Priest's Grotto
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Priest's Grotto () also known as Ozerna or Blue Lakes Cave, is a
cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...
in western
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
near the village of Strilkivtsi,
Chortkiv Raion Chortkiv Raion () is a raion in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine. Its capital (political), administrative center is the city of Chortkiv. It has a population of History In the Second Polish Republic, the area belonged to the County of Kopczync ...
,
Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...
Oblast (Province). Priest's Grotto is part of the extensive gypsum giant cave system, and is one of the longest caves in the world with over (2017) of explored passages. It is about driving distance southwest of
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, and about south of
Borshchiv Borshchiv (, ; ; ) is a city in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It was previously the administrative center of the former Borshchiv Raion until 2020. Borshchiv hosts the administration of Borshchiv urban hromada, one of the hrom ...
. In World War II it was used as a refuge by Jewish refugees from the Nazi occupation during the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. It is the 16th longest cave system in the world.


Holocaust refuge

In 1942–1944, during the
Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...
, several
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
families lived in this and the nearby Verteba Cave located to the west in the town of Bilche Zolote. Some of these people never left the cave for 344 days, making this the longest recorded instance of uninterrupted cave habitation known. Although some of the Jews hiding in these caves were caught and murdered by the Nazis, thirty-eight of them managed to survive the Holocaust of Ukrainian Jews until the area was liberated by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
in April 1944. These people would have almost certainly not survived had they not sought shelter in these caves, since 95% of the Jews in Ukraine were murdered. Moreover, this group included two families, which made their survival all the more remarkable, since only 1% of Ukrainian Jewish families survived the Holocaust intact. At first they hid in the Verteba Cave. However, after the Germans discovered their presence there, they moved to the relatively unknown Priest's Grotto cave, where they managed to survive for the rest of the German occupation of the region. Some of the local Ukrainians helped the Jews by selling them food, but others came close to bringing down their destruction, at one point even attempting an armed assault against the Jewish men who were trying to haul sacks of grain into the entrance of the cave in the middle of the night. The people in the cave could not afford to illuminate the darkness, but had to conserve candles and fuel. This meant that they only lit candles for a few minutes, several times a day, in order to prepare meals. All other times were spent in complete and total darkness. One of the survivors, Pepkala Blitzer, a four-year-old girl when she and her family sought shelter in the caves from the Nazis, later recalled how she had completely forgotten about the sun or daylight. Eventually, one day in early April 1944, one of the Jewish men found a bottle lying on the floor beneath the entrance to the cave. Inside was a message from a friendly Ukrainian farmer, which read: "The Germans have already gone." A few days later, the entire group of Jews hiding in the cave (numbering 38 people) finally left their refuge. Standing in the bright sunshine, Pepkala asked her mother to put out the bright candle, because it hurt her eyes too much. She was referring to the sun, which she could not remember having seen.


Survivors

Most of the survivors from Priest's Grotto emigrated to North America, where their descendants still live. Their story was relatively unknown until young American spelunker and former police officer Christos Nicola explored caves in this region. In 1993, he discovered evidence that people had sought refuge in Priest's Grotto cave during World War II. He inquired about this with local residents, which yielded a rumor that "perhaps some Jews had lived in the cave during the War". After returning to his home in
Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, Nicola spent ten years researching the story until he was able to locate a survivor who lived just a few miles from him in Queens. This led him to meeting with many of the remaining Jewish survivors, and he recorded their experiences.


Documentary

The story of the survivors who lived in these caves was featured in the June/July 2004 issue of the ''
National Geographic Adventure Nat Geo People (short for National Geographic People) is an international pay television channel owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). Targeted a ...
'' magazine, as well as numerous other journal articles, and an award-winning book published in 2007 that Nicola helped to write, targeted for a young adult audience. ''
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
'' staff writer and photographer Peter Lane Taylor, who co-authored ''The Secret of Priest's Grotto'' with Nicola, created a production company named Frontier Media Ventures, to help facilitate the making of a documentary, exhibit, and feature film about Nicola and the Priest's Grotto Jews. ''
No Place on Earth ''No Place on Earth'' is a 2012 documentary film produced, written and directed by Janet Tobias, based on Esther Stermer's memoir ''We Fight to Survive''. It was released theatrically in the United States on April 5, 2013. Synopsis In 1993, NYPD o ...
'' is a documentary/feature film about the Priest's Grotto story, as well as Nicola's investigative work in bringing the story to the public's attention, directed and produced by
Janet Tobias Janet Tobias is a media executive specializing in healthcare as well as an Emmy Award-winning director, producer, and writer. She directed '' Fauci'', and also '' No Place On Earth'' in 2012, a docudrama about two caves in Ukraine in which three ...
, narrated by Nicola and four survivors of the caves. It was released theatrically in the US in 2013 by
Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
and in Germany by Senator Films.


See also

*
List of longest caves This list of longest caves includes caves in which the combined length of documented passageways exceeds . In some of these caves, passageways are still being discovered. Geographical distribution Caves are found around the world. The largest ...
*
The Holocaust in Ukraine The Holocaust saw the systematic mass murder of Jews in the '' Reichskommissariat Ukraine'', the General Government, the Crimean General Government and some areas which were located to the east of ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' (all of those ar ...


References


External links


The Darkest Days
-
National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
article * {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028042724/http://www.geocities.com/cnico.geo/homepage/newindex4.html , date=October 28, 2009 , title=Ukrainian American Youth Caver Exchange Foundation coverage
Holocaust Ukraine: Off the face of the earth it was the only refuge they had left
from ArtUkraine.com
''The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story''
-
Kar-Ben Publishing Kar-Ben Publishing, an award-winning children's book publisher providing a growing Jewish library for children, is a division of Minneapolis-based Lerner Publishing Group. Similar publishers that also specialize in the genre include: Apples & Hon ...

NBC Today Show
Video

Story of the Jewish families who survived the war in Priest's Grotto

- includes biographical information about Christos Nicola, and links to videos and information about the story of the survivors who hid in these caves during the Holocaust.
''No Place on Earth''
- documentary/feature film Gypsum caves Holocaust locations in Ukraine Grottoes Caves of Ternopil Oblast Caves used for hiding