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Our maids were usually young girls from the villages near Sofia, who lived with us. They used to spend about a year or two with us. I don’t remember any particular maid very well. Their tasks were mainly to clean the house and do the washing. My mother was the one who did the shopping and the cooking, but they also helped her by carrying the products that were bought, washing them, bringing in coal and wood, cleaning and firing the stoves. Mother and the maid went shopping on Thursday to prepare meals on Friday for the weekend. We went to the Tsentralni Hali [the central covered market in Sofia], which was near the Central Synagogue. I don’t remember my mother buying live hens to take them to the synagogue to be killed in accordance with the religious law. But I have some vague memories of hens being killed there. We bought meat many times, even pork steaks – my father lied to my mother saying that they were veal. Monday we ate beans and did the washing.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Tinka Kohen