Selected text
In Sofia, soon after the incidents with the shop windows, we found an apartment for rent on 1 Stara Planina Street. It was only two blocks away from my uncle’s house so we only had to transport the four suitcases we had. My father found it very difficult to find work here. I already mentioned that all our documents had been taken away at Svilengrad. He was also a Jew. The Law for the Protection of the Nation was coming into force. And at that extremely difficult moment a helpful Bulgarian gave us a hand. His name was Nikolay Tsvetkov, a distinguished Sofia architect, colleague and friend of my father’s from the university in Bucharest. He offered a position to my father in his bureau. So we managed to get on our feet again. At the first opportunity my family bought me a Honer accordion with 80 bass buttons. Now I really appreciate everything my parents did for me and my music at that time in spite of poverty. In fact, music was our psychological support in those days.
In fall 1939 I had to continue my education in Sofia. According to Bulgarian laws I had to enroll in the third grade. I didn’t know Bulgarian yet, but I knew French, which was another favorite subject besides music, so they enrolled me in the French College [13]. I remember that my first entrance into the new classroom was a very pleasant experience. There was a harmonium in there. Our class teacher, Frere Bernar, played it excellently and we sang to his tunes almost every day. If someone said a word in Bulgarian he was given a black key. The pupil with the black key had to observe the other students and if someone else said something in Bulgarian, he gave him the insulting key immediately. At the end of the school day the last person to hold the key had to pay a fine, by giving a number of nice pink paper slips with ornaments and a notice ‘Bon point.’ We received them when we answered a complex question very well. Giving back such precious trophies was a great punishment because at the end of every week we received our mark books and the people with the most paper slips and highest marks received medals, of which they were very proud. The pupil who had such a medal went home wearing it on their uniform and on Monday morning the class teacher collected the medals back so that he would give them to other children at the end of the week.
In fall 1939 I had to continue my education in Sofia. According to Bulgarian laws I had to enroll in the third grade. I didn’t know Bulgarian yet, but I knew French, which was another favorite subject besides music, so they enrolled me in the French College [13]. I remember that my first entrance into the new classroom was a very pleasant experience. There was a harmonium in there. Our class teacher, Frere Bernar, played it excellently and we sang to his tunes almost every day. If someone said a word in Bulgarian he was given a black key. The pupil with the black key had to observe the other students and if someone else said something in Bulgarian, he gave him the insulting key immediately. At the end of the school day the last person to hold the key had to pay a fine, by giving a number of nice pink paper slips with ornaments and a notice ‘Bon point.’ We received them when we answered a complex question very well. Giving back such precious trophies was a great punishment because at the end of every week we received our mark books and the people with the most paper slips and highest marks received medals, of which they were very proud. The pupil who had such a medal went home wearing it on their uniform and on Monday morning the class teacher collected the medals back so that he would give them to other children at the end of the week.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Jul Efraim Levi