Caves of Salvation  Ukrainian Jews Survived Holocaust in
Underground Grottos  The Ceiling of the Priest's Grotto
American caver Chris Nicola looks up at the name "Stermer" in
candle-smoke graffiti on a cave wall.  As Ukrainian Jews in
1942, the Stermer family knew they faced a grim fate at the
hands of advancing Nazis. To stay alive, they decided to go
underground — literally — living in a labyrinth of local caves
for over a year.  Thirty-eight people huddled together in the
"Priest's Grotto," where they learned to eat, sleep and survive
in near total darkness. The horrors of the Holocaust continued
right over their heads. Entrances to the cave were sealed time
and again and food was brought in from rare forays above ground.
Finally, the signal came: a message inside a bottle lowered down
a chimney-like entrance to the grotto by their connection to the
outside world. The Germans had left and Russian troops were
entering their small Ukrainian village.  NPR's Scott Simon talks
to surviving family members, now