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I remember a case where there was an anti-Semitic attitude towards me at my workplace. There was one man who was about to retire. He started writing some things about me which were lies. In one of his writings he said that I was a Jew and that I defended Israel. He also made very spiteful remarks about my financial state, how many apartments I had and things like that. The head of that department, Kanev, who was a deputy minister, defended me and said that the words of that man had no value. There were people like him, too. Most of the people were very nice and admired our way of working. After I retired I continued to work in a company, ‘Balkan Chicken,’ where I was executive director.
My wife and I have a son and a daughter. Morits was born in 1954 and Nina in 1959. Both were born in Sofia. Morits graduated as an architect. He has two children: Leon, born in 1979 and Daniela, born in 1980. My daughter Nina finished high school and wanted to study in the Institute of Economics, but then she gave it up. She worked as an economist for a long time, and now she helps her husband, with whom she has a stall in the market. They have two children: Moni, born in 1979 and Suzana, born in 1983.
I went to Israel for the first time with the ‘Georgi Dimitrov’ [15] ship. [The only transport from Bulgaria to Israel was by sea. The ‘Georgi Dimitrov’ was the only ship used for that destination.] I traveled with my wife and my son Morits, who was six then. The voyage was terrible, because the ship was a mess. We all got seasick, especially my wife. I remember that we carried apples, because our relatives didn’t have any at that time. I carried 100 kg apples in a crate and some dinner sets. There was not much choice of products in Israel at that time [1960]. I wanted to give each of my cousins a small gift and this was not easy, because my first cousins alone are around 80. So in order to support ourselves during our stay in Israel and not to be a burden to my sister, we brought 12 kg of walnuts with us, which we sold. There were no walnuts in Israel then and we sold them for 12 dollars a kilo.
My wife and I have a son and a daughter. Morits was born in 1954 and Nina in 1959. Both were born in Sofia. Morits graduated as an architect. He has two children: Leon, born in 1979 and Daniela, born in 1980. My daughter Nina finished high school and wanted to study in the Institute of Economics, but then she gave it up. She worked as an economist for a long time, and now she helps her husband, with whom she has a stall in the market. They have two children: Moni, born in 1979 and Suzana, born in 1983.
I went to Israel for the first time with the ‘Georgi Dimitrov’ [15] ship. [The only transport from Bulgaria to Israel was by sea. The ‘Georgi Dimitrov’ was the only ship used for that destination.] I traveled with my wife and my son Morits, who was six then. The voyage was terrible, because the ship was a mess. We all got seasick, especially my wife. I remember that we carried apples, because our relatives didn’t have any at that time. I carried 100 kg apples in a crate and some dinner sets. There was not much choice of products in Israel at that time [1960]. I wanted to give each of my cousins a small gift and this was not easy, because my first cousins alone are around 80. So in order to support ourselves during our stay in Israel and not to be a burden to my sister, we brought 12 kg of walnuts with us, which we sold. There were no walnuts in Israel then and we sold them for 12 dollars a kilo.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Mordohay Madzhar