Author at the Library: "The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story," with Christos Nicola, cave explorer.

This visual presentation explores one of the most gripping survival stories in history.  First unearthed by caver Christos Nicola in 2002, this inspiring talk chronicles the survival of four Jewish families from the western Ukraine, who escaped death at the hands of the Nazis by taking refuge in what is now the 9th longest cave in the world.  He explores how the Ukrainian Jewish families survived the Holocaust by hiding in a cave near their village for 344 days.  Sixty years later, in 2003, cavers explored the cave and found signs of human habitation.  The author's Internet searches eventually connected him with some of the survivors, from whom he learned how 38 people, including toddlers and a 75-year-old grandmother, fled the Nazis and lived in four underground rooms, sealed off from the outside world.  There are color photos that take the audience to the site and show some of the people now, while black-and-white historical ones reveal the past.