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After 9th September [1944], we used to live in rented rooms. Later, in 1977 we managed to buy an apartment. So, now I have a home of my own. Otherwise, I have lived much longer in rented rooms.
My mother Rashel used to live for some time with me, and for some time with my brother Isak, yet mostly with my youngest sister Adela. There, when she lived with Adela, she passed away. After her death my sister left for Israel.
I had a small circle of family friends: Jewish family friends we used to know since early childhood, our school years, and we used to be a little company. We used to get together almost every week at one family’s place or another. We used to gather with our children or spend our vacations together. One of my friends was also an official at the Department of the Interior and we had the opportunity to spend our vacations together. We spent considerable time going to the cinema and theater. We spent a lot of time at the cinema because my wife used to work in the field of cinema so I had free access to many cinema halls and had the opportunity to watch a lot of films without queuing like it used to be in the past. Wherever I would go even in the most prestigious cinemas of the time: ‘Blagoev’, ‘Mlada Gvardia’ [Young Guards], ‘Moskva’ [Moscow], as soon as I said that she was my wife they let me in immediately without any problem. We used to go to operas, theaters as we had cultural interests, we weren’t, so to say, idle. The fact that we used to get together every week kept us closer together and we spent our time most pleasantly. Otherwise, everyone performed their duties during the week: with their children, and work. Unfortunately, most of these people have already gone away.
After 9th September [1944], I completed high school via correspondence and after that I graduated in law. I started working as a state official at the Department of the Interior and I retired in 1982. Since 1983, as I hadn’t forgotten Ivrit yet, I was invited at the synagogue as chairman of the Central Israeli Spiritual Council. During the totalitarian years the Jewish organizations in Sofia used to be an educational center. It didn’t deal with Jewish questions. At that time, 1st May, 9th September, and 7th November [October Revolution Day] [20] were celebrated and these were holidays of the Jewish community in Sofia also. Yet, here, in the synagogue, the status quo was quite better and during this period of time I managed to read lectures about Chanukkah, Pesach, Moses and the migration of Jews from Egypt. Our holidays are most often connected with history, so the Jews in Sofia became aware and began to realize the true meaning of the Jewish history. Besides, I visited quite a lot of conferences of the Jewish World Congress and some other organizations. I was well accepted as I spoke Ivrit well, which was rather uncommon for most of the people there, because most representatives of other countries spoke English. Therefore, my speech in Ivrit was always a huge success.
I was quite efficient in terms of public activities not only for local organizations but also with international Jewish organizations. Yet, when 10th November [1989] [21] came things changed as Shalom [Organization] [22] took over the international Jewish activities and it was their responsibility to maintain contacts with international Jewish organizations. Actually, from 1983 to 1989 I established a lot of contacts, and provided matzah and other things here, which was quite difficult at that time because the Department of Ecclesiastical Matters had a negative attitude towards religion. There was even a representative who kept a close watch on the quantity of published calendars. It was a great achievement for him if he could report that in the course of years fewer and fewer calendars were issued, which proved the death of religion. Yet, the Jews are a hardy nation and they couldn’t vanish so easily.
My mother Rashel used to live for some time with me, and for some time with my brother Isak, yet mostly with my youngest sister Adela. There, when she lived with Adela, she passed away. After her death my sister left for Israel.
I had a small circle of family friends: Jewish family friends we used to know since early childhood, our school years, and we used to be a little company. We used to get together almost every week at one family’s place or another. We used to gather with our children or spend our vacations together. One of my friends was also an official at the Department of the Interior and we had the opportunity to spend our vacations together. We spent considerable time going to the cinema and theater. We spent a lot of time at the cinema because my wife used to work in the field of cinema so I had free access to many cinema halls and had the opportunity to watch a lot of films without queuing like it used to be in the past. Wherever I would go even in the most prestigious cinemas of the time: ‘Blagoev’, ‘Mlada Gvardia’ [Young Guards], ‘Moskva’ [Moscow], as soon as I said that she was my wife they let me in immediately without any problem. We used to go to operas, theaters as we had cultural interests, we weren’t, so to say, idle. The fact that we used to get together every week kept us closer together and we spent our time most pleasantly. Otherwise, everyone performed their duties during the week: with their children, and work. Unfortunately, most of these people have already gone away.
After 9th September [1944], I completed high school via correspondence and after that I graduated in law. I started working as a state official at the Department of the Interior and I retired in 1982. Since 1983, as I hadn’t forgotten Ivrit yet, I was invited at the synagogue as chairman of the Central Israeli Spiritual Council. During the totalitarian years the Jewish organizations in Sofia used to be an educational center. It didn’t deal with Jewish questions. At that time, 1st May, 9th September, and 7th November [October Revolution Day] [20] were celebrated and these were holidays of the Jewish community in Sofia also. Yet, here, in the synagogue, the status quo was quite better and during this period of time I managed to read lectures about Chanukkah, Pesach, Moses and the migration of Jews from Egypt. Our holidays are most often connected with history, so the Jews in Sofia became aware and began to realize the true meaning of the Jewish history. Besides, I visited quite a lot of conferences of the Jewish World Congress and some other organizations. I was well accepted as I spoke Ivrit well, which was rather uncommon for most of the people there, because most representatives of other countries spoke English. Therefore, my speech in Ivrit was always a huge success.
I was quite efficient in terms of public activities not only for local organizations but also with international Jewish organizations. Yet, when 10th November [1989] [21] came things changed as Shalom [Organization] [22] took over the international Jewish activities and it was their responsibility to maintain contacts with international Jewish organizations. Actually, from 1983 to 1989 I established a lot of contacts, and provided matzah and other things here, which was quite difficult at that time because the Department of Ecclesiastical Matters had a negative attitude towards religion. There was even a representative who kept a close watch on the quantity of published calendars. It was a great achievement for him if he could report that in the course of years fewer and fewer calendars were issued, which proved the death of religion. Yet, the Jews are a hardy nation and they couldn’t vanish so easily.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Yosif Avram Levi