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I was born in Sofia on 11th September 1927. I went to kindergarten. It was called nursery then. We went to it one year before we started school. At that time we started school at the age of eight, so we went to the nursery at the age of seven. Before that our mother looked after us at home. My brother was older and the two of us went together to the Jewish school. My favorite subjects were history and geography. I loved my elementary and nursery teacher. My elementary school teacher’s name was Suzana. She was beautiful and taught us Bulgarian. Our other teacher, Batia, was also very nice. She taught us Ivrit. My friends at school were my classmates, who were all Jews. After high school I had other friends as well. I studied in a Bulgarian high school as there wasn’t a Jewish one then. I studied at the 3rd Men’s High School.
When I was a pupil, my only friends were my classmates. We went to the cinema, played soccer, and bought adventure books which we read. I remember ‘Old Shatterhand’ from my childhood years [Character and chapter in Karl May’s novel Winnetou], ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Snow-white and the Seven Dwarfs’ from even earlier. I was a member of the Maccabi [World Union] [18] sports organization, which still exists. At school we played team sports, such as volleyball or did gymnastics. The first years we also went to school on Saturdays. On Sundays we usually went to the cinema or for a walk. My parents took us to the park called Borisova Garden. During the summer holidays we went once or twice to Varna by train. [Varna is the main port city of Bulgaria on the Black Sea, also a popular resort area.
When I was a pupil, my only friends were my classmates. We went to the cinema, played soccer, and bought adventure books which we read. I remember ‘Old Shatterhand’ from my childhood years [Character and chapter in Karl May’s novel Winnetou], ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Snow-white and the Seven Dwarfs’ from even earlier. I was a member of the Maccabi [World Union] [18] sports organization, which still exists. At school we played team sports, such as volleyball or did gymnastics. The first years we also went to school on Saturdays. On Sundays we usually went to the cinema or for a walk. My parents took us to the park called Borisova Garden. During the summer holidays we went once or twice to Varna by train. [Varna is the main port city of Bulgaria on the Black Sea, also a popular resort area.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Seliktar