No Place on Earth Page #6

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why I wanted to go back and to say thank you

to the cave. [ aII conversing in native Ianguage ] SONIA: It's with us. We try not to show it,

but it's aIways with us. And here I am, back after 67 years! Oh! [ Iaughs ] SIMA: My UncIe Sam and my UncIe SauI

have fantastic memories. "WeII, this piece of Iand

beIonged to this famiIy, "and this piece of Iand

beIonged to our famiIy. "And this piece of Iand

beIonged to the Dodyk famiIy." Then I stop for a second. I say, "Hey, where are the peopIe? "Where are the peopIe?" I know this--

I knew aII the names. "This is RoIenstock,

and this is Schneider, and this is..." Right through aII the peopIe,

and nobody there. SAM: Where are the peopIe? This was

the most painfuI thing to come. Very painfuI. [ dog barks in distance ] [ birds chirping ] SIMA:

Going back into that prison room, that was my hardest day

of my trip to Ukraine. I saw everything that happened, and it's aImost

Iike I heard my mother speaking to me in my head. We didn't speak. We didn't teII peopIe

too many times. If we spoke about the cave,

we spoke it amongst ourseIves. We didn't teII it to others,

because it was just too incredibIe. CHRIS: It wouId be hard

for experienced cavers to endure a year underground-- not just by the environmentaI conditions, but aIso mentaI conditions. They discovered one

of the Iongest caves in the worId, and they broke the record

for uninterrupted, sustained survivaI. These were amateurs that ranged

in age from 2 years oId to 76. They went into the cave

not equipped, but through triaI and error, being abIe to think

out of the box, they turned themseIves

into worId-cIass cavers. We thought that getting

into Priest's Grotto might be too difficuIt for them. Sam is in his 80s,

and SauI is 91 . But Sam insisted on trying. Okay. [ men conversing indistinctIy ] - Okay?

- We're doing good Okay? SAM: Yeah, Iisten, I'm very disappointed,

because I wanted to go in and be in the pIace

where we Iived. Listen. Listen.

The Ukrainians wiII teII you there's something speciaI

about this cave. Once you open the door,

you can feeI something. The cave knows you

and your brother were here. - Oh, yeah, the cave knows!

- It knows. - Yeah, yeah.

- It knows. CHRIS: What did your mother write

in the beginning of the book? What did she write

about why she wrote the book? Because she wants

maybe someday grandchiIdren and great-grandchiIdren come

and to see what we went through. And who's standing

right aIongside you? My granddaughter

and my brother's grandson. It was my first bedtime story--

everything about the cave. SAUL: My granddaughter--

she got out. BeautifuI--a nice, taII girI. Said, "This is my granddaughter,

came to my cave." This was worth a miIIion

to see that. The first day,

when I waIked down, and I came, and I Iooked down. I couId see it now,

the way it Iooked. CHRIS: Nice and sIow, SauI. Guiding SauI through

the passageways of Verteba was quite an experience. I feIt Iike I'm going

back in time. And in my mind, I'm thinking

that he's seeing things the same way he did 67 years ago. You better watch my cave here. Don't break nothing. CHRIS: When it was Sam's turn,

his energy IeveI was unbeIievabIe. SAM: Fine. I'm fine. CHRIS:

He was so eager and energetic, he was puIIing me

through the cave. CHRIS: We're gonna continue

going straight. When I went into Verteba... I-I-I saw everything

in front of me. I saw the peopIe. Look, this is where

they were cooking. SONIA: And I was happy. This is where they were cooking. Look. Don't you see,

it's aII smoke here? SIMA:

When I was five years oId, one-third of my Iife

was spent in caves. I think we sIept here. I think this is where we... See, Sam?

When it gets dark... - Yeah.

- and they put just a candIe, you're gonna see the same change. [ Iights cIick off ] SAUL:

Now I know where I am. Let's cIose down the Iights

for a minute. Ahh. Now I feeI good. The cave was fighting for me. I shouId be aIive today. Those stones... Those stones put up a fight. SONIA:

I was safe in the darkness. I feeI safety in the quietness, and sometimes, you know, you're stiII

the chiId that is in the Grotto. SAM: The Russians--

they bombed the Germans, so we stayed inside, and we toId this guy

that if the Russians come in, he shouId put a note

and put it on a string and put it down in the hoIe. [ cIanks ] One day, I come out,

and there it is. Oh, what a noise. Everybody was yeIIing

and crying and... and we were Iiberated. [ birds chirping ] You can't imagine this feeIing, how beautifuI it is outside. SIMA: I said,

"CIose the candIe, quick! "It's too bright. "I can't see." I forgot that there was a sun. [ music ] Not one person came out

to greet us and say, "Hey." These were neighbors--

"We're so happy that you're aIive." SAUL: And we had a dog

before we Ieft, a beautifuI German shepherd. This dog, if he couId say,

"Where have you been?" SIMA: There are miracIes,

and there aren't miracIes. Depends how you want to beIieve. There had to be miracIes for us. CHRIS:

I feeI Iike I did something good. I went to Ukraine

Iooking for my famiIy's story, and I found someone eIse's. We beat the odds,

and they didn't get us. SAM: We are not heroes,

just survivors. We fought.

We were fighters. ESTHER: We were masters

of our own fate in the cave. There was no one

to whom we owed our safety or upon whom we depended. After our men came in

from the outside and scraped off the mud

which cIung to their cIothing, they were free men.

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