Selected text
I don't remember the synagogue of Bourgas, but I know there was one, as well as, most probably, a Jewish school.
In 1932 my parents and I moved to Sliven, because there was no work in Bourgas. There we first lived at my granny's place. There was a room made from bricks, built later than the rest of the house, and that was my parents' room. I remember a small and dark room, which later became our kitchen. There was also a little hall and another kitchen, albeit not a very nice one, with a dormer-window. That's how we lived before my sister Greta's birth. Later we rented lodgings at bai [an older fellow or uncle] Georgi's place. Later we rented another house at Bohor Navon's place. I remember his house was very close to my grandpa's place. One could enter it through a ladder from my parents' bedroom. That's how we went there, without going out into the street. We lived on the second floor of the house. The owner's two daughters and his son inhabited the first one. Bohor Navon had already passed away. There was a children's room, a bedroom, a dining-room, a large drawing-room, which we actually didn't use, as well as another room, which was very cold - most probably it was a northern one - and in which we used to store our food.
My mother, Berta Meshulam Aroyo, was born in Sliven in 1907. She studied in the Jewish school, which existed back then in Sliven, till the secondary school. Later she went to study in Rousse, in a Catholic college. She studied there for two years, and after that she returned to Sliven where she finished a Bulgarian school. She spoke French. She had learned it very quickly. Her father obliged her to write letters to him only in French, when she was a schoolgirl in Rousse. I have even seen such letters, written by mother in a very impressive handwriting. She spoke the language so brilliantly that almost 40 years later, in 1964, it happened so that some friends of ours from France visited us and they were really very impressed by her perfect French, which she hadn't spoken for many years. She was very clever, very studious. Sometimes she translated some articles for WIZO [3], but otherwise she wasn't an activist in such organizations. She was a good housewife and a good mother.
My father was quite a harsh man and my mother never had access to money. He used to buy everything, and the money he gave to her was always under control. Actually I didn't know my mother well as a child. I got to know her only when my father died in 1942. My mother had two brothers, Israel and Elia, and a sister, Matilda. Matilda had a twin brother who died very young. They were all born in Sliven. Israel was a trader - a carter. He had graduated from Robert College [a famous college in Istanbul]. His wife's name was Blanka. They had two children: Evgenia and Misho. Evgenia was named after our granny, my mother's mother, as well as after her father, and she resembled her in the courage she showed in everything. After the war [WWII] the family left for Israel. My uncle Israel died there in 1968.
In 1932 my parents and I moved to Sliven, because there was no work in Bourgas. There we first lived at my granny's place. There was a room made from bricks, built later than the rest of the house, and that was my parents' room. I remember a small and dark room, which later became our kitchen. There was also a little hall and another kitchen, albeit not a very nice one, with a dormer-window. That's how we lived before my sister Greta's birth. Later we rented lodgings at bai [an older fellow or uncle] Georgi's place. Later we rented another house at Bohor Navon's place. I remember his house was very close to my grandpa's place. One could enter it through a ladder from my parents' bedroom. That's how we went there, without going out into the street. We lived on the second floor of the house. The owner's two daughters and his son inhabited the first one. Bohor Navon had already passed away. There was a children's room, a bedroom, a dining-room, a large drawing-room, which we actually didn't use, as well as another room, which was very cold - most probably it was a northern one - and in which we used to store our food.
My mother, Berta Meshulam Aroyo, was born in Sliven in 1907. She studied in the Jewish school, which existed back then in Sliven, till the secondary school. Later she went to study in Rousse, in a Catholic college. She studied there for two years, and after that she returned to Sliven where she finished a Bulgarian school. She spoke French. She had learned it very quickly. Her father obliged her to write letters to him only in French, when she was a schoolgirl in Rousse. I have even seen such letters, written by mother in a very impressive handwriting. She spoke the language so brilliantly that almost 40 years later, in 1964, it happened so that some friends of ours from France visited us and they were really very impressed by her perfect French, which she hadn't spoken for many years. She was very clever, very studious. Sometimes she translated some articles for WIZO [3], but otherwise she wasn't an activist in such organizations. She was a good housewife and a good mother.
My father was quite a harsh man and my mother never had access to money. He used to buy everything, and the money he gave to her was always under control. Actually I didn't know my mother well as a child. I got to know her only when my father died in 1942. My mother had two brothers, Israel and Elia, and a sister, Matilda. Matilda had a twin brother who died very young. They were all born in Sliven. Israel was a trader - a carter. He had graduated from Robert College [a famous college in Istanbul]. His wife's name was Blanka. They had two children: Evgenia and Misho. Evgenia was named after our granny, my mother's mother, as well as after her father, and she resembled her in the courage she showed in everything. After the war [WWII] the family left for Israel. My uncle Israel died there in 1968.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Rosa Kolevska