WASHINGTON — A tunnel that was dug by Jews to escape Nazi death squads has been unearthed in Lithuania, according to a team of archeologists from the United States, Israel, and Canada.

The tunnel was dug in 1944 by prisoners being held in a pit at the Ponary killing fields outside Vilnius. They were brought over from the Stutthof concentration camp, in what is now Poland, for the purpose of digging up the mass graves at Ponary, where an estimated 100,000 people had been killed since 1941.

At night the Nazis kept the prisoners in pits, and that’s where a group of about 80 decided to try to escape. Using their bare hands, spoons, and anything else that could be used as a tool, they spent three months making a tunnel.

Forty prisoners were able to escape, according to reports. Most, however, were shot by Nazi guards who tracked them down. Only 11were able to survive.

Researchers had been searching for the tunnel for decades, but they were only able to locate its mouth in 2004, according to the New York Times. The team of archeologists was able to finally discern the path of the 115-foot-long tunnel using technology that scans beneath the ground using sound waves.

Washington Post