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I loved mathematics. We also studied the Tannakh alongside all subjects obligatory for the Bulgarian schools. The teacher who taught us the Tannakh was called Temkin. We were very cruel to him. He was an old man with glasses and he was all shaky, but he knew Ivrit very well. We made him angry during the classes: we made a lot of noise. Now that I think about it, I think we were very cruel then. I remember him very well.
I also remember our geography teacher: Herskovich. She limped with one leg. She must have been one of the German Jews. There was also another teacher, Petkova, who taught us Bulgarian: she was an excellent teacher. But she was also very strict. There was one motto: ‘A six to God, a five to me, a four to the pupils.’ At that time marks were from 2 to 6. She insisted on us being very well prepared for her classes. I didn’t go to a tutor for private lessons because we had no money and we were prepared very well at the orphanage. I knew Ivrit and French.
My school friends were Jews and I had no friends outside school. When I was at the orphanage, the future famous playwright Dragomir Asenov, whose real name is Jacques Melamed, was also there [Jacques Melamed (1926-1981): writer and playwright. He became known by his pseudonym Dragomir Asenov]. He was older than me, but he didn’t study at the Jewish school, because he had come later to the orphanage and he had already started studying in a Bulgarian school. There were two or three other children, who had also come at a later time and were studying at Bulgarian schools.
I also remember our geography teacher: Herskovich. She limped with one leg. She must have been one of the German Jews. There was also another teacher, Petkova, who taught us Bulgarian: she was an excellent teacher. But she was also very strict. There was one motto: ‘A six to God, a five to me, a four to the pupils.’ At that time marks were from 2 to 6. She insisted on us being very well prepared for her classes. I didn’t go to a tutor for private lessons because we had no money and we were prepared very well at the orphanage. I knew Ivrit and French.
My school friends were Jews and I had no friends outside school. When I was at the orphanage, the future famous playwright Dragomir Asenov, whose real name is Jacques Melamed, was also there [Jacques Melamed (1926-1981): writer and playwright. He became known by his pseudonym Dragomir Asenov]. He was older than me, but he didn’t study at the Jewish school, because he had come later to the orphanage and he had already started studying in a Bulgarian school. There were two or three other children, who had also come at a later time and were studying at Bulgarian schools.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Adela Nissimova Levi