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It wasn't easy during the Holocaust; it was almost devastating. First of
all, we didn't have the material base to provide our living without being
permitted to work. My brothers were in the forced labor camps. I was only
19 and my sister was 21, and we had to work. A friend of my father, Atanas
Minkov, a famous lawyer in Vidin, found us jobs. It was very hard physical
labor in a brickyard. The director respected us, helped us. There was quite
a distance between Vidin and the brickyard. He would pass in a cabriolet,
pick us up on his route and drop us right before the brickyard so that they
wouldn't see him and blame him for supporting Jews. I will never forget
him. His name was Zdravkov.
We weren't allowed to go out in the street. We had a curfew. At that time
we lived on Timok Street, and our landlord was a military officer. I can
hardly explain how big his heart was and how good he was. He helped us in
every way. We couldn't buy bread, because as soon as we went out during the
hours permitted, there was no longer any bread. He supplied us with bread.
And when they were about to intern us from Vidin, my mother made for each
one of her children a small dowry. In those times, you were supposed to put
something aside for the time of your marriage. She arranged all these
things in a chest, listed them and left everything with that Bulgarian
officer, along with her jewels. Later on, he became a minister
plenipotentiary in Czechoslovakia or in Poland. He was a very intelligent
man. He had studied in Turkey. His name was Vladimir Panov. He did us a
really very big favor. Bulgarians weren't bad people, not at all.
all, we didn't have the material base to provide our living without being
permitted to work. My brothers were in the forced labor camps. I was only
19 and my sister was 21, and we had to work. A friend of my father, Atanas
Minkov, a famous lawyer in Vidin, found us jobs. It was very hard physical
labor in a brickyard. The director respected us, helped us. There was quite
a distance between Vidin and the brickyard. He would pass in a cabriolet,
pick us up on his route and drop us right before the brickyard so that they
wouldn't see him and blame him for supporting Jews. I will never forget
him. His name was Zdravkov.
We weren't allowed to go out in the street. We had a curfew. At that time
we lived on Timok Street, and our landlord was a military officer. I can
hardly explain how big his heart was and how good he was. He helped us in
every way. We couldn't buy bread, because as soon as we went out during the
hours permitted, there was no longer any bread. He supplied us with bread.
And when they were about to intern us from Vidin, my mother made for each
one of her children a small dowry. In those times, you were supposed to put
something aside for the time of your marriage. She arranged all these
things in a chest, listed them and left everything with that Bulgarian
officer, along with her jewels. Later on, he became a minister
plenipotentiary in Czechoslovakia or in Poland. He was a very intelligent
man. He had studied in Turkey. His name was Vladimir Panov. He did us a
really very big favor. Bulgarians weren't bad people, not at all.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
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