Tag #136558 - Interview #98566 (Sultana Yulzari)

Selected text
My father was a tradesman and a craftsman – he manufactured umbrellas in his own workshop, which he sold in a shop he owned. He was a great Zionist, but he was not a member of any Zionist society and did not participate in any political party. I remember he was eager for our family to immigrate to Palestine, yet before Israel was constituted as a country. That is, his dream dates back to about 1920.

Then word got around in the Jewish community in Ruse that land lots were being offered for sale in Karmel. And my father let himself be duped. He sold out our hut, renounced his right over the lot, and gave all the money to a certain Robert Levi, who was promising he would buy land lots in Karmel for us, and we would go there, of course, we would immigrate. But this didn’t happen.

There were ‘feudal lords’ in what was then Palestine, who sold land to Bulgarian Jews, and probably to Jews from other parts of Europe, too. The offer was placed through an intermediary. And this intermediary represented an enterprise popular at the time. I don’t remember where it was headquartered or its name. In any case, this enterprise extended credits to the people here for buying land lots there.
Location

Bulgaria

Interview
Sultana Yulzari