Selected text
There were two headcount reductions in the Bulgarian army after the signing of the peace agreement with the UN powers. The first reduction was done in 1956 or 1957 and the second in 1958. I was affected by the second one. I decided to ask to be released from the army, because I had worked enough years, which together with the years of work experience awarded by the state for being a partisan, were enough for me to retire. So I was in the so-called 'first category of labor.'
During totalitarianism in Bulgaria this category included officers, miners, submarine operators etc., all of whom retired after 15 years of work. The so-called 'second category of labor' included employees of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry and other state departments, who had to have 18 to 20 years of work experience to retire. The third category included all the others, who had to have 25 years of work experience. Today retirement is done in accordance with new regulations, because the previous categories were rejected. Yet I did not want to stop working, because I was still young. So I said I would agree to retire if they found me work in Ruse. And they did.
I first worked in the District Committee of the Party as head of the Culture department in 1958, right after I returned from Varna. I was in charge of the cultural institutes and the bigger cultural events. But I didn't get along well with the propaganda secretary Petko Yordanov. He wanted me to send the drama and opera actors in the villages to lead amateur groups in the community houses, without paying for their transport or for decent accommodation, expecting them to stay in the municipalities' miserable bedrooms. I was against that. So he said, ‘It seems that I cannot work with comrade Yakov.’ I answered, ‘It's not a big deal. There is plenty of work to be done elsewhere.’ But nobody could fire me, because partisans could leave work only on their own accord. So I didn't leave. But he played a cunning trick – he discharged my position for one year. No position – no problem. But I was offered many other positions.
So in 1959 I agreed to become deputy director of the Drama Theater. Of course, I am no theater specialist, but thanks to my experience as head of the 'Cultural Institutions' department in Ruse, I started working in the management of the theater. The director of the theater was Alexander Bechev. The puppet theater in Ruse had to become a state one, that is, it had to be turned from an amateur one at the Home of Transport Workers to an official branch of the Drama Theater. As deputy director I insisted a lot for us to have such a branch, because I grew to love theater, in contrast to Alexander Bechev. He was also not a theater specialist, but he was appointed by a party decision. And he told me, ‘If you insist so much on us having a puppet theater, then you will be chairman of the art council of the branch.’ So, on 15th February 1960 I signed the appointment orders of eleven people, who founded the Puppet Theater in Ruse. After some time I was appointed secretary of the Regional Community House Council, but only for a year, because I wanted to go back to the Puppet Theater.
In 1961-62 a national review of puppet theaters was organized in Sofia. During the review there was only one theater about whose professional qualities doubts were voiced, and that was the one in Ruse. I got worried. At that time I was party secretary of the theater, deputy director and chairman of the art council. So we decided to take serious measures. I managed to convince Petar Alexandrov, one of the distinguished actors in Ruse, to come work with us. He came from the theater in Stara Zagora where he played after he graduated from VITIZ [Higher Institute of Theatrical Art, the former name of the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts]. He agreed to prepare to become stage manager in the puppet theater. We sent him to Czechoslovakia for half a year, then to Leningrad for two to three months to learn the craft. When he came back, the director of the Puppet Theater Nikola Krastev was dismissed and I was appointed in his place. I do not remember the year exactly, but by 1980 I was twice director of the Puppet Theater.
During totalitarianism in Bulgaria this category included officers, miners, submarine operators etc., all of whom retired after 15 years of work. The so-called 'second category of labor' included employees of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry and other state departments, who had to have 18 to 20 years of work experience to retire. The third category included all the others, who had to have 25 years of work experience. Today retirement is done in accordance with new regulations, because the previous categories were rejected. Yet I did not want to stop working, because I was still young. So I said I would agree to retire if they found me work in Ruse. And they did.
I first worked in the District Committee of the Party as head of the Culture department in 1958, right after I returned from Varna. I was in charge of the cultural institutes and the bigger cultural events. But I didn't get along well with the propaganda secretary Petko Yordanov. He wanted me to send the drama and opera actors in the villages to lead amateur groups in the community houses, without paying for their transport or for decent accommodation, expecting them to stay in the municipalities' miserable bedrooms. I was against that. So he said, ‘It seems that I cannot work with comrade Yakov.’ I answered, ‘It's not a big deal. There is plenty of work to be done elsewhere.’ But nobody could fire me, because partisans could leave work only on their own accord. So I didn't leave. But he played a cunning trick – he discharged my position for one year. No position – no problem. But I was offered many other positions.
So in 1959 I agreed to become deputy director of the Drama Theater. Of course, I am no theater specialist, but thanks to my experience as head of the 'Cultural Institutions' department in Ruse, I started working in the management of the theater. The director of the theater was Alexander Bechev. The puppet theater in Ruse had to become a state one, that is, it had to be turned from an amateur one at the Home of Transport Workers to an official branch of the Drama Theater. As deputy director I insisted a lot for us to have such a branch, because I grew to love theater, in contrast to Alexander Bechev. He was also not a theater specialist, but he was appointed by a party decision. And he told me, ‘If you insist so much on us having a puppet theater, then you will be chairman of the art council of the branch.’ So, on 15th February 1960 I signed the appointment orders of eleven people, who founded the Puppet Theater in Ruse. After some time I was appointed secretary of the Regional Community House Council, but only for a year, because I wanted to go back to the Puppet Theater.
In 1961-62 a national review of puppet theaters was organized in Sofia. During the review there was only one theater about whose professional qualities doubts were voiced, and that was the one in Ruse. I got worried. At that time I was party secretary of the theater, deputy director and chairman of the art council. So we decided to take serious measures. I managed to convince Petar Alexandrov, one of the distinguished actors in Ruse, to come work with us. He came from the theater in Stara Zagora where he played after he graduated from VITIZ [Higher Institute of Theatrical Art, the former name of the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts]. He agreed to prepare to become stage manager in the puppet theater. We sent him to Czechoslovakia for half a year, then to Leningrad for two to three months to learn the craft. When he came back, the director of the Puppet Theater Nikola Krastev was dismissed and I was appointed in his place. I do not remember the year exactly, but by 1980 I was twice director of the Puppet Theater.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Yako Yakov