No Place on Earth

Recently I came across a story of hiding during the Holocaust that I had never heard before. The film chronicling this story is entitled “No Place on Earth” (http://www.noplaceonearthfilm.com/). 

The film, part documentary and part dramatization, follows the efforts of five Ukrainian Jewish families (38 men, women and children) who sought refuge from the war in a cave. They spent a total of 511 days underground. The men ventured into the night to collect food, supplies and chop firewood. The girls and women never left; surviving underground longer than anyone in recorded history.

In the 1990s American caver Chris Nicola came across items in the cave. After doing research he discovered the remarkable story of survival. The film also shows four of the survivors returning to the caves that hid them. This film is a great addition to the stories of Jewish survival from the Holocaust. All survival stories contain amazing elements but this adds another dimension. I was caught up in the story of these people, families no less, who crawled in and out of these caves through narrow crevices that are claustrophobic inducing.   

CLICK HERE for an information quest activity from IWitness related to the movie.