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My father had three brothers, but I didn’t know them. The eldest one was Shlomo, who was also the richest, but I don’t know what he did. I think that for a while he and my father worked together. He had three sons and a daughter. His wife was paralyzed. After my father’s death he often visited us and wanted to help my mother. I don’t remember my father’s sister. My mother’s brother, although younger, looked after the whole family. My mother’s sisters were also close to her: she didn’t keep in touch with other people, because she became a widow at the age of 35, and remained one.
When my father died, I was sent to an asylum. I was four years old then. It was a Jewish one and was located on Osogovo Street. It was like a kindergarten because in the evenings we went back home. I guess that we didn’t pay fees, as it was for poor children. I don’t remember what time we went there in the morning or what time we went home: usually when it got dark, our parents came to pick us up or we went home by ourselves. We learned songs and poems. I remember the doctor who looked after us there. The other women were also very nice. During weekends we stayed at home and my elder sisters looked after me, mostly my sister Rashel, who was born before me. They even tell me that she loved me so much that when they hid me from her once, she started looking for me everywhere, asking, ‘Where is Delche, where is Delcheto?’ - she didn’t call me Adela, but Delche. And she would start crying and shouting, ‘Delche, come to me!’
After the asylum I went to the Jewish orphanage. We lived there all the time. We were sent home only if there was some quarantine. Every two weeks we were also sent home for a couple of hours. There was a headmistress at the school and a teacher who supervised us. We went to study in the central Jewish school but prepared for our lessons in the orphanage. The headmistress was Basad. There was also a very evil teacher named Franka. We called the teacher ‘giveret’ which means Miss [in Ivrit] and there was also a stoker who was in charge of the local heating. We were around 60-70 children. We were all of different ages, because we studied together from the first to the third grade.
There were two dormitories in the orphanage: a female and a male one. We all slept there. The beds were made of iron and were arranged next to one another. There were also some kinds of bedside tables. We had water and electricity. The toilets were inside. There was also a bathroom in the cellar. There were washing machines and washing women. There was also a small room: we called it the ‘isolator.’ If someone got sick, they were put there so that they wouldn’t infect the others.
When my father died, I was sent to an asylum. I was four years old then. It was a Jewish one and was located on Osogovo Street. It was like a kindergarten because in the evenings we went back home. I guess that we didn’t pay fees, as it was for poor children. I don’t remember what time we went there in the morning or what time we went home: usually when it got dark, our parents came to pick us up or we went home by ourselves. We learned songs and poems. I remember the doctor who looked after us there. The other women were also very nice. During weekends we stayed at home and my elder sisters looked after me, mostly my sister Rashel, who was born before me. They even tell me that she loved me so much that when they hid me from her once, she started looking for me everywhere, asking, ‘Where is Delche, where is Delcheto?’ - she didn’t call me Adela, but Delche. And she would start crying and shouting, ‘Delche, come to me!’
After the asylum I went to the Jewish orphanage. We lived there all the time. We were sent home only if there was some quarantine. Every two weeks we were also sent home for a couple of hours. There was a headmistress at the school and a teacher who supervised us. We went to study in the central Jewish school but prepared for our lessons in the orphanage. The headmistress was Basad. There was also a very evil teacher named Franka. We called the teacher ‘giveret’ which means Miss [in Ivrit] and there was also a stoker who was in charge of the local heating. We were around 60-70 children. We were all of different ages, because we studied together from the first to the third grade.
There were two dormitories in the orphanage: a female and a male one. We all slept there. The beds were made of iron and were arranged next to one another. There were also some kinds of bedside tables. We had water and electricity. The toilets were inside. There was also a bathroom in the cellar. There were washing machines and washing women. There was also a small room: we called it the ‘isolator.’ If someone got sick, they were put there so that they wouldn’t infect the others.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Adela Nissimova Levi