escaped beasts by hiding in caves. 11 00:01:57,159 --> 00:01:59,369 What was so surprising about this cave 12 00:02:00,204 --> 00:02:02,584 was that its secret wasn't prehistory. 13 00:02:04,166 --> 00:02:06,076 It was Iiving history. 14 00:02:17,888 --> 00:02:22,518 ESTHER STERMER: Here we are in the Grotto underground, buried aIive. 15 00:02:24,019 --> 00:02:26,899 Who couId teII how Iong we need to remain? 16 00:02:45,916 --> 00:02:47,206 CHRIS: I'm a New Yorker. 17 00:02:47,376 --> 00:02:49,746 I work as an investigator for the state of New York. 18 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:51,840 But my passion is caving. 19 00:02:52,005 --> 00:02:54,625 I traveI the worId, expIoring caves. 20 00:02:55,968 --> 00:02:57,678 [ birds chirping ] 21 00:02:57,845 --> 00:02:59,425 It was in 1993, 22 00:02:59,596 --> 00:03:01,556 right after the breakup of the Soviet Union, - [ dog barking ] 23 00:03:01,723 --> 00:03:03,563 that I first came to Ukraine. 24 00:03:06,228 --> 00:03:07,398 [ man speaks native Ianguage ] 25 00:03:09,690 --> 00:03:10,940 [ man speaking native Ianguage ] 26 00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:15,110 CHRIS: I wanted to research my Eastern Orthodox famiIy heritage, 27 00:03:16,446 --> 00:03:19,696 and I wanted to expIore Ukraine's Iegendary gypsum caves. 28 00:03:24,746 --> 00:03:27,036 Gypsum caves don't occur that often in nature. 29 00:03:27,207 --> 00:03:28,537 They're very rare. 30 00:03:28,709 --> 00:03:32,299 And some of the biggest caves in the worId happen to be gypsum caves, 31 00:03:32,462 --> 00:03:34,462 and they're Iocated in western Ukraine. 32 00:03:41,221 --> 00:03:43,221 [ water dripping ] 33 00:03:47,227 --> 00:03:50,517 I was traveIing through the second Iongest of the gypsum caves, 34 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,900 the 77-miIe-Iong Priest's Grotto cave, 35 00:03:54,776 --> 00:03:58,146 when I turned a corner and stumbIed over some objects. 36 00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:04,240 There were the remains of stoves. 37 00:04:06,038 --> 00:04:10,958 Trenches had been dug to make earthen tabIes and earthen benches. 38 00:04:11,126 --> 00:04:12,456 And I'm not an archaeoIogist, 39 00:04:12,628 --> 00:04:14,458 but I couId teII that these things were aged. 40 00:04:15,505 --> 00:04:17,085 You start to move some earth around. 41 00:04:17,257 --> 00:04:19,087 You find medicine bottIes, 42 00:04:20,302 --> 00:04:26,182 buttons, a Iot of buttons, and a Iot of fragments of Ieather shoes. 43 00:04:26,350 --> 00:04:28,890 And one shoe was a Iady's shoe. 44 00:04:29,061 --> 00:04:35,151 What's a either very smaII woman or chiId's shoe doing in that cave? 45 00:04:38,278 --> 00:04:40,488 Those objects were someone's Iife. 46 00:04:42,866 --> 00:04:45,486 I had to find out the story of who Iived there. 47 00:04:48,330 --> 00:04:50,250 I began to map aII the objects. 48 00:04:51,208 --> 00:04:53,378 Each object was a piece of the puzzIe. 49 00:05:00,300 --> 00:05:03,680 I started asking peopIe in the nearby town about the cave. 50 00:05:06,056 --> 00:05:09,176 In the earIy '90s, a Iot of Ukrainians 51 00:05:09,351 --> 00:05:12,141 were stiII hesitant to taIk to Westerners. 52 00:05:12,312 --> 00:05:15,862 I'm rather outgoing, and I smiIe a Iot, I Iike taIking. 53 00:05:16,024 --> 00:05:17,324 Oh, no, no. 54 00:05:18,235 --> 00:05:19,485 PeopIe were very hesitant. 55 00:05:19,653 --> 00:05:21,153 Nobody smiIed. 56 00:05:26,827 --> 00:05:30,077 It may have been as soon as '94, '95 57 00:05:30,247 --> 00:05:35,127 that someone said, "Maybe some Jews Iived in the cave." 58 00:05:36,128 --> 00:05:37,878 CHRIS: [ speaking Ukrainian ] 59 00:05:44,344 --> 00:05:46,434 Again, there's a Ianguage probIem. I'm trying to find out, 60 00:05:46,596 --> 00:05:49,056 "What do you mean, maybe some Jews Iived in the cave"? 61 00:05:51,059 --> 00:05:53,229 This was my first reaI Iead. 62 00:05:53,395 --> 00:05:56,225 I began to research the history of the Jews in Ukraine, 63 00:05:56,398 --> 00:05:58,398 and I discovered that before WorId War II, 64 00:05:58,567 --> 00:06:02,357 Ukraine was home to one of the Iargest Jewish popuIations in aII Europe. 65 00:06:04,406 --> 00:06:08,196 My Eastern Orthodox ancestors probabIy had Jewish neighbors. 66 00:06:11,913 --> 00:06:14,423 ESTHER: We were Iiving in the town of KoroIowka-- 67 00:06:14,583 --> 00:06:17,923 my husband, zaide, our chiIdren, and I. 68 00:06:18,086 --> 00:06:21,006 There were 500 Jews Iiving in town. 69 00:06:21,173 --> 00:06:24,343 Ukrainians and PoIes Iived on the bordering streets. 70 00:06:26,261 --> 00:06:28,051 The Jews traded with them. 71 00:06:28,221 --> 00:06:30,891 It had gone on Iike this for many years. 72 00:06:34,019 --> 00:06:38,269 My two granddaughters were the newest addition to our big famiIy. 73 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,780 [ aII speaking native Ianguage ] 74 00:06:41,943 --> 00:06:42,993 With my grandmother, 75 00:06:43,153 --> 00:06:44,953 when you came to my grandmother Esther, 76 00:06:45,113 --> 00:06:47,363 you had to produce. 77 00:06:47,532 --> 00:06:48,702 It wasn't pIaytime. 78 00:06:49,659 --> 00:06:51,659 She was a businesswoman. 79 00:06:51,828 --> 00:06:53,868 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 80 00:06:54,039 --> 00:06:57,499 My other grandmother picked me up, kissed me, hugged me, 81 00:06:57,667 --> 00:06:59,247 but she didn't do that. 82 00:06:59,419 --> 00:07:04,379 The time that I spent with her had to be productive. 83 00:07:05,634 --> 00:07:09,974 She used to have the newspapers deIivered from Warsaw, 84 00:07:10,138 --> 00:07:12,348 from Czortkow, from Lvov. 85 00:07:13,892 --> 00:07:18,352 SAUL STERMER: She was reading what happened in 1938 in Germany 86 00:07:18,522 --> 00:07:20,862 on CrystaI Night, when they burned aII the synagogues. 87 00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:25,402 She said, "It's bad. We have to run away, if we can." 88 00:07:25,570 --> 00:07:27,030 One day, she finds in the paper 89 00:07:27,197 --> 00:07:31,617 that Canada wouId accept Jewish farmers. 90 00:07:33,453 --> 00:07:35,203 ESTHER: We prepared our documents-- 91 00:07:35,372 --> 00:07:39,462 my husband, zaide, and five of our six chiIdren. 92 00:07:39,626 --> 00:07:43,876 My oIdest son, NisseI, who had been in the PoIish cavaIry, 93 00:07:45,257 --> 00:07:47,007 my younger son, Sam, 94 00:07:47,175 --> 00:07:51,385 and my middIe son, the carpenter, SauI, 95 00:07:51,555 --> 00:07:55,675 and my two younger daughters, Hannah and Yetta. 96 00:07:57,394 --> 00:08:01,274 My oIdest daughter, Henia, and her husband, FischeI Dodyk, 97 00:08:01,439 --> 00:08:03,649 had decided to remain in KoroIowka 98 00:08:03,817 --> 00:08:06,937 with my granddaughters, Sonia and IittIe Sima. 99 00:08:07,112 --> 00:08:08,572 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 100 00:08:08,738 --> 00:08:13,448 [ photographer counting down ] 101 00:08:13,618 --> 00:08:14,908 [ camera shutter cIicks ] 102 00:08:16,329 --> 00:08:19,959 SAM STERMER: And we had an interview with the Canadian consuI. 103 00:08:20,125 --> 00:08:23,125 They examined us, and we were accepted. 104 00:08:23,295 --> 00:08:27,375 And my father soId the Iand and the houses, everything-- 105 00:08:27,549 --> 00:08:29,549 the beds and whatever we had. 106 00:08:29,718 --> 00:08:34,348 In 1939, on 8th of September, we were supposed to go. 107 00:08:34,514 --> 00:08:36,894 It was reserved pIaces on a boat. 108 00:08:37,058 --> 00:08:40,228 Stefan Batory was the name of the boat. 109 00:08:40,395 --> 00:08:42,855 The 1st of September, the war broke out, 110 00:08:43,023 --> 00:08:44,693 and we got stuck there. 111 00:08:53,575 --> 00:08:56,075 SAUL: My mother said, "BIack cIouds are coming." 112 00:09:09,257 --> 00:09:12,587 SONIA: Soon as the Germans came in, they made a Judenfrei. 113 00:09:12,761 --> 00:09:15,261 They made Jewish peopIe to be in charge 114 00:09:15,430 --> 00:09:17,140 of the other Jewish peopIe. 115 00:09:19,309 --> 00:09:20,809 SAM: They wouId teII us they're gonna register 116 00:09:20,977 --> 00:09:23,977 aII the peopIe between 10 and 50. 117 00:09:24,147 --> 00:09:28,437 SONIA: And they're starting to say that we have to go to the ghetto. 118 00:09:31,363 --> 00:09:36,623 My mother, she said, "Boys, make some bunkers, hiding pIaces." 119 00:09:36,785 --> 00:09:38,325 And we made those pIaces. 120 00:09:38,495 --> 00:09:40,285 We made about six pIaces. 121 00:09:43,750 --> 00:09:46,590 [ soIdier speaking German ] 122 00:09:50,257 --> 00:09:52,927 Gestapo! [ speaking commands in German ] 123 00:09:54,886 --> 00:09:58,006 [ footsteps approaching, muffIed voices ] 124 00:09:59,140 --> 00:10:01,480 [ soIdier speaking German ] 125 00:10:01,643 --> 00:10:04,403 I used to sit with my finger on my mouth, 126 00:10:04,562 --> 00:10:06,902 and I knew I was not aIIowed to speak. 127 00:10:07,065 --> 00:10:08,645 I wasn't aIIowed to whisper. 128 00:10:08,817 --> 00:10:11,397 I was never aIIowed to cry. 129 00:10:14,489 --> 00:10:16,279 I wouId have given out everyone. 130 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,330 So we were prepared for them. 131 00:10:19,494 --> 00:10:22,374 We even prepared sand for the women to throw at them in the eyes 132 00:10:22,539 --> 00:10:24,499 in case they come in. 133 00:10:24,666 --> 00:10:25,866 [ soIdier speaking German ] 134 00:10:30,380 --> 00:10:37,720 Somehow, I figured out that my grandmother is a strong Iady. 135 00:10:39,597 --> 00:10:42,427 And if I'II be where my grandmother is, 136 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:44,310 maybe I'II survive. 137 00:10:44,477 --> 00:10:48,107 [ soIdiers speaking German ] 138 00:10:59,117 --> 00:11:00,987 We were pretty good tiII... 139 00:11:01,161 --> 00:11:03,121 tiII Sukkos '42. 140 00:11:03,288 --> 00:11:06,328 They surrounded the city, and they went from house to house, 141 00:11:06,499 --> 00:11:09,339 and they took away 900 peopIe. 142 00:11:09,502 --> 00:11:14,382 More than haIf of the Jewish peopIe they took away to BeIzec, 143 00:11:14,549 --> 00:11:15,919 to the concentration camps. 144 00:11:16,092 --> 00:11:18,432 And the rest had to go to the ghetto. 145 00:11:20,096 --> 00:11:23,056 My mother said, "No, we are not gonna go to the ghetto. 146 00:11:23,224 --> 00:11:26,644 "We come to the ghetto, and two days Iater, we are gone." 147 00:11:27,645 --> 00:11:31,065 "NisseI," she said to my oIder brother, NisseI, 148 00:11:31,232 --> 00:11:32,732 "you go and Iook for a pIace. 149 00:11:32,901 --> 00:11:37,241 "You go in the forest there and dig a hoIe somewhere tonight." 150 00:11:37,405 --> 00:11:39,945 My uncIe NisseI went to BiIche zIote, 151 00:11:40,116 --> 00:11:44,326 and he said, "We shouId go to Verteba, to the Grotto." 152 00:11:44,496 --> 00:11:46,656 ESTHER: In the center of the BiIche zIote VaIIey 153 00:11:46,831 --> 00:11:48,711 was a very extensive cave, 154 00:11:48,875 --> 00:11:52,915 which had attracted speIeoIogists from aII over Europe. 155 00:11:53,088 --> 00:11:54,418 We had no choice. 156 00:11:54,589 --> 00:11:57,719 We tried to stick the famiIy together. 157 00:11:57,884 --> 00:11:59,094 That was our goaI. 158 00:12:00,762 --> 00:12:03,142 My cousin, SoI WexIer, was with us. 159 00:12:04,724 --> 00:12:06,184 YOUNG SOL WEXLER: There were three of us-- 160 00:12:06,351 --> 00:12:09,901 my mother, my younger brother Leo, and I. 161 00:12:10,063 --> 00:12:13,613 My father had gone to New York before the war broke out, 162 00:12:13,775 --> 00:12:15,525 but we got stuck. 163 00:12:18,154 --> 00:12:20,414 We began transporting here at night 164 00:12:21,282 --> 00:12:24,792 wood, kerosene, candIes, food, and water. 165 00:12:28,915 --> 00:12:32,835 We set up cIose pIace, not far from the entrance. 166 00:12:39,634 --> 00:12:42,474 My mother said, "We take everything with us." 167 00:12:42,637 --> 00:12:45,427 We had everything there. We were equipped. 168 00:12:45,598 --> 00:12:46,638 [ sawing ] 169 00:12:48,685 --> 00:12:50,555 SAUL: We start buiIding up some beds. 170 00:12:53,773 --> 00:12:57,573 Piece of wood here, naiI it, two pieces of board. 171 00:12:57,735 --> 00:12:58,735 We bend those sides, 172 00:12:58,903 --> 00:13:01,663 and we brought in some straw, some hay, anything. 173 00:13:05,743 --> 00:13:07,493 SONIA: We came to Verteba. 174 00:13:07,662 --> 00:13:09,712 [ gasps ] My God! 175 00:13:11,207 --> 00:13:12,787 I've got a pIayground here. 176 00:13:14,294 --> 00:13:17,634 I wouId make-beIieve I'm Iiving in a castIe, 177 00:13:19,007 --> 00:13:22,217 and it was wonderfuI not being in a bunker. 178 00:13:23,178 --> 00:13:26,258 My grandmother was very worried I shouIdn't get Iost. 179 00:13:26,431 --> 00:13:28,271 You know, the cave had so many mazes 180 00:13:28,433 --> 00:13:30,353 going this way and that way. - Sima? 181 00:13:30,518 --> 00:13:33,058 - You just had to take the wrong turn... - Sima! 182 00:13:33,229 --> 00:13:35,149 and I was a very IittIe girI. 183 00:13:39,819 --> 00:13:40,899 [ rock cIinks in cup ] 184 00:13:45,992 --> 00:13:48,662 SAM: It was warm. It was dry. 185 00:13:48,828 --> 00:13:52,918 And we had piIIows and covers, and we had food. 186 00:13:57,003 --> 00:13:58,843 SONIA: My father and my grandfather 187 00:13:59,005 --> 00:14:03,085 and my UncIe NisseI aII bought badges. 188 00:14:03,259 --> 00:14:05,889 They paid off the Ukrainian poIice, 189 00:14:06,054 --> 00:14:09,184 and they were aIIowed to buy back a horse and wagon 190 00:14:09,349 --> 00:14:10,599 from the peasants. 191 00:14:11,893 --> 00:14:16,363 They were coIIecting scrap iron for the German government, 192 00:14:16,523 --> 00:14:17,863 but they were free. 193 00:14:18,024 --> 00:14:20,574 SAM: So they couId stay in our house. 194 00:14:20,735 --> 00:14:22,685 They were driving around aII over. 195 00:14:25,198 --> 00:14:28,698 NisseI and my father and Sima's and Sonia's father 196 00:14:28,868 --> 00:14:33,248 brought in food and water and whatever we needed. 197 00:14:43,049 --> 00:14:44,299 I used to expIore. 198 00:14:44,467 --> 00:14:45,837 That was my thing. 199 00:14:47,554 --> 00:14:51,184 I used to waIk around in every hoIe, in every pIace. 200 00:15:20,253 --> 00:15:22,303 SAUL: Sam says he couId see. 201 00:15:22,463 --> 00:15:24,923 Maybe his eyes are different. 202 00:15:25,091 --> 00:15:28,181 I couIdn't go from here to there. I wouIdn't move. 203 00:15:28,344 --> 00:15:30,144 We didn't have no water there. 204 00:15:30,305 --> 00:15:32,385 So we used to have drips used to come in. 205 00:15:37,270 --> 00:15:40,310 I used to go with my grandmother to get some drippings. 206 00:15:41,441 --> 00:15:44,821 A gIass of water was for a famiIy for a day. 207 00:15:46,863 --> 00:15:49,703 I was once so thirsty, I got out from the cave, 208 00:15:49,866 --> 00:15:52,776 I said, "Even if they kiII me, I have to go to a weII somewhere." 209 00:15:52,952 --> 00:15:55,792 And I was drinking aImost aII the paiI of water. 210 00:15:55,955 --> 00:15:58,665 I was so thirsty. I didn't have water for a few weeks, 211 00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:00,423 just a IittIe bit sometimes. 212 00:16:14,807 --> 00:16:16,807 ESTHER: NisseI was our most important contact 213 00:16:16,976 --> 00:16:19,016 with the outside worId. 214 00:16:19,187 --> 00:16:23,517 One day, NisseI toId us we had to hide more deepIy in the Grotto 215 00:16:23,691 --> 00:16:25,821 because peasants were being seized for Iabor, 216 00:16:25,985 --> 00:16:28,485 and they might want to come here to hide, too. 217 00:16:30,323 --> 00:16:31,873 SAM: Verteba was an open pIace. 218 00:16:32,033 --> 00:16:33,703 You were exposed. 219 00:16:37,497 --> 00:16:40,077 NisseI said, "If they come in, 220 00:16:41,334 --> 00:16:43,674 "and you don't have another exit to get out, 221 00:16:43,836 --> 00:16:45,746 "you're aII doomed." 222 00:16:48,758 --> 00:16:51,388 SOL: We used up aII of our time and Iighting suppIies 223 00:16:51,552 --> 00:16:53,432 Iooking for a second exit. 224 00:16:55,306 --> 00:16:58,516 My cousin SauI was aIways the Ieader. 225 00:16:58,685 --> 00:17:01,395 I was inside a manager. [ Iaughs ] 226 00:17:01,562 --> 00:17:04,442 I was--Anything, I was doing. 227 00:17:06,109 --> 00:17:09,489 We come on one pIace, and I see a piIe of earth. 228 00:17:11,948 --> 00:17:14,318 In a cave, everything is stone. 229 00:17:17,078 --> 00:17:19,998 I came over. I took my shoveI. 230 00:17:21,165 --> 00:17:22,575 [ shoveI scraping ] 231 00:17:26,337 --> 00:17:29,797 And we see between the two stones that it's soft. 232 00:17:41,102 --> 00:17:42,692 - [NisseI caIIs out ] - NisseI? 233 00:17:42,854 --> 00:17:45,864 SAM: NisseI used to come in for two, three days and dig. 234 00:17:47,233 --> 00:17:48,733 [ NisseI speaking native Ianguage ] 235 00:17:48,901 --> 00:17:50,281 If he was digging two hours, 236 00:17:50,445 --> 00:17:53,275 he made more progress than me in four hours. 237 00:18:01,247 --> 00:18:04,117 BeautifuI ground and very soft to dig. 238 00:18:06,377 --> 00:18:09,497 I was digging three, four feet in a day. 239 00:18:09,672 --> 00:18:11,262 SAM: And I heIped. Whatever they needed-- 240 00:18:11,424 --> 00:18:13,514 they need Iight, they need a shoveI. 241 00:18:13,676 --> 00:18:17,176 I wanted to show that I, too, am one of the boys. 242 00:18:20,516 --> 00:18:28,106 SAUL: One day, I was at the top, and I feIt--I see, Iike, topsoiI. 243 00:18:31,611 --> 00:18:34,031 And I Iook up, and I see a star. 244 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,920 [ panting ] 245 00:18:48,085 --> 00:18:50,495 [ Iaughs ] 246 00:18:53,466 --> 00:18:54,376 SAM: We were so Iucky. 247 00:18:54,550 --> 00:18:56,760 You couId come out in the middIe of the road somewhere. 248 00:18:56,928 --> 00:18:58,468 We come out on a fieId. 249 00:18:58,638 --> 00:19:00,558 [ SauI Iaughs ] 250 00:19:01,933 --> 00:19:04,603 SAUL: And then I made, with a 2 x 4, Iike this, 251 00:19:04,769 --> 00:19:08,479 a frame aII around and the top covered with dirt. 252 00:19:09,607 --> 00:19:10,767 Then they went in the viIIage, 253 00:19:10,942 --> 00:19:13,862 and they took a coupIe of chains from the beIIs. 254 00:19:16,030 --> 00:19:18,910 So high--It was about five stories high. - [chains cIanking ] 255 00:19:19,075 --> 00:19:20,615 Fifty feet high, maybe. 256 00:19:21,911 --> 00:19:23,331 SAUL: The chain was hanging down. 257 00:19:23,496 --> 00:19:25,906 When you waIked up, you hoId onto the chain. 258 00:19:37,927 --> 00:19:39,967 ESTHER: After compIeting the second exit, 259 00:19:40,137 --> 00:19:43,177 we began to move back to our new Iiving quarters, 260 00:19:43,349 --> 00:19:46,139 which was a cave compIeteIy remote. 261 00:19:46,310 --> 00:19:49,230 It was aII wiId and primitive. 262 00:19:49,397 --> 00:19:52,437 The ceiIing was so Iow that we couId not waIk upright. 263 00:19:54,652 --> 00:19:57,152 The famiIies were now quite scattered 264 00:19:57,321 --> 00:19:59,781 and far apart within the cave. 265 00:20:01,701 --> 00:20:06,541 The atmosphere was not as joyous as it was when we came in. 266 00:20:08,332 --> 00:20:11,422 ESTHER: Every morning, SauI and Sam wouId go outside 267 00:20:11,586 --> 00:20:14,666 to see if there were any signs of strangers around. 268 00:20:14,839 --> 00:20:17,219 One day, SauI came back, shaken. 269 00:20:17,383 --> 00:20:22,183 He toId us someone had actuaIIy made steps to descend into the Grotto. 270 00:20:22,346 --> 00:20:24,426 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 271 00:20:24,599 --> 00:20:27,019 SIMA: The next thing that I truIy remember-- 272 00:20:27,184 --> 00:20:31,194 and it was horrendous and stays with me aII my Iife, 273 00:20:31,355 --> 00:20:33,685 even if I want to push it away-- 274 00:20:33,858 --> 00:20:35,728 was when the Germans came by. 275 00:20:35,902 --> 00:20:40,412 Hersch Barad was right next to the entrance. 276 00:20:41,741 --> 00:20:42,871 [ shouts ] 277 00:20:43,784 --> 00:20:47,754 [ shouting in native Ianguage ] 278 00:20:49,498 --> 00:20:51,578 And my mother right away stood up and said to the kids, 279 00:20:51,751 --> 00:20:53,631 "Hide any pIace you can." 280 00:20:53,794 --> 00:20:55,674 [ Esther speaking native Ianguage ] 281 00:20:55,838 --> 00:20:57,048 I grabbed the ax. 282 00:20:57,214 --> 00:21:00,684 [ soIdiers speaking German ] 283 00:21:02,219 --> 00:21:04,049 [ speaking German ] 284 00:21:04,221 --> 00:21:05,261 [ shouts ] 285 00:21:08,643 --> 00:21:10,143 My mother pushed me under. 286 00:21:10,311 --> 00:21:12,351 There's no room for her to go in. 287 00:21:13,439 --> 00:21:14,519 [ soIdier yeIIs in German ] 288 00:21:18,361 --> 00:21:20,951 [ soIdiers speaking German ] 289 00:21:25,076 --> 00:21:28,196 [ woman screams ] 290 00:21:32,375 --> 00:21:35,785 SAM: I stood on the side, and I said to my cousin, 291 00:21:35,962 --> 00:21:38,422 "Let's kiII at Ieast one of them." 292 00:21:38,589 --> 00:21:41,929 When I saw that he's not moving, I threw away the ax. 293 00:21:42,093 --> 00:21:44,093 I said, "I don't want to see when they kiII me." 294 00:21:45,179 --> 00:21:47,389 - [ soIdier speaking German ] - [ woman screams ] 295 00:21:47,556 --> 00:21:50,176 [ soIdiers speaking German ] 296 00:21:50,351 --> 00:21:51,391 [ screams continue ] 297 00:21:55,231 --> 00:21:57,651 [ Esther speaking native Ianguage ] 298 00:21:57,817 --> 00:21:59,857 AII of a sudden, I hear my mother. 299 00:22:00,027 --> 00:22:01,487 "We Iive here Iike rats. 300 00:22:01,654 --> 00:22:02,954 "We don't mix in poIitics. 301 00:22:03,114 --> 00:22:04,204 "We are women and chiIdren." 302 00:22:04,365 --> 00:22:08,405 SAUL: "What, are you afraid that the Fuhrer is gonna Iose the war?" 303 00:22:08,577 --> 00:22:12,207 Can you imagine a Jewish woman to mention the name Fuhrer? 304 00:22:12,373 --> 00:22:14,833 And he says to my mother, "Don't be afraid." 305 00:22:15,001 --> 00:22:17,541 SAUL: "We'II take you out, and you go in a camp." 306 00:22:17,712 --> 00:22:20,922 My mother says, "I know what kind of a camp you have for us." 307 00:22:21,090 --> 00:22:24,010 SAM: She toId him. She opened up his eyes, it Iooked Iike. 308 00:22:24,176 --> 00:22:26,086 I see, hey, they're not kiIIing. 309 00:22:27,638 --> 00:22:30,018 After that, I Iost my fear compIeteIy. 310 00:22:31,017 --> 00:22:34,517 I started to dress with a jacket. - [ soIdier speaKs German ] 311 00:22:34,687 --> 00:22:35,897 Now I took my time. 312 00:22:36,063 --> 00:22:38,733 He didn't Iike that, but what the heck? 313 00:22:38,899 --> 00:22:40,319 I had nothing to Iose. 314 00:22:40,484 --> 00:22:43,034 SIMA: My mother knew they were gonna march us out, 315 00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:44,985 and that I needed my shoes, 316 00:22:45,156 --> 00:22:47,816 and she didn't want to bend down to puII out the other shoe, 317 00:22:47,992 --> 00:22:50,952 because she feIt that the German, with his machine gun, 318 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,080 may bend down with her together 319 00:22:53,247 --> 00:22:55,957 and may see my sister hiding underneath. 320 00:22:59,545 --> 00:23:01,585 - [ soIdier speaking German ] - SONIA: "Don't worry," he says. 321 00:23:01,756 --> 00:23:03,756 "I can kiII her right here. Don't bother with the shoe." 322 00:23:03,924 --> 00:23:05,514 My mother starts begging him. 323 00:23:05,676 --> 00:23:07,676 [ commotion, Esther speaking native Ianguage ] 324 00:23:07,845 --> 00:23:10,595 SONIA: Hersch Barad pushed out my sister's shoe. 325 00:23:11,849 --> 00:23:13,929 [ soIdier speaking German ] 326 00:23:17,646 --> 00:23:19,476 [ heavy footsteps ] 327 00:23:20,941 --> 00:23:24,491 [ Leo pIeading in native Ianguage ] 328 00:23:25,738 --> 00:23:27,488 [ soIdier speaking German ] 329 00:23:28,866 --> 00:23:30,236 [ chiId crying ] 330 00:23:32,286 --> 00:23:33,286 [ soIdier shouts ] 331 00:23:33,454 --> 00:23:35,214 [ Leo pIeads ] 332 00:23:41,754 --> 00:23:43,174 [ shouts in German ] 333 00:23:48,094 --> 00:23:49,974 SOL: I couId hear the noise in the distance, 334 00:23:50,137 --> 00:23:52,177 as they were Ieading them away, 335 00:23:52,348 --> 00:23:55,138 and the awfuI waiIing of my IittIe brother. 336 00:23:55,309 --> 00:23:58,229 [ pIeading continues ] 337 00:23:59,730 --> 00:24:02,070 [ soIdier speaks German ] 338 00:24:04,235 --> 00:24:06,895 As soon as they turn around, I was sticking to my mother. 339 00:24:07,071 --> 00:24:08,071 She went Iike this. 340 00:24:08,239 --> 00:24:09,779 I knew the cave in the dark... 341 00:24:09,949 --> 00:24:10,949 [ soIdier speaks German ] 342 00:24:11,117 --> 00:24:14,367 and I ran, and I ran right, Ieft, and Iied down under a rock. 343 00:24:21,418 --> 00:24:25,088 [ soIdier speaking German ] 344 00:24:25,256 --> 00:24:27,716 SAM: My mother sIipped into a hoIe in the side. 345 00:24:29,301 --> 00:24:31,471 [ soIdier speaking German ] 346 00:24:35,474 --> 00:24:38,644 [ speaking German ] 347 00:24:38,811 --> 00:24:41,271 [ siIence ] 348 00:24:48,904 --> 00:24:50,244 SONIA: I know they took my mother away. 349 00:24:50,406 --> 00:24:54,406 I'II never see her again, and I'II never see my sister again. 350 00:24:54,577 --> 00:24:56,907 AII of a sudden, I hear somebody saying... 351 00:24:57,079 --> 00:25:00,249 [ speaking native Ianguage ] "Where are you?" 352 00:25:00,416 --> 00:25:04,206 WOMAN: Sonia? Sonia? [ speaking native Ianguage ] 353 00:25:04,378 --> 00:25:06,878 SONIA: My Aunt Yetta came Iooking for me. 354 00:25:10,843 --> 00:25:12,593 [ Yetta speaking native Ianguage ] 355 00:25:15,973 --> 00:25:17,473 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 356 00:25:19,351 --> 00:25:21,141 SONIA: She says, "Don't be afraid. 357 00:25:22,521 --> 00:25:24,651 "Whatever wiII happen to me wiII happen to you. 358 00:25:24,815 --> 00:25:26,645 "I'II take care of you." 359 00:25:28,485 --> 00:25:30,605 I...I don't know what happened, 360 00:25:30,779 --> 00:25:33,279 or I'm sure I got very scared. 361 00:25:33,449 --> 00:25:36,739 But I don't remember nothing. 362 00:25:38,746 --> 00:25:41,956 [ aII speaking native Ianguage ] 363 00:25:42,124 --> 00:25:43,544 [ panting ] 364 00:25:43,709 --> 00:25:45,459 When I didn't hear them no more, 365 00:25:45,628 --> 00:25:47,998 I ran in straight in the exit. 366 00:25:52,343 --> 00:25:56,393 SauI was scared, and I kept pinching him. Nothing. 367 00:25:56,555 --> 00:25:58,595 I was finished. 368 00:25:58,766 --> 00:26:01,596 [ aII speaking native Ianguage ] 369 00:26:01,769 --> 00:26:03,649 [ chains rattIing ] 370 00:26:04,688 --> 00:26:09,188 SONIA: I'm hoIding onto a chain, and I'm waIking up the steps. 371 00:26:12,488 --> 00:26:13,658 [ woman speaking native Ianguage ] 372 00:26:13,822 --> 00:26:15,322 SONIA: PeopIe are screaming, 373 00:26:15,491 --> 00:26:17,701 "Open up the exit! Open up the exit!" 374 00:26:17,868 --> 00:26:19,738 [ young woman crying ] 375 00:26:19,912 --> 00:26:20,872 But there's nothing. 376 00:26:21,038 --> 00:26:23,248 They can't do it. They can't do it! 377 00:26:23,415 --> 00:26:26,575 [ woman and girI pIeading ] 378 00:26:27,836 --> 00:26:31,206 [ boy speaking in hushed voice ] 379 00:26:31,382 --> 00:26:35,642 [ overIapping voices conversing and caIIing out ] 380 00:26:40,516 --> 00:26:44,096 [ women pIeading ] 381 00:26:48,899 --> 00:26:52,779 [ woman pIeading ] 382 00:26:56,073 --> 00:27:00,493 [ girIs pIeading ] 383 00:27:02,579 --> 00:27:05,709 [ overIapping voices ] 384 00:27:14,425 --> 00:27:17,045 Everybody started to run in different directions. 385 00:27:17,219 --> 00:27:18,469 We were Iike wiId peopIe. 386 00:27:31,025 --> 00:27:32,225 ESTHER: It was very coId. 387 00:27:32,401 --> 00:27:36,071 Each one of us ran with no destination in mind. 388 00:27:38,073 --> 00:27:40,583 I tried to speak to SauI... - [ speaking native Ianguage ] 389 00:27:40,743 --> 00:27:42,663 but he couIdn't repIy. 390 00:27:44,204 --> 00:27:46,874 [ panting ] 391 00:27:57,676 --> 00:28:00,506 SOL: We were onIy paces away from the guards. 392 00:28:01,972 --> 00:28:04,722 We couId hear them taIk about discovering us. 393 00:28:19,073 --> 00:28:21,913 We crawIed to the viIIage, to the MirawaId barn. 394 00:28:23,202 --> 00:28:26,082 Mrs. MirawaId had hidden Hannah once before. 395 00:28:37,883 --> 00:28:39,183 [ knocking on door ] 396 00:28:40,844 --> 00:28:42,974 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 397 00:28:46,433 --> 00:28:50,813 What a mother. 398 00:28:50,979 --> 00:28:51,979 Oh! 399 00:29:00,781 --> 00:29:03,871 SOL: That night, I Iay there and thought of Mother and Brother. 400 00:29:04,993 --> 00:29:08,913 The Gestapo had turned them over to the Ukrainian poIice. 401 00:29:09,081 --> 00:29:10,501 [ door cIoses ] 402 00:29:12,042 --> 00:29:14,922 SIMA: I remember when they put us into that prison room, 403 00:29:15,087 --> 00:29:16,797 and they put us down on the ground. 404 00:29:16,964 --> 00:29:18,464 They didn't feed us. 405 00:29:18,632 --> 00:29:21,012 My mother kept saying, "Don't worry, my chiId. 406 00:29:21,176 --> 00:29:23,176 "You'II see. You'II see. We're gonna be fine. 407 00:29:23,345 --> 00:29:24,965 "Your father's going to take us out. 408 00:29:25,139 --> 00:29:26,469 "We're going to be okay." 409 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:28,680 [ Henia whispering ] 410 00:29:28,851 --> 00:29:33,481 She was just trying to comfort me because I knew at that age, 411 00:29:33,647 --> 00:29:36,357 I knew we were going to be shot. 412 00:29:36,525 --> 00:29:38,355 I knew that. 413 00:29:38,527 --> 00:29:40,737 I was home aIready. I was, uh... 414 00:29:40,904 --> 00:29:46,374 When I ran away, I came, and I went straight to the bunker. 415 00:29:47,286 --> 00:29:51,996 My father and NisseI and FischeI, they ran to the Ukrainian poIice, 416 00:29:52,166 --> 00:29:53,366 and they made a deaI with them. 417 00:29:53,542 --> 00:29:57,342 500 something--I don't know-- gram or something, goId. 418 00:29:57,504 --> 00:30:01,014 The men had to bring five bodies to repIace ours, 419 00:30:01,175 --> 00:30:03,585 because shouId the Germans come back 420 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,810 and want to see where the bodies were that were shot, 421 00:30:07,973 --> 00:30:09,683 he protected himseIf. 422 00:30:09,850 --> 00:30:15,860 He said, "I want to have two chiIdren, two women, and a man." 423 00:30:16,023 --> 00:30:18,363 [ shoveI digging ] 424 00:30:26,325 --> 00:30:28,865 SONIA: And they found two women and a man, 425 00:30:29,036 --> 00:30:30,576 but they couIdn't find any chiIdren. 426 00:30:30,746 --> 00:30:34,786 So my father said he's not stopping. 427 00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:36,458 He's going to Iook in another pIace 428 00:30:36,627 --> 00:30:38,537 where he thinKs there were some chiIdren. 429 00:30:38,712 --> 00:30:42,222 I mean, that was the onIy way that they were going to save our Iives. 430 00:30:42,382 --> 00:30:44,632 The poIiceman insisted on that. 431 00:31:08,867 --> 00:31:12,197 [ woman crying ] 432 00:31:12,371 --> 00:31:16,501 SIMA: The Ukrainian poIiceman said, "Just Iie down. 433 00:31:16,667 --> 00:31:19,167 "I'm gonna shoot five times in the air, 434 00:31:19,336 --> 00:31:21,126 "and then you're just gonna run away." 435 00:31:37,354 --> 00:31:39,864 [ woman crying ] 436 00:31:41,483 --> 00:31:42,783 [ gun cocks ] 437 00:31:46,655 --> 00:31:47,945 [ gunshot ] 438 00:31:51,285 --> 00:31:54,035 [ gun fires twice ] 439 00:31:55,872 --> 00:31:57,002 [ sniffs ] 440 00:32:01,253 --> 00:32:02,253 SIMA: We just got up, 441 00:32:02,421 --> 00:32:05,511 and my mother started to Iook why they didn't get up. 442 00:32:05,674 --> 00:32:09,054 And that's when we reaIized that they were shot. 443 00:32:10,345 --> 00:32:13,215 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 444 00:32:13,390 --> 00:32:16,560 ESTHER: When the chief of poIice, who was a stranger in the district, 445 00:32:16,727 --> 00:32:20,727 Iearned that SoI WexIer's mother was from BiIche zIote, 446 00:32:20,897 --> 00:32:25,527 he decided he wouId not be abIe to free her or her son. 447 00:32:25,694 --> 00:32:29,824 The peasants might see them and report back to the Gestapo. 448 00:32:30,699 --> 00:32:33,529 [ speaking quietIy in native Ianguage ] 449 00:32:40,208 --> 00:32:42,418 SOL: We Ieft earIy the next morning. 450 00:32:44,046 --> 00:32:47,166 It took us a fuII day to reach the Stermer bunkers. 451 00:32:52,471 --> 00:32:54,141 As Iong as I Iive, 452 00:32:55,349 --> 00:33:00,099 I wiII remember my cousin SoI WexIer's eyes, 453 00:33:00,270 --> 00:33:03,440 searching for his mother and brother 454 00:33:03,607 --> 00:33:09,397 and how guiIty I feIt that his mother and brother are not there. 455 00:33:16,495 --> 00:33:19,155 [ wind howIs ] 456 00:33:20,374 --> 00:33:24,214 SAM: He came into our house after he kiIIed my aunt 457 00:33:24,378 --> 00:33:27,378 to coIIect the goId and the siIver. 458 00:33:27,547 --> 00:33:29,797 Got a whoIe bundIe, and he went away. 459 00:33:30,842 --> 00:33:34,722 And after that, we were in big troubIe. 460 00:33:34,888 --> 00:33:36,258 We had to hoId off aII the Germans. 461 00:33:36,431 --> 00:33:39,731 Anyone gonna be spotted gonna be shot. 462 00:33:41,103 --> 00:33:45,273 [ somber piano music ] 463 00:33:56,451 --> 00:33:59,121 CHRIS: I kept coming back to Ukraine every year, 464 00:33:59,287 --> 00:34:02,077 hoping to uncover the story of the peopIe who had Iived in the cave. 465 00:34:04,918 --> 00:34:09,668 Western Ukraine was one of the worst pIaces for Jews during the war. 466 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,130 Less than 5% survived here. 467 00:34:15,345 --> 00:34:19,595 1 .5 miIIion Jews were executed without going to the camps. 468 00:34:19,766 --> 00:34:22,556 It was a personaI extermination. 469 00:34:33,697 --> 00:34:36,317 I figured that if a group of Jews had Iived in the cave, 470 00:34:37,325 --> 00:34:39,405 there were probabIy no survivors. 471 00:34:44,124 --> 00:34:46,584 ESTHER: Outside, the sun warmed the fieIds, 472 00:34:46,752 --> 00:34:48,882 which were beginning to turn green. 473 00:34:49,755 --> 00:34:56,135 AII was awakening to Iife, but we sat there Iike condemned men. 474 00:34:56,303 --> 00:34:59,473 There was no pIace on Earth for us. 475 00:35:00,974 --> 00:35:03,984 SOL: Every night, I had dreams of my mother and brother. 476 00:35:04,144 --> 00:35:06,444 And sometimes, in the middIe of the day, 477 00:35:06,605 --> 00:35:10,105 I wouId imagine seeing them whiIe stiII wide awake. 478 00:35:11,526 --> 00:35:14,356 We were hiding, and NisseI was going around to Iook. 479 00:35:14,529 --> 00:35:18,029 My mother says, "NisseI, you got to find a pIace. 480 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:19,370 "We cannot Iive Iike this." 481 00:35:20,202 --> 00:35:22,752 SAUL: NisseI went to Munko Lubudzin. 482 00:35:22,913 --> 00:35:25,923 He Iived in the forest in a IittIe house. 483 00:35:26,082 --> 00:35:28,002 - Munko... [ speaking native Ianguage ] - And he says... 484 00:35:28,168 --> 00:35:29,338 SAM: "I need a pIace for my famiIy. 485 00:35:29,503 --> 00:35:32,963 "Maybe I can make some bunker, hiding pIace in the forest, a hoIe." 486 00:35:33,131 --> 00:35:34,381 He says, "You know what?" 487 00:35:34,549 --> 00:35:38,139 "I was once hunting a fox, and he ran in a hoIe. 488 00:35:38,303 --> 00:35:39,723 "And I come there. I didn't go in. 489 00:35:39,888 --> 00:35:41,968 "There's a hoIe. Try this hoIe." 490 00:35:43,934 --> 00:35:49,314 This was the 1st of May, a Sunday, 1943. 491 00:35:51,942 --> 00:35:55,442 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 492 00:36:04,913 --> 00:36:07,673 And we Iook on the right side. It's an opening. 493 00:36:07,833 --> 00:36:10,883 We got down, and we start sIiding in. 494 00:36:35,819 --> 00:36:38,949 [ water dripping ] 495 00:36:44,202 --> 00:36:47,542 As we were waIking, we took corridors. 496 00:36:47,706 --> 00:36:50,496 We took a Iong passage, and we started waIking. 497 00:37:05,223 --> 00:37:07,773 The main room that you waIk in, 498 00:37:07,934 --> 00:37:10,944 I think you couId drive in with a coupIe of trucKs. 499 00:37:12,397 --> 00:37:16,107 Before was a smaIIer room, then was, Iike, arches, 500 00:37:16,276 --> 00:37:17,776 and you waIk in the second. 501 00:37:25,577 --> 00:37:27,447 And I touched a IittIe stone. 502 00:37:27,621 --> 00:37:29,541 It roIIed down, and I hear... 503 00:37:29,706 --> 00:37:31,206 [ water spIashes ] 504 00:37:34,836 --> 00:37:36,916 We go down, and I put my two hands Iike that, 505 00:37:37,088 --> 00:37:38,338 and I taste the water. 506 00:37:38,506 --> 00:37:40,296 Such sweet water. 507 00:37:42,302 --> 00:37:43,932 [ man speaking native Ianguage ] 508 00:37:45,221 --> 00:37:46,351 SAM: So this is the pIace. 509 00:37:46,514 --> 00:37:48,684 We have water. We can Iive. 510 00:37:48,850 --> 00:37:51,980 We went home with good news. 511 00:37:53,438 --> 00:37:56,768 ESTHER: They had found the best pIace imaginabIe. 512 00:37:56,942 --> 00:38:00,822 No human being had ever set foot there. 513 00:38:11,539 --> 00:38:14,119 Thirty-eight of us descended into the cave. 514 00:38:14,292 --> 00:38:17,842 The men toId us to sIide down into the mud. 515 00:38:23,051 --> 00:38:25,091 [ young girI whimpers ] 516 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,930 SIMA: Somebody was standing there, and they kept pushing you. 517 00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:33,270 You know, they were maneuvering you to go down. 518 00:38:33,436 --> 00:38:35,346 You sIid in the mud. 519 00:38:40,402 --> 00:38:43,612 We taIked to our mother and said, "It's very hard, 520 00:38:43,780 --> 00:38:49,080 "and I don't know if you'II be abIe to squeeze through the stones." 521 00:38:49,244 --> 00:38:52,914 ESTHER: I tried to get through the rocks, but it was impossibIe. 522 00:38:53,081 --> 00:38:57,421 They maneuvered my body and pIaced me wherever they couId 523 00:38:57,585 --> 00:38:58,955 untiI, finaIIy... 524 00:38:59,129 --> 00:39:01,379 Boom! She's inside. 525 00:39:01,548 --> 00:39:03,298 We got our mother inside. 526 00:39:03,550 --> 00:39:07,010 We came, and we were very hungry, and we were wet. 527 00:39:07,178 --> 00:39:10,468 And I remember I had, Iike, the chiIIs, you know? 528 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:12,930 We came there aImost without food. 529 00:39:13,101 --> 00:39:14,231 No food. 530 00:39:14,394 --> 00:39:16,404 By the time we came to the second cave, 531 00:39:16,563 --> 00:39:18,613 everything was Iost in the first cave. 532 00:39:18,773 --> 00:39:20,903 [ water dripping ] 533 00:39:25,238 --> 00:39:27,568 SAM: NisseI was with my father in business, 534 00:39:27,741 --> 00:39:28,911 so he knew everybody, 535 00:39:29,075 --> 00:39:31,365 and everybody-- He was a very IikabIe guy. 536 00:39:32,579 --> 00:39:34,329 SAUL: There was no bank. There was no money. 537 00:39:34,497 --> 00:39:35,787 There was no nothing. 538 00:39:35,957 --> 00:39:40,037 But the onIy thing-- if you have a few things, you trade. 539 00:39:42,547 --> 00:39:44,757 SAM: The miIIer was a friend of NisseI's. 540 00:39:44,924 --> 00:39:47,434 SAUL: And he bought a hundred kiIos of fIour. 541 00:39:55,477 --> 00:39:59,227 SAM: This Ukrainian guy was supposed to go pick up the fIour. 542 00:39:59,397 --> 00:40:00,727 They made a deaI with him. 543 00:40:03,943 --> 00:40:05,033 [ man speaking native Ianguage ] 544 00:40:05,195 --> 00:40:07,775 And he's to meet SauI and NisseI in the fieId there. 545 00:40:07,947 --> 00:40:09,107 They made an appointment. 546 00:40:09,949 --> 00:40:13,079 They came there. The guy's not there. 547 00:40:13,244 --> 00:40:14,504 We were waiting and waiting, 548 00:40:14,662 --> 00:40:16,332 and we see it's aImost dayIight, 549 00:40:16,498 --> 00:40:18,118 so we went back to the cave. 550 00:40:20,919 --> 00:40:23,669 SAM: So the next night, they went to him. 551 00:40:25,381 --> 00:40:26,631 SAUL: We didn't go by the door. 552 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:28,630 Forced a window, and we got inside. 553 00:40:28,802 --> 00:40:30,182 [ men speaking native Ianguage ] 554 00:40:30,345 --> 00:40:32,545 "Don't ask questions. Give us back the fIour." 555 00:40:34,349 --> 00:40:37,519 SAM: FinaIIy, he says, "Okay, I got some here in the corner." 556 00:40:37,685 --> 00:40:39,645 So he gave a third of it. 557 00:40:42,941 --> 00:40:46,991 We decided we need a stone to make our own fIour 558 00:40:47,153 --> 00:40:49,533 the guy took away from us. 559 00:40:49,697 --> 00:40:53,737 SAM: So, a coupIe days Iater, NisseI and SauI went to his house. 560 00:40:53,910 --> 00:40:56,830 And we went in his barn, and here's the stone. 561 00:40:59,833 --> 00:41:02,133 SAM: That stone they can hardIy Iift, right? 562 00:41:06,756 --> 00:41:10,086 SAUL: NisseI carried it home with us on his back. 563 00:41:13,138 --> 00:41:14,808 [ NisseI speaking native Ianguage ] 564 00:41:16,266 --> 00:41:17,926 [ groans ] 565 00:41:20,270 --> 00:41:24,570 SAM: Once they got the top stone, they made a bottom stone. 566 00:41:24,732 --> 00:41:27,612 Grind a IittIe bit fIour and a IittIe potatoes, 567 00:41:27,777 --> 00:41:29,697 and you used to go to the kitchen and cook. 568 00:41:30,822 --> 00:41:34,122 SONIA: Each famiIy had one man or two men 569 00:41:34,284 --> 00:41:36,334 that wouId go out and get food. 570 00:41:36,494 --> 00:41:40,544 If they brought in a bread, they brought in the bread for their famiIy. 571 00:41:40,707 --> 00:41:42,077 These were the ruIes. 572 00:41:43,877 --> 00:41:45,497 SIMA: The women never went out. 573 00:41:45,670 --> 00:41:47,630 OnIy the men went out. 574 00:41:50,300 --> 00:41:52,720 [ peopIe conversing quietIy ] 575 00:41:56,431 --> 00:41:59,271 SOL: When it came to food, each famiIy was separate. 576 00:42:02,103 --> 00:42:05,983 My uncIe, zaide Stermer, was hiding above ground. 577 00:42:06,149 --> 00:42:09,529 NisseI and SauI were now heads of our famiIy. 578 00:42:10,612 --> 00:42:13,532 My father was in a very smaII viIIage, 579 00:42:13,698 --> 00:42:15,068 and he had a very good friend. 580 00:42:15,241 --> 00:42:17,281 He was afraid, pIain and simpIe. 581 00:42:17,452 --> 00:42:19,162 He was just afraid, you know? 582 00:42:19,329 --> 00:42:20,909 We knew one thing. 583 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:22,080 We have to go. 584 00:42:22,248 --> 00:42:24,958 We have to do what has to be done. 585 00:42:25,126 --> 00:42:27,416 We have to go out, no matter what. 586 00:42:27,587 --> 00:42:30,337 If there's no food here, that's the end of it. 587 00:43:08,586 --> 00:43:10,456 [ animaI squawks ] 588 00:43:27,855 --> 00:43:29,765 - [ speaks native Ianguage ] - SAM: Nine uniforms. 589 00:43:29,941 --> 00:43:32,401 I put on a shirt with a pair of pants. 590 00:43:32,568 --> 00:43:34,238 I feIt Iike a hundred doIIars! [ Iaughs ] 591 00:43:36,656 --> 00:43:37,946 [ speaks native Ianguage ] 592 00:43:38,116 --> 00:43:40,196 It was so much fun. 593 00:43:40,368 --> 00:43:43,158 [ insects chirping ] 594 00:43:45,540 --> 00:43:48,130 SAUL: To cut wood was the most dangerous thing. 595 00:43:52,046 --> 00:43:53,206 It was so noisy. 596 00:43:53,381 --> 00:43:56,091 You start cutting and knocking and sawing. 597 00:43:56,259 --> 00:43:57,259 You couId hear it. 598 00:43:57,427 --> 00:43:59,337 You couId hear it to the poIice station. 599 00:44:03,349 --> 00:44:05,929 So, we were standing there and cutting wood. 600 00:44:06,102 --> 00:44:08,062 This guy came over. 601 00:44:09,689 --> 00:44:10,729 He knew us. 602 00:44:10,898 --> 00:44:13,438 He was Iike--grew up with us. 603 00:44:15,278 --> 00:44:16,318 [ whispering in native Ianguage ] 604 00:44:25,538 --> 00:44:28,668 - Some peopIe said, "Take him in aIive." - [ men conversing in native Ianguage ] 605 00:44:28,833 --> 00:44:32,883 And some peopIe said, "KiII him. He can go to the poIice." 606 00:44:41,179 --> 00:44:45,969 [ man speaking native Ianguage ] 607 00:44:56,652 --> 00:44:59,202 SAM: And then the decision was to Iet him go 608 00:45:01,324 --> 00:45:02,574 and to trust him. 609 00:45:02,742 --> 00:45:04,162 We trusted him. 610 00:45:14,045 --> 00:45:16,755 They came with the shoveIs and with the digs, 611 00:45:16,923 --> 00:45:20,263 and they, I bet you they threw in there maybe 25 Ioads 612 00:45:28,810 --> 00:45:30,190 tiII they fiIIed up the hoIe. 613 00:45:30,353 --> 00:45:32,563 They say, "That's gonna be the end of them." 614 00:45:34,732 --> 00:45:37,612 [ panting ] 615 00:45:41,030 --> 00:45:42,700 SAM: MendeI comes running in. 616 00:45:42,865 --> 00:45:44,405 "The viIIagers covered the hoIe. 617 00:45:44,575 --> 00:45:46,325 "That's it. We're gonna die here." 618 00:45:47,745 --> 00:45:49,365 SOL: We thought we were finished. 619 00:45:49,539 --> 00:45:50,789 They knew about us. 620 00:45:50,957 --> 00:45:52,617 We didn't have another exit. 621 00:45:54,168 --> 00:45:55,998 ESTHER: We wouId aII die of hunger here, 622 00:45:56,838 --> 00:45:59,458 a fate worse than stranguIation. 623 00:46:00,925 --> 00:46:02,295 SAUL: "It's terribIe! 624 00:46:02,468 --> 00:46:04,008 "We can't go out! We're gonna die here!" 625 00:46:04,178 --> 00:46:05,928 I said, "Wait a minute." 626 00:46:06,097 --> 00:46:08,887 The second cave was aII over stone. 627 00:46:09,058 --> 00:46:10,268 OnIy in the front... 628 00:46:10,435 --> 00:46:12,935 SAM: There was, Iike, a IittIe room there when we came in. 629 00:46:15,857 --> 00:46:17,357 And there was a bouIder. 630 00:46:18,860 --> 00:46:20,940 And on top of that bouIder on the side... 631 00:46:22,488 --> 00:46:24,068 SAUL: I see some earth. 632 00:46:31,414 --> 00:46:34,044 SAM: Three days and three nights, we were working, 633 00:46:34,208 --> 00:46:36,378 everybody in shifts. 634 00:46:38,463 --> 00:46:39,553 [ grunting ] 635 00:46:46,095 --> 00:46:47,795 We made another exit. 636 00:46:48,890 --> 00:46:51,390 We made sure that they couIdn't come in, 637 00:46:51,559 --> 00:46:55,479 because who wants to sIide in, in a wet hoIe feet first? 638 00:46:55,646 --> 00:46:56,686 You don't know where you're going. 639 00:46:56,856 --> 00:46:59,146 There was a man aIways standing with an ax, 640 00:46:59,317 --> 00:47:00,397 and if they wouId have come in, 641 00:47:00,568 --> 00:47:02,608 they had to come with the feet first. 642 00:47:02,778 --> 00:47:04,448 They wouId have chopped off their feet. 643 00:47:05,865 --> 00:47:06,905 [ men conversing in native Ianguage ] 644 00:47:07,074 --> 00:47:09,334 SAM: We trusted one man, Munko. 645 00:47:10,286 --> 00:47:12,696 And Munko used to teII NisseI aII news. 646 00:47:13,706 --> 00:47:15,036 ESTHER: There was taIk in the viIIage 647 00:47:15,208 --> 00:47:17,248 that my daughter Hannah was hiding out 648 00:47:17,418 --> 00:47:19,538 in the home of the MirawaId woman. 649 00:47:19,712 --> 00:47:24,222 She had been there ever since they had discovered our first cave. 650 00:47:24,383 --> 00:47:28,263 When my grandmother heard that, she said to my UncIe NisseI, 651 00:47:28,429 --> 00:47:30,509 "You go and bring her immediateIy." 652 00:47:30,681 --> 00:47:34,981 [ conversing in native Ianguage ] 653 00:47:36,187 --> 00:47:41,267 SAUL: And Hannah came out, and she Iooked so nice--so cIean! 654 00:47:41,442 --> 00:47:44,992 [ conversing in native Ianguage ] 655 00:47:45,154 --> 00:47:48,704 The next day, the Ukrainian poIice came, 656 00:47:48,866 --> 00:47:51,946 and they turned the house upside down Iooking for Hannah. 657 00:47:52,119 --> 00:47:55,499 If they wouId have found her, they wouId have sureIy kiIIed her. 658 00:47:55,665 --> 00:47:56,865 Then the priest came, 659 00:47:57,041 --> 00:48:00,961 and he said that nobody shouId keep a Jew. 660 00:48:01,128 --> 00:48:04,048 He preached that they shouId get rid of aII the Jews. 661 00:48:05,716 --> 00:48:07,006 So the farmer came home. 662 00:48:07,176 --> 00:48:08,886 He says to my father, "You have to Ieave." 663 00:48:09,053 --> 00:48:13,933 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 664 00:48:14,100 --> 00:48:16,390 SAM: He says, "Run." [ speaks native Ianguage ] 665 00:48:16,561 --> 00:48:18,231 We had no friends. 666 00:48:20,022 --> 00:48:23,072 ESTHER: AII the famiIy was now in the cave. 667 00:48:23,234 --> 00:48:25,534 Every time the men returned from the outside, 668 00:48:25,695 --> 00:48:27,565 they had bitter news. 669 00:48:27,738 --> 00:48:29,488 The poIice and their heIpers had boasted 670 00:48:29,657 --> 00:48:32,197 that they had discovered a bunker in the forest 671 00:48:32,368 --> 00:48:34,488 and kiIIed very many Jews. 672 00:48:34,662 --> 00:48:37,542 Among them were our best friends. 673 00:48:37,707 --> 00:48:41,037 There were 24 peopIe in the bunker. 674 00:48:41,210 --> 00:48:44,210 [ man singing in native Ianguage ] 675 00:48:51,762 --> 00:48:55,602 My grandmother kept a caIendar in her head. 676 00:48:55,766 --> 00:48:58,596 She knew day by day which day it was. 677 00:48:58,769 --> 00:49:01,019 And when the hoIidays came around, 678 00:49:01,188 --> 00:49:02,978 my father was the hazan, 679 00:49:03,149 --> 00:49:05,729 and he knew how to pray beautifuIIy. 680 00:49:08,446 --> 00:49:12,316 AII day in Kippur, we didn't sIeep. 681 00:49:12,491 --> 00:49:14,991 We wouId fast, and he was praying. 682 00:49:15,161 --> 00:49:18,371 [ singing continues ] 683 00:49:22,418 --> 00:49:25,998 [ man praying in native Ianguage ] 684 00:49:50,363 --> 00:49:52,783 [ insects chirping ] 685 00:49:52,948 --> 00:49:56,158 SIMA: When the men used to go out, it was very, very frightening. 686 00:49:58,412 --> 00:50:01,122 SONIA: The women wouId sit, but they wouIdn't taIk, 687 00:50:01,290 --> 00:50:02,830 because nobody wanted to... 688 00:50:03,876 --> 00:50:05,876 to say it out Ioud 689 00:50:06,045 --> 00:50:07,625 that they might not come back. 690 00:50:08,881 --> 00:50:10,631 Everyone thought about it, 691 00:50:11,884 --> 00:50:13,644 but nobody said anything. 692 00:50:17,723 --> 00:50:20,183 SAM: If I didn't go out with NisseI and SauI, 693 00:50:20,351 --> 00:50:23,141 I was sitting there and waiting for them to come back. 694 00:50:23,312 --> 00:50:25,942 Somebody eIse wouId try to come in, I wouId stick him. 695 00:50:27,233 --> 00:50:29,193 ESTHER: On the evening of the 10th of November, 696 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:33,360 my sons, NisseI and SauI, joined by my husband, zaide, 697 00:50:33,531 --> 00:50:35,951 went to buy grain and fueI. 698 00:50:36,117 --> 00:50:40,787 SAUL: Some peopIe in our cave, they had, Iet's say, a goId chain. 699 00:50:40,955 --> 00:50:44,535 They cut IittIe pieces, and the deaI was made. 700 00:50:45,918 --> 00:50:48,498 And we had to stay over the barn. 701 00:50:48,671 --> 00:50:49,921 It was so coId. 702 00:50:50,089 --> 00:50:53,429 So, we teII to our father, "Why are you gonna stay here? 703 00:50:53,592 --> 00:50:55,472 "It's coId. Go back to the cave." 704 00:50:56,387 --> 00:50:58,097 What me and NisseI did together, 705 00:50:58,264 --> 00:51:01,734 my father was compIeteIy a different person. 706 00:51:03,894 --> 00:51:05,814 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 707 00:51:08,190 --> 00:51:10,940 So he went back. This was, about, shouId I say 12:00. 708 00:51:11,110 --> 00:51:12,610 About 2:00, he's back. 709 00:51:12,778 --> 00:51:15,238 He says, "As I was waIking to the cave, 710 00:51:15,406 --> 00:51:19,656 "somebody was yeIIing, 'I'm gonna shoot!"' 711 00:51:20,870 --> 00:51:22,330 He run away. 712 00:51:22,496 --> 00:51:24,456 And the poIice is near the cave. 713 00:51:25,416 --> 00:51:27,956 We are here, the famiIy in the cave. 714 00:51:28,127 --> 00:51:29,247 We wouIdn't be abIe to go in. 715 00:51:29,420 --> 00:51:30,500 They wouIdn't be abIe to run. 716 00:51:30,671 --> 00:51:32,761 Everything is over. We're gonna aII die now. 717 00:51:34,175 --> 00:51:36,005 NisseI said, "Let's go and have a Iook." 718 00:51:42,183 --> 00:51:46,313 Then I say to NisseI. I say, "What if we both croak? 719 00:51:46,479 --> 00:51:49,109 "What do you think? Are we gonna fight somebody? 720 00:51:51,025 --> 00:51:52,605 "Stay here. I'II go myseIf." 721 00:51:52,777 --> 00:51:56,317 And I teII him, "Listen, if they kiII me, 722 00:51:56,489 --> 00:51:58,409 "you're stiII gonna do something. 723 00:51:58,574 --> 00:52:02,834 "But if they kiII you, the famiIy cannot survive without you there." 724 00:52:21,722 --> 00:52:27,482 [ whispering ] 725 00:52:27,645 --> 00:52:29,265 [ speaking in native Ianguage ] 726 00:52:29,438 --> 00:52:30,768 And Sam was there. 727 00:52:30,940 --> 00:52:32,520 Said, "Everything is aII right." 728 00:52:33,734 --> 00:52:34,904 [ cIicking tongue ] 729 00:52:38,239 --> 00:52:49,079 [ speaking native Ianguage ] 730 00:52:49,250 --> 00:52:52,540 We were aII inside, and I hear somebody's waIking there. 731 00:52:56,131 --> 00:52:58,591 Everybody's inside. How come somebody's outs-- 732 00:52:58,759 --> 00:53:00,129 AII of a sudden, we hear shooting. 733 00:53:05,140 --> 00:53:07,350 SAUL: Pow! Pow! Pow! 734 00:53:07,518 --> 00:53:08,728 They're shooting. 735 00:53:08,894 --> 00:53:10,524 [ gunshot ] 736 00:53:10,688 --> 00:53:13,768 SAM: NisseI picked up a big bouIder, put in the hoIe. 737 00:53:14,817 --> 00:53:17,187 He was such a powerfuI guy. 738 00:53:18,112 --> 00:53:19,742 [ NisseI speaks native Ianguage ] 739 00:53:23,284 --> 00:53:25,794 Nobody had a brother Iike I had. 740 00:53:25,953 --> 00:53:27,833 There were no brothers Iike that. 741 00:53:30,958 --> 00:53:33,328 [ water dripping ] 742 00:53:37,298 --> 00:53:39,008 ESTHER: Long ago, peopIe beIieved 743 00:53:39,174 --> 00:53:42,144 that spirits and ghosts Iived in caves. 744 00:53:43,095 --> 00:53:46,555 Now we couId see that there were none here. 745 00:53:46,724 --> 00:53:51,274 The deviIs and eviI spirits were outside, not in the Grotto. 746 00:53:53,898 --> 00:53:57,358 SOL: It was decided we wouId stay underground for two months. 747 00:53:58,611 --> 00:54:00,451 Let them think we were dead. 748 00:54:00,613 --> 00:54:01,783 Do nothing. 749 00:54:04,742 --> 00:54:06,202 SAM: Everybody sIept. 750 00:54:06,368 --> 00:54:07,698 There was no Iights, nothing. 751 00:54:07,870 --> 00:54:12,370 We sIept 18 hours a day, maybe more... 752 00:54:12,541 --> 00:54:13,541 maybe 20. 753 00:55:00,297 --> 00:55:02,467 [ wind whistIing ] 754 00:55:06,720 --> 00:55:10,850 SAM: And we stayed in, and there came the big snow. 755 00:55:11,016 --> 00:55:12,636 SAUL: BIowing snow and everything. 756 00:55:15,729 --> 00:55:18,059 SAM: The poIice came, and they Iooked, 757 00:55:18,232 --> 00:55:20,402 and they saw no tracks. 758 00:55:20,567 --> 00:55:21,607 "Nobody comes out here. 759 00:55:21,777 --> 00:55:23,737 "They must have somewhere another exit." 760 00:55:24,697 --> 00:55:26,317 But we didn't have nothing. 761 00:55:27,449 --> 00:55:29,239 Christmas Eve we can go out. 762 00:55:29,410 --> 00:55:30,580 They for sure, the poIice, 763 00:55:30,744 --> 00:55:32,834 they were thinking, "They're not gonna be around here." 764 00:55:32,997 --> 00:55:36,707 My uncIe SauI made a sIeigh, a coIIapsibIe sIeigh. 765 00:55:36,875 --> 00:55:38,035 Went out in the forest, 766 00:55:38,210 --> 00:55:41,340 and I brought in two young, IittIe trees. 767 00:55:41,505 --> 00:55:44,165 - [ water boiIing ] - And I cook and I cook. 768 00:55:46,343 --> 00:55:48,933 And then I took it out, was steaming. 769 00:55:49,096 --> 00:55:53,306 Bend, you tie down, and Iet it dry for a day, 770 00:55:53,475 --> 00:55:56,475 and here I have one side aIready, huh? 771 00:55:56,645 --> 00:55:59,555 Was not one naiI in the sIeigh. 772 00:55:59,732 --> 00:56:00,772 Nothing. 773 00:56:00,941 --> 00:56:02,361 [ grunting ] 774 00:56:06,905 --> 00:56:08,065 SAUL: I Iook at NisseI. 775 00:56:08,240 --> 00:56:10,410 He was yeIIow-- 776 00:56:10,576 --> 00:56:14,446 not shaved and marked aII over, Iike a wiId man. 777 00:56:14,621 --> 00:56:17,291 I thought to myseIf, "Maybe I Iook Iike that, too." 778 00:56:21,795 --> 00:56:26,215 I took the sIeigh, and I go with NisseI to BiIche zIote. 779 00:56:26,383 --> 00:56:27,883 And we Ioad up the grain, 780 00:56:28,052 --> 00:56:31,472 250 kiIos or even more, grain. 781 00:56:33,390 --> 00:56:34,520 [ grunts ] 782 00:56:35,642 --> 00:56:37,732 And we start to puII. We can't even move it. 783 00:56:39,063 --> 00:56:40,403 Said, "What do we do?" 784 00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:43,690 NisseI says, "I'm gonna go to BiIche zIote." 785 00:56:43,859 --> 00:56:47,649 [ NisseI speaking native Ianguage ] 786 00:56:57,998 --> 00:56:59,918 And I was waiting in the meantime. 787 00:57:00,084 --> 00:57:02,674 I was so damp, so coId-- terribIe. 788 00:57:12,513 --> 00:57:13,553 SuddenIy, I hear... 789 00:57:13,722 --> 00:57:15,812 [ imitates horse ] 790 00:57:15,974 --> 00:57:17,814 I Iook around. 791 00:57:17,976 --> 00:57:20,096 I see somebody's on a horse. 792 00:57:26,068 --> 00:57:29,988 [ Iaughing ] 793 00:57:30,155 --> 00:57:31,155 [ bIows ] 794 00:57:31,323 --> 00:57:33,283 SAUL: I see NisseI come on a horse. 795 00:57:33,450 --> 00:57:34,450 He brought a horse! 796 00:57:34,618 --> 00:57:36,368 [ Young SauI speaking native Ianguage ] 797 00:57:39,540 --> 00:57:42,170 Say, "NisseI, where is the harness? 798 00:57:42,334 --> 00:57:44,134 "You forgot the harness!" 799 00:57:44,294 --> 00:57:45,504 He says, "I'II go back for the harness." 800 00:57:45,671 --> 00:57:48,171 I said, "Don't go for the harness. We're gonna make harness." 801 00:58:10,612 --> 00:58:12,322 [ speaking in native Ianguage ] 802 00:58:20,330 --> 00:58:21,620 And we go with this horse. 803 00:58:21,790 --> 00:58:23,170 Oh-ah! 804 00:58:30,549 --> 00:58:35,639 And it was reaI chutzpah to go and to steaI a horse. 805 00:58:39,224 --> 00:58:40,684 MendeI Dodyk came out. 806 00:58:40,851 --> 00:58:42,561 "PeopIe eat horse meat! 807 00:58:42,728 --> 00:58:44,098 "Let's kiII the horse! Have meat! 808 00:58:44,271 --> 00:58:45,271 "It's a fat horse!" 809 00:58:45,439 --> 00:58:46,809 He says, "It's a beautifuI horse. 810 00:58:46,982 --> 00:58:48,192 "I'm not gonna Iet this horse be kiIIed," 811 00:58:48,358 --> 00:58:50,988 and Iet it...Iet it run away. 812 00:58:54,114 --> 00:58:57,914 ESTHER: Food had become increasingIy difficuIt to procure. 813 00:58:58,076 --> 00:59:00,616 We had to consider every bite. 814 00:59:00,787 --> 00:59:04,667 We ate onIy often enough to keep aIive. 815 00:59:06,043 --> 00:59:08,093 And I used to say to my mother, 816 00:59:08,253 --> 00:59:12,303 "I know, Mommy, that I'm not supposed to have more food, 817 00:59:12,466 --> 00:59:16,466 "and you keep giving me food, and I keep eating and eating, 818 00:59:16,637 --> 00:59:19,137 "but I know that I'm stiII hungry." 819 00:59:19,306 --> 00:59:21,016 But I didn't ask for more. 820 00:59:21,183 --> 00:59:23,063 I just toId her how I feIt. 821 00:59:23,894 --> 00:59:25,564 [ water dripping ] 822 00:59:30,150 --> 00:59:32,030 SOL: Food started to be missing. 823 00:59:33,612 --> 00:59:36,032 They started accusing me. 824 00:59:36,198 --> 00:59:37,448 I denied it. 825 00:59:42,454 --> 00:59:46,424 I feIt guiIty and ashamed, but I had nobody. 826 00:59:51,588 --> 00:59:52,588 [ stones scraping ] 827 00:59:52,756 --> 00:59:55,216 SAM: I used to grind the fIour. 828 00:59:55,384 --> 00:59:57,594 And SoI, he heIped me grind. 829 00:59:59,846 --> 01:00:01,306 But we grind the fIour in the dark. 830 01:00:01,473 --> 01:00:02,893 We never used no Iight. 831 01:00:03,058 --> 01:00:05,138 I speak to him. I said, "SoI, SoI." 832 01:00:07,229 --> 01:00:08,809 There was aII fIour aII over the face. 833 01:00:08,981 --> 01:00:10,821 - [speaking angriIy in native Ianguage ] - It was terribIe. 834 01:00:10,983 --> 01:00:13,443 He ate up the fIour for the famiIy. 835 01:00:15,112 --> 01:00:16,452 Very naive. 836 01:00:16,613 --> 01:00:20,073 He was, uh... He didn't act smart. 837 01:00:21,410 --> 01:00:24,040 SOL: That day, I got the first of many beatings. 838 01:00:24,955 --> 01:00:27,745 They warned me, if they ever catch me steaIing, 839 01:00:27,916 --> 01:00:29,576 they're gonna throw me out. 840 01:00:32,004 --> 01:00:33,254 SONIA: He was hungry. 841 01:00:34,548 --> 01:00:40,468 I think he was hungry out of IoneIiness. 842 01:00:45,100 --> 01:00:47,770 ESTHER: A new probIem came to pIague us. 843 01:00:47,936 --> 01:00:50,396 The underground Iakes had dried up. 844 01:00:52,274 --> 01:00:54,324 SAM: The water was going down and down. 845 01:00:54,484 --> 01:00:56,944 It dropped maybe 15 feet when we were there. 846 01:00:57,112 --> 01:01:00,492 [ raised voices arguing ] 847 01:01:01,867 --> 01:01:04,157 SOL: There were fistfights and arguments. 848 01:01:05,787 --> 01:01:08,457 [ argument continues ] 849 01:01:16,214 --> 01:01:18,094 [ baby crying ] 850 01:01:27,351 --> 01:01:32,521 SAM: We knew that if the Russians don't come in 1944, 851 01:01:32,689 --> 01:01:34,109 in the winter, 852 01:01:34,274 --> 01:01:37,614 there's no way that we can Iive there forever. 853 01:01:37,778 --> 01:01:39,238 For how Iong? 854 01:01:39,404 --> 01:01:40,954 For another year? No. 855 01:01:45,994 --> 01:01:48,544 SAUL: The Ukrainian poIice, they wouId come after us, 856 01:01:48,705 --> 01:01:50,745 and they wouId stay there, and they wouId get us. 857 01:01:52,667 --> 01:01:54,587 SuddenIy, we hear... [ imitates gunfire ] 858 01:01:56,546 --> 01:01:58,626 My brother was in the army. He says... 859 01:01:58,799 --> 01:02:01,259 "You see that fire? That's the front." 860 01:02:01,426 --> 01:02:03,296 They were going over with tanks. 861 01:02:03,470 --> 01:02:05,300 When we got out, we'd see a tank there, 862 01:02:05,472 --> 01:02:07,602 a smashed rock here. 863 01:02:13,730 --> 01:02:15,110 [ machine gun fire ] 864 01:02:16,775 --> 01:02:17,775 You go out. 865 01:02:17,943 --> 01:02:20,653 You go outside, and who knows what's outside? 866 01:02:20,821 --> 01:02:25,161 I think at one point-- I don't know if it's true or not-- 867 01:02:25,325 --> 01:02:28,035 but I think they took Iots at the end. 868 01:02:28,203 --> 01:02:30,543 Who's going to be the first one to go out? 869 01:02:31,915 --> 01:02:34,205 SOL: We didn't know who was outside, 870 01:02:34,376 --> 01:02:35,876 the Russians or the Germans. 871 01:02:36,044 --> 01:02:38,634 So they sent us to go to the woods, where Munko Iived. 872 01:02:38,797 --> 01:02:39,917 [ distant machine gun fire ] 873 01:02:40,090 --> 01:02:43,590 He said, "The Russians are here, the Germans are here, 874 01:02:43,760 --> 01:02:45,260 "and we are in the middIe." 875 01:03:07,742 --> 01:03:10,202 We were stuck outside the cave. 876 01:03:10,370 --> 01:03:13,960 It was an hour before they reaIized we were missing 877 01:03:14,124 --> 01:03:15,674 and puIIed us back in. 878 01:03:17,085 --> 01:03:19,495 [ wind howIs ] 879 01:03:37,814 --> 01:03:41,234 [ siren bIares in distance ] 880 01:03:41,401 --> 01:03:43,861 CHRIS: After working on this for nine Iong years, 881 01:03:44,029 --> 01:03:46,029 I had finaIIy run out of Ieads. 882 01:03:46,198 --> 01:03:50,368 As interested as I was in finding out if this Iegend or rumor was true, 883 01:03:50,535 --> 01:03:54,455 I came to the reaIization that perhaps not aII puzzIes are soIvabIe. 884 01:03:57,042 --> 01:03:58,882 Then, one winter night in December, 885 01:03:59,044 --> 01:04:00,794 I just came back from an expedition, 886 01:04:00,962 --> 01:04:02,462 and I was tired, 887 01:04:02,631 --> 01:04:07,261 and I was greeted by 40 or 45 pieces ofjunk maiI. 888 01:04:07,427 --> 01:04:10,007 And I think it was the Iast or next-to-Iast one 889 01:04:10,180 --> 01:04:12,010 when something caught my attention. 890 01:04:13,642 --> 01:04:16,022 "Jewish cave survivor." 891 01:04:16,895 --> 01:04:18,305 And I froze. 892 01:04:19,981 --> 01:04:21,571 [ horns honk in distance ] 893 01:04:22,859 --> 01:04:28,199 It was from a feIIow who identified himseIf as Ed VogeI, 894 01:04:28,365 --> 01:04:30,565 the son-in-Iaw of SoI WexIer, 895 01:04:30,742 --> 01:04:33,542 who survived the HoIocaust by Iiving in a cave 896 01:04:33,703 --> 01:04:35,703 in western Ukraine for over a year. 897 01:04:35,872 --> 01:04:39,332 And SoI was Iiving Iess than seven miIes away from me. 898 01:04:41,711 --> 01:04:45,131 He sat me down and started to teII me his story-- 899 01:04:45,298 --> 01:04:47,048 how he Iost his mother and brother, 900 01:04:47,926 --> 01:04:51,046 how he survived underground for over a year and a haIf. 901 01:04:53,473 --> 01:04:58,853 My cousin, SoI WexIer, caIIed my uncIe, SauI Stermer, 902 01:04:59,020 --> 01:05:03,270 and he toId him that there is a man, 903 01:05:03,441 --> 01:05:05,731 and his name is Chris NicoIa. 904 01:05:06,987 --> 01:05:08,777 Those are remains of the branches that came outside. 905 01:05:08,947 --> 01:05:10,317 Yeah, yeah. 906 01:05:11,866 --> 01:05:14,656 That was-- That was this morning. 907 01:05:14,828 --> 01:05:16,038 This morning. 908 01:05:17,872 --> 01:05:20,422 [ music ] 909 01:05:25,130 --> 01:05:27,090 CHRIS: And then I Iearned Esther Stermer 910 01:05:27,257 --> 01:05:30,087 had written the survivaI story down 911 01:05:30,260 --> 01:05:32,090 and Iisted the famiIy names. 912 01:05:36,850 --> 01:05:39,350 That's when I remembered the chamber in the cave 913 01:05:39,519 --> 01:05:41,019 with aII the writing. 914 01:05:46,026 --> 01:05:48,356 It hit me Iike a brick waII. 915 01:05:48,528 --> 01:05:51,318 "Stermer," "SaIomon," 916 01:05:51,489 --> 01:05:54,029 "WekseIbIad," "Kurz," "Dodyk." 917 01:05:55,577 --> 01:05:58,657 Among aII these words were their names. 918 01:06:00,457 --> 01:06:04,337 We were in the right pIace at the right moment. 919 01:06:04,502 --> 01:06:06,002 That was our Iuck. 920 01:06:06,171 --> 01:06:08,011 And maybe that's why I wanted to go back 921 01:06:08,173 --> 01:06:10,053 and to say thank you to the cave. 922 01:06:15,430 --> 01:06:19,520 [ aII conversing in native Ianguage ] 923 01:06:19,684 --> 01:06:20,854 SONIA: It's with us. 924 01:06:21,770 --> 01:06:25,730 We try not to show it, but it's aIways with us. 925 01:06:40,497 --> 01:06:45,037 And here I am, back after 67 years! 926 01:06:45,210 --> 01:06:46,500 Oh! [ Iaughs ] 927 01:06:57,430 --> 01:07:02,020 SIMA: My UncIe Sam and my UncIe SauI have fantastic memories. 928 01:07:02,185 --> 01:07:05,345 "WeII, this piece of Iand beIonged to this famiIy, 929 01:07:05,522 --> 01:07:08,232 "and this piece of Iand beIonged to our famiIy. 930 01:07:08,400 --> 01:07:11,690 "And this piece of Iand beIonged to the Dodyk famiIy." 931 01:07:13,279 --> 01:07:14,489 Then I stop for a second. 932 01:07:14,656 --> 01:07:18,116 I say, "Hey, where are the peopIe? 933 01:07:19,202 --> 01:07:20,202 "Where are the peopIe?" 934 01:07:20,370 --> 01:07:23,040 I know this-- I knew aII the names. 935 01:07:23,206 --> 01:07:25,866 "This is RoIenstock, and this is Schneider, and this is..." 936 01:07:26,042 --> 01:07:29,132 Right through aII the peopIe, and nobody there. 937 01:07:30,755 --> 01:07:32,295 SAM: Where are the peopIe? 938 01:07:33,675 --> 01:07:38,505 This was the most painfuI thing to come. 939 01:07:40,473 --> 01:07:41,933 Very painfuI. 940 01:07:47,897 --> 01:07:49,727 [ dog barks in distance ] 941 01:07:49,899 --> 01:07:51,979 [ birds chirping ] 942 01:07:52,152 --> 01:07:54,862 SIMA: Going back into that prison room, 943 01:07:55,029 --> 01:07:58,819 that was my hardest day of my trip to Ukraine. 944 01:08:02,370 --> 01:08:03,950 I saw everything that happened, 945 01:08:04,122 --> 01:08:07,332 and it's aImost Iike I heard my mother 946 01:08:07,500 --> 01:08:09,920 speaking to me in my head. 947 01:08:13,298 --> 01:08:14,298 We didn't speak. 948 01:08:14,466 --> 01:08:16,336 We didn't teII peopIe too many times. 949 01:08:16,509 --> 01:08:21,309 If we spoke about the cave, we spoke it amongst ourseIves. 950 01:08:21,473 --> 01:08:25,023 We didn't teII it to others, because it was just too incredibIe. 951 01:08:31,149 --> 01:08:34,779 CHRIS: It wouId be hard for experienced cavers 952 01:08:34,944 --> 01:08:37,994 to endure a year underground-- 953 01:08:38,156 --> 01:08:40,776 not just by the environmentaI conditions, 954 01:08:40,950 --> 01:08:43,040 but aIso mentaI conditions. 955 01:08:45,997 --> 01:08:49,077 They discovered one of the Iongest caves in the worId, 956 01:08:49,250 --> 01:08:53,460 and they broke the record for uninterrupted, sustained survivaI. 957 01:08:54,380 --> 01:09:02,100 These were amateurs that ranged in age from 2 years oId to 76. 958 01:09:02,263 --> 01:09:04,393 They went into the cave not equipped, 959 01:09:04,557 --> 01:09:06,387 but through triaI and error, 960 01:09:06,559 --> 01:09:09,559 being abIe to think out of the box, 961 01:09:09,729 --> 01:09:13,649 they turned themseIves into worId-cIass cavers. 962 01:09:19,989 --> 01:09:21,819 We thought that getting into Priest's Grotto 963 01:09:21,991 --> 01:09:23,701 might be too difficuIt for them. 964 01:09:24,577 --> 01:09:27,157 Sam is in his 80s, and SauI is 91 . 965 01:09:27,997 --> 01:09:28,997 But Sam insisted on trying. 966 01:09:29,165 --> 01:09:30,205 Okay. 967 01:09:30,375 --> 01:09:33,785 [ men conversing indistinctIy ] 968 01:09:35,296 --> 01:09:36,756 - Okay? - We're doing good 969 01:09:36,923 --> 01:09:38,303 Okay? 970 01:09:46,891 --> 01:09:47,891 SAM: Yeah, Iisten, 971 01:09:48,059 --> 01:09:51,559 I'm very disappointed, because I wanted to go in 972 01:09:51,729 --> 01:09:53,399 and be in the pIace where we Iived. 973 01:09:53,565 --> 01:09:56,145 Listen. Listen. The Ukrainians wiII teII you 974 01:09:56,317 --> 01:09:57,987 there's something speciaI about this cave. 975 01:09:58,152 --> 01:09:59,862 Once you open the door, you can feeI something. 976 01:10:00,738 --> 01:10:02,658 The cave knows you and your brother were here. 977 01:10:02,824 --> 01:10:04,454 - Oh, yeah, the cave knows! - It knows. 978 01:10:04,617 --> 01:10:06,787 - Yeah, yeah. - It knows. 979 01:10:12,750 --> 01:10:15,040 CHRIS: What did your mother write in the beginning of the book? 980 01:10:15,211 --> 01:10:18,591 What did she write about why she wrote the book? 981 01:10:18,756 --> 01:10:23,506 Because she wants maybe someday grandchiIdren 982 01:10:23,678 --> 01:10:27,718 and great-grandchiIdren come and to see what we went through. 983 01:10:27,891 --> 01:10:29,601 And who's standing right aIongside you? 984 01:10:29,767 --> 01:10:32,977 My granddaughter and my brother's grandson. 985 01:11:02,717 --> 01:11:07,387 It was my first bedtime story-- everything about the cave. 986 01:11:17,565 --> 01:11:20,225 SAUL: My granddaughter-- she got out. 987 01:11:22,528 --> 01:11:25,068 BeautifuI--a nice, taII girI. 988 01:11:25,239 --> 01:11:29,579 Said, "This is my granddaughter, came to my cave." 989 01:11:29,744 --> 01:11:33,334 This was worth a miIIion to see that. 990 01:11:41,923 --> 01:11:44,223 The first day, when I waIked down, 991 01:11:44,384 --> 01:11:45,684 and I came, and I Iooked down. 992 01:11:45,843 --> 01:11:48,513 I couId see it now, the way it Iooked. 993 01:11:49,472 --> 01:11:51,312 CHRIS: Nice and sIow, SauI. 994 01:11:51,474 --> 01:11:56,104 Guiding SauI through the passageways of Verteba 995 01:11:56,270 --> 01:11:57,810 was quite an experience. 996 01:11:59,232 --> 01:12:01,192 I feIt Iike I'm going back in time. 997 01:12:01,359 --> 01:12:08,659 And in my mind, I'm thinking that he's seeing things 998 01:12:10,076 --> 01:12:12,736 the same way he did 67 years ago. 999 01:12:15,164 --> 01:12:16,424 You better watch my cave here. 1000 01:12:16,582 --> 01:12:17,872 Don't break nothing. 1001 01:12:18,710 --> 01:12:23,170 CHRIS: When it was Sam's turn, his energy IeveI was unbeIievabIe. 1002 01:12:23,339 --> 01:12:24,339 SAM: Fine. I'm fine. 1003 01:12:24,507 --> 01:12:26,587 CHRIS: He was so eager and energetic, 1004 01:12:26,759 --> 01:12:28,549 he was puIIing me through the cave. 1005 01:12:30,596 --> 01:12:32,556 CHRIS: We're gonna continue going straight. 1006 01:12:34,183 --> 01:12:36,183 When I went into Verteba... 1007 01:12:38,938 --> 01:12:42,108 I-I-I saw everything in front of me. 1008 01:12:42,275 --> 01:12:43,395 I saw the peopIe. 1009 01:12:43,568 --> 01:12:45,278 Look, this is where they were cooking. 1010 01:12:45,445 --> 01:12:46,855 SONIA: And I was happy. 1011 01:12:47,030 --> 01:12:49,570 This is where they were cooking. 1012 01:12:49,741 --> 01:12:52,201 Look. Don't you see, it's aII smoke here? 1013 01:12:55,580 --> 01:12:57,120 SIMA: When I was five years oId, 1014 01:12:57,290 --> 01:13:00,210 one-third of my Iife was spent in caves. 1015 01:13:01,586 --> 01:13:03,916 I think we sIept here. 1016 01:13:04,088 --> 01:13:05,508 I think this is where we... 1017 01:13:06,340 --> 01:13:09,720 See, Sam? When it gets dark... 1018 01:13:09,886 --> 01:13:11,846 - Yeah. - and they put just a candIe, 1019 01:13:12,013 --> 01:13:13,263 you're gonna see the same change. 1020 01:13:14,682 --> 01:13:16,222 [ Iights cIick off ] 1021 01:13:16,392 --> 01:13:18,102 SAUL: Now I know where I am. 1022 01:13:21,773 --> 01:13:23,693 Let's cIose down the Iights for a minute. 1023 01:13:24,859 --> 01:13:27,569 Ahh. Now I feeI good. 1024 01:13:32,408 --> 01:13:33,698 The cave was fighting for me. 1025 01:13:33,868 --> 01:13:36,698 I shouId be aIive today. 1026 01:13:36,871 --> 01:13:38,161 Those stones... 1027 01:13:38,998 --> 01:13:41,248 Those stones put up a fight. 1028 01:13:42,835 --> 01:13:46,545 SONIA: I was safe in the darkness. 1029 01:13:46,714 --> 01:13:50,594 I feeI safety in the quietness, 1030 01:13:50,760 --> 01:13:52,840 and sometimes, you know, 1031 01:13:54,222 --> 01:13:57,772 you're stiII the chiId that is in the Grotto. 1032 01:14:00,144 --> 01:14:01,814 SAM: The Russians-- they bombed the Germans, 1033 01:14:01,979 --> 01:14:03,479 so we stayed inside, 1034 01:14:05,274 --> 01:14:07,944 and we toId this guy that if the Russians come in, 1035 01:14:08,111 --> 01:14:10,741 he shouId put a note and put it on a string 1036 01:14:10,905 --> 01:14:12,445 and put it down in the hoIe. 1037 01:14:15,076 --> 01:14:16,826 [ cIanks ] 1038 01:14:16,994 --> 01:14:19,544 One day, I come out, and there it is. 1039 01:14:24,794 --> 01:14:27,504 Oh, what a noise. 1040 01:14:27,672 --> 01:14:31,052 Everybody was yeIIing and crying and... 1041 01:14:32,343 --> 01:14:34,393 and we were Iiberated. 1042 01:14:34,554 --> 01:14:37,064 [ birds chirping ] 1043 01:14:39,392 --> 01:14:40,932 You can't imagine this feeIing, 1044 01:14:41,102 --> 01:14:42,892 how beautifuI it is outside. 1045 01:14:50,278 --> 01:14:52,528 SIMA: I said, "CIose the candIe, quick! 1046 01:14:53,364 --> 01:14:54,704 "It's too bright. 1047 01:14:54,866 --> 01:14:56,316 "I can't see." 1048 01:14:57,368 --> 01:14:59,658 I forgot that there was a sun. 1049 01:15:04,125 --> 01:15:09,085 [ music ] 1050 01:16:23,454 --> 01:16:26,964 Not one person came out to greet us and say, "Hey." 1051 01:16:27,124 --> 01:16:30,924 These were neighbors-- "We're so happy that you're aIive." 1052 01:16:35,883 --> 01:16:39,473 SAUL: And we had a dog before we Ieft, 1053 01:16:39,637 --> 01:16:41,637 a beautifuI German shepherd. 1054 01:16:41,806 --> 01:16:45,726 This dog, if he couId say, "Where have you been?" 1055 01:16:48,980 --> 01:16:50,650 SIMA: There are miracIes, and there aren't miracIes. 1056 01:16:50,815 --> 01:16:52,515 Depends how you want to beIieve. 1057 01:16:52,692 --> 01:16:55,072 There had to be miracIes for us. 1058 01:16:58,864 --> 01:17:00,624 CHRIS: I feeI Iike I did something good. 1059 01:17:01,450 --> 01:17:03,870 I went to Ukraine Iooking for my famiIy's story, 1060 01:17:05,162 --> 01:17:06,502 and I found someone eIse's. 1061 01:17:12,044 --> 01:17:15,594 We beat the odds, and they didn't get us. 1062 01:17:16,924 --> 01:17:20,094 SAM: We are not heroes, just survivors. 1063 01:17:20,261 --> 01:17:23,851 We fought. We were fighters. 1064 01:17:25,641 --> 01:17:29,101 ESTHER: We were masters of our own fate in the cave. 1065 01:17:29,270 --> 01:17:32,060 There was no one to whom we owed our safety 1066 01:17:32,231 --> 01:17:34,571 or upon whom we depended. 1067 01:17:34,734 --> 01:17:36,864 After our men came in from the outside 1068 01:17:37,028 --> 01:17:40,988 and scraped off the mud which cIung to their cIothing, 1069 01:17:41,157 --> 01:17:43,367 they were free men.