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I don't know anything about my ancestors. My parents never talked about them or if they did I don't remember. I only know that my father's family moved to Thessaloniki some time before World War I. My paternal grandmother was widowed quite early. She got married a second time and had two children from that marriage - two boys, my father's and his elder brother Baruh's stepbrothers. Later Baruh went to America and never came back here. My father's younger sister Roza stayed to live in Thessaloniki with her mother and stepbrothers. They were middle-class people and had a number of properties. Each family had its own house. They had a confectionery business and owned a sweet shop in Thessaloniki, which is how they earned their living.
My family is from Bulgaria. My father, Gavriel Shabat Levi, was born in Samokov in 1896 and my mother, Liza Gavriel Levi, nee Burla, in Dupnitsa in 1898. They were an ordinary family. They worked hard throughout their life. My father used to work in the tram transport in Sofia [as a conductor] and later he had many jobs as a laborer. My mother was a tailor at first. She left her job and after that she used to work at various places. She was even a seller of different goods at the Sofia market.
My father was quite a strange person. He wasn't very well-educated but he had traveled a lot. He had learnt French when he was a captive in France during World War I. He had participated in three wars - the Balkan War [see First Balkan War] [1], the Inter-Allied War [see Second Balkan War] [2] and World War I. In World War I he was taken prisoner. He was wounded quite seriously in the legs during the Balkan War and as a result of that he had difficulties walking. He spoke Greek as well as Turkish, Bulgarian and Spanish [Ladino]. He was a self-educated man. He wasn't much devoted to us. My mother was the mainstay of the family.
My family is from Bulgaria. My father, Gavriel Shabat Levi, was born in Samokov in 1896 and my mother, Liza Gavriel Levi, nee Burla, in Dupnitsa in 1898. They were an ordinary family. They worked hard throughout their life. My father used to work in the tram transport in Sofia [as a conductor] and later he had many jobs as a laborer. My mother was a tailor at first. She left her job and after that she used to work at various places. She was even a seller of different goods at the Sofia market.
My father was quite a strange person. He wasn't very well-educated but he had traveled a lot. He had learnt French when he was a captive in France during World War I. He had participated in three wars - the Balkan War [see First Balkan War] [1], the Inter-Allied War [see Second Balkan War] [2] and World War I. In World War I he was taken prisoner. He was wounded quite seriously in the legs during the Balkan War and as a result of that he had difficulties walking. He spoke Greek as well as Turkish, Bulgarian and Spanish [Ladino]. He was a self-educated man. He wasn't much devoted to us. My mother was the mainstay of the family.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Levi
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