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When 74-year-old Shunkale Hochman of Long Island lies down on the couch and covers her body with a blanket, her husband says she is in the grotto again.

Her husband is referring to Priest’s Grotto in the Ukraine, a cave where Hochman, a native of Poland and her family hid from the Nazis during their raid on Eastern Europe in 1942. Hochman who was nine at the time and her family were among other Jewish families who called the cave home for 344 days.

“You don’t know how your heart pounds and how you feel that you’re going to be discovered any second and you are going to be shot,” she said.

Hochman and her family only saw light two to three times a day, and never longer than five minutes, the world extending no more than five to six feet. Her family made bunkers in the cave and slept most of the day to preserve energy. Her grandmother was the person who kept everyone together, determined not to let her family enter a concentration camp.

Hochman and the other families were the only people who knew about the cave until 1993, when Astoria native and cave explorer Chris Nicola went to western Ukraine. Nicola wanted to explore some of the longest caves in the world and search for missing Russian relatives who died in the 1920s under mysterious circumstances.

“Ironically I found out nothing about my missing relatives,” he said. “Instead I found out about the story of 38 courageous people.”

During his exploration of Priest’s Grotto, Nicola unearthed old shoes and buttons, signs that there might have been habitation in the past. While asking locals about the cave he heard stories of Jewish families who used the caves in the area as hiding places from the Nazis. After presenting a slideshow of his exploration in 2003, Nicola was approached by Hochman, who confirmed the stories he was told for years.

Hochman has not been to the cave in more than 60 years after the liberation in 1944, but that will change when she and two of her uncles will travel with Nicola back to Priest’s Grotto on Aug. 16.

During a news conference at Long Island Jewish Medical Center last Thursday, Nicola explained the risky trip. He said Hochman and her uncles will crawl for 90 feet after descending from a 25-foot long metal pipe to get to the site.

“There is a danger for any caver, the temperature of the cave is around 50 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit with 100 percent humidity,” he said. “There is also a chance of fallen rocks.”

Also going to Priest’s Grotto are a medical team and a film crew who will be filming the trip for a documentary. The LIJ Medical Center will donate the medical supplies.

“We have never forgotten the cave. We always talk about the cave,” Hochman said. “This exodus is very emotional for me.”