Selected text
Suddenly, a woman from some window shouted at me, ‘Hey, boy, run, all of your people are being arrested!’ I was so shocked. I couldn’t see who had shouted at me. I even looked for that woman later on, but couldn’t find her. I turned back and ran. The man who was guarding the two Jews probably didn’t want to leave them, so he didn’t come after me. I went back to the high school. I had a classmate who lived on Tsar Simeon Street. His name was Lyuben Peshev. I went to his place and said, ‘Please, go and see what is happening in our neighborhood!’ He went and after a while he returned. I waited for him at his place. He said, ‘Disturbing things are taking place, they are arresting everyone they catch. But I went to your mother and told her not to worry, because you are with me.’ So, later during the evening he went to check again and when he returned he said, ‘It’s calm now, you can go home.’ So, I returned home.
Some time after that, a decision was taken to intern the Sofia Jews in different cities [see Internment of Jews in Bulgaria] [29]. We were interned to Dupnitsa. We left our house and our possessions and took as much as we could carry. We locked the house, but later we found out that that didn’t stop the burglars. We went to Dupnitsa. It was very difficult to find a place to live there; there was no work. The Jewish municipality had organized some food for the Jews. I was with my sister, and my brother had been mobilized to the Jewish labor camps [see Forced labor camps in Bulgaria] [30]. He had graduated from high school and was mobilized every year. Suddenly, in September some policemen came to Dupnitsa, took our family and 10-15 more Jews, mostly intellectuals, and put us on a train. We were being guarded by armed policemen. We spent the night in Sofia, in the basement of the police commandant’s office: the men were separated from the women. During the night we heard some screams, in the morning we found out that my sister had had a nervous breakdown. Then we were once again put on the train and taken to Somovit. That was a camp for Jews to be repatriated to Poland. The barges were waiting on the Danube and the policemen showed them to us, ‘You see, we are waiting for the order to put you on them.’ By the way, in Somovit I met the two Jews who were detained on that corner in Sofia during the 24th May demonstration.
Some time after that, a decision was taken to intern the Sofia Jews in different cities [see Internment of Jews in Bulgaria] [29]. We were interned to Dupnitsa. We left our house and our possessions and took as much as we could carry. We locked the house, but later we found out that that didn’t stop the burglars. We went to Dupnitsa. It was very difficult to find a place to live there; there was no work. The Jewish municipality had organized some food for the Jews. I was with my sister, and my brother had been mobilized to the Jewish labor camps [see Forced labor camps in Bulgaria] [30]. He had graduated from high school and was mobilized every year. Suddenly, in September some policemen came to Dupnitsa, took our family and 10-15 more Jews, mostly intellectuals, and put us on a train. We were being guarded by armed policemen. We spent the night in Sofia, in the basement of the police commandant’s office: the men were separated from the women. During the night we heard some screams, in the morning we found out that my sister had had a nervous breakdown. Then we were once again put on the train and taken to Somovit. That was a camp for Jews to be repatriated to Poland. The barges were waiting on the Danube and the policemen showed them to us, ‘You see, we are waiting for the order to put you on them.’ By the way, in Somovit I met the two Jews who were detained on that corner in Sofia during the 24th May demonstration.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Seliktar