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When we came home after the end of the war, we didn't find anything - not a
single spoon, not a single fork. We didn't have a knife. My brother found
one. Some very poor people had moved into the house we used to live in.
They had cut even the wardrobes to use as firewood in the stove. Those were
three most beautiful wardrobes; they were made of walnut. I used to look at
my reflection in the doors of the wardrobes when I passed by. Everything
was ruined, the whole house. People thought that we wouldn't return and let
such poor people in our house. We couldn't go back, and my brother found us
another house.
When I returned to work after internment, it was as though someone from
high society had entered the factory. Almost the whole weaving workshop
came out to greet me. It was like a celebration. I felt almost like a
queen. During the internment, my colleagues supported me all the time in
every possible way, by constantly sending me parcels, money.
Since the end of the war, I worked as a weaver. I never had any problems
because I am a Jew. I have always been well accepted both by the Bulgarians
and the Jews at work, the Bulgarian silk factory. After the war, I returned
to the same work in production, only not in the weaving shop but in the
dyer's department.
single spoon, not a single fork. We didn't have a knife. My brother found
one. Some very poor people had moved into the house we used to live in.
They had cut even the wardrobes to use as firewood in the stove. Those were
three most beautiful wardrobes; they were made of walnut. I used to look at
my reflection in the doors of the wardrobes when I passed by. Everything
was ruined, the whole house. People thought that we wouldn't return and let
such poor people in our house. We couldn't go back, and my brother found us
another house.
When I returned to work after internment, it was as though someone from
high society had entered the factory. Almost the whole weaving workshop
came out to greet me. It was like a celebration. I felt almost like a
queen. During the internment, my colleagues supported me all the time in
every possible way, by constantly sending me parcels, money.
Since the end of the war, I worked as a weaver. I never had any problems
because I am a Jew. I have always been well accepted both by the Bulgarians
and the Jews at work, the Bulgarian silk factory. After the war, I returned
to the same work in production, only not in the weaving shop but in the
dyer's department.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
elza rizova