Tag #141516 - Interview #78604 (Adela Nissimova Levi)

My mother was Viza Nissim Cohen, nee Moshe Alvas. My father was Nissim Naftali Cohen. I know nothing about their lives before they got married. I don’t know how my parents met, but I guess their wedding was arranged, as was the practice in those times. There were only religious weddings then. My mother died in 1968 at the age of 72 and my father died at the age of 43 in 1931. I remember very well the year he died because my youngest sister [Mazal] was only one year and six days old. She was born on 1st May and he died on 6th May. I think he died of lung cancer, although he never smoked. He was a shoemaker: he made shoes out of leather. They were called ‘opintsi’ and were worn by the villagers. My mother was a housewife but when my father died she started sewing. They spoke Spanish at home: Spaniolit [Ladino]. We also spoke Bulgarian. I remember that my mother dressed according to the times. We lived very miserably. We warmed the rooms with iron stoves using wood and coal. All the time we paid rent and we moved from house to house. We didn’t have gardens or housemaids. We had very few books at home; we didn’t have a library and didn’t buy newspapers.