Selected text
I started studying law at Sofia University. My husband and I lived in a rented onebedroom apartment. But then from 1939-1941 anti-Jewish laws and the Law for the Protection of the Nation [13] were passed in Bulgaria, which led to many Jews being laid off of work and the men were sent to labor camps. I studied only two years, because I had to start work in 1941 as a spinner in a factory. My husband was sent to a labor camp, and my father was laid off. I got pregnant, but it was a stillbirth after the first bombing by the English of Sofia in 1941. There was a song at that time: ‘We will fly against England’ portraying the war as something abstract and far away. But the bombings were real enough and during one of them, after we went down to the basement, my mother went up to go to the toilet and forgot to switch the lamp off. The following day my father was arrested for ostensibly making signs to the English for where to bomb. He was later released, but because of the anxiety and the bombings, I had a stillbirth.
I gave birth to Leah in June 1942. Pepo was in a labor camp again [see forced labor camps in Bulgaria] [14]. I don’t remember how much time he spent at home – it was only a few months. In May 1943 we were interned to Vratsa and in April 1944 we moved to Sliven to live with my sister. My name was changed to Ruth, but it didn’t figure in any documents later on. [In order to distinguish the Jews from the Bulgarians, the names of the Jews were changed only to Biblical ones – so that there would be no doubt that they were Jews. But this change of names was done a bit clumsily. So, it happened that in some documents the Jews received their new names and in others they still kept their old ones. And not all names were changed, only those that were also used by Bulgarians and were ambiguous.]
As for the Bulgarian people, only a few of them were fascists, mainly among the politicians and leaders. There was no anti-Semitism among the common people. It was artificially instilled. When we were interned to Vratsa [see Internment of Jews in Bulgaria] [15] and we arrived at the railway station, one of the railway officials told us, ‘We hear that you are going to be deported. When you arrive during the night, go to this address of a colleague and a friend of mine. He will put you up for the night. The next day he will check what the situation is. If you are going to be deported, he will put you in touch with the partisan squad so that you can escape. If he sees that you are being accommodated in the town, then there won’t be any deportation and you can go and settle in your house.’ And he told us the truth. When we arrived at half past two in the morning, we went to the address he had given us and the people welcomed us very warmly. In the morning the man checked and saw that there were no signs of deportation, and we went to receive accommodation. But I really regret not looking for those people afterwards to thank them. We didn’t receive any call-up orders for deportations, as other Jews from southern Bulgaria did. The reason was that they were afraid to deport Sofia citizens.
The people at whose place we lived were very hospitable. They helped us as much as they could with food and with their kind attitude. We had some saved money, but we didn’t have to spend much of it, because we didn’t have to pay any rent. That’s why I regret now that due to being absorbed in our everyday worries, we didn’t look for those people later on to thank them for their hospitality.
I gave birth to Leah in June 1942. Pepo was in a labor camp again [see forced labor camps in Bulgaria] [14]. I don’t remember how much time he spent at home – it was only a few months. In May 1943 we were interned to Vratsa and in April 1944 we moved to Sliven to live with my sister. My name was changed to Ruth, but it didn’t figure in any documents later on. [In order to distinguish the Jews from the Bulgarians, the names of the Jews were changed only to Biblical ones – so that there would be no doubt that they were Jews. But this change of names was done a bit clumsily. So, it happened that in some documents the Jews received their new names and in others they still kept their old ones. And not all names were changed, only those that were also used by Bulgarians and were ambiguous.]
As for the Bulgarian people, only a few of them were fascists, mainly among the politicians and leaders. There was no anti-Semitism among the common people. It was artificially instilled. When we were interned to Vratsa [see Internment of Jews in Bulgaria] [15] and we arrived at the railway station, one of the railway officials told us, ‘We hear that you are going to be deported. When you arrive during the night, go to this address of a colleague and a friend of mine. He will put you up for the night. The next day he will check what the situation is. If you are going to be deported, he will put you in touch with the partisan squad so that you can escape. If he sees that you are being accommodated in the town, then there won’t be any deportation and you can go and settle in your house.’ And he told us the truth. When we arrived at half past two in the morning, we went to the address he had given us and the people welcomed us very warmly. In the morning the man checked and saw that there were no signs of deportation, and we went to receive accommodation. But I really regret not looking for those people afterwards to thank them. We didn’t receive any call-up orders for deportations, as other Jews from southern Bulgaria did. The reason was that they were afraid to deport Sofia citizens.
The people at whose place we lived were very hospitable. They helped us as much as they could with food and with their kind attitude. We had some saved money, but we didn’t have to spend much of it, because we didn’t have to pay any rent. That’s why I regret now that due to being absorbed in our everyday worries, we didn’t look for those people later on to thank them for their hospitality.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Tinka Kohen
Tag(s)