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Mum helped me with Bulgarian, mainly with the essays because dad asked her to, ‘Elvira, help the child…’. And she often replied, ‘She must get used to it, on her own!’. So I tried to write my essays alone. With arithmetics, I used to have a lot of difficulties, but later I started doing better. I didn’t like drawing. After finishing primary school I moved to ‘Konstantin Fotinov’ school [most Bulgarian schools bear the names of Bulgarian activists from the Bulgarian National Revival period or of heroes from the national liberation movement. ‘Konstantin Fotinov’ school still exists today under the same name.], which was on ‘Hristo Botev’ street. There were twenty-five or thirty students in my class, half of whom were Jews, because the school was near Iuchbunar – a quarter with a very solid Jewish population.
When I was in primary school I was a member of a Jewish society. It was called ‘Akeva’. I don’t remember how I had decided to join ‘Akeva’; I only remember that it was on the last floor of Bet Am [17]. At one point, it was run by Rebeka Arsenieva, [Rebeka Arsenieva was a radio director for many years at the radio theater in the Bulgarian National Radio] Ani Mayler’s mother. There we used to sing songs, play, dance Israeli, Palestinian, called Jewish dances at the time, we learned the basics of Hebrew, we used to have meetings. Moreover, we had a uniform and an emblem – a piece of cardboard with three stars. This organization was Zionistic by nature. We used to talk often about the remote country of our ancestors – Palestine. I was sent to a youth camp in Tserovo through this organization. My memroies of the stay there are vague. In June 1942 I finished my primary education with excellent marks, and then we put the badges [yellow stars] [18].
I was enroled at the Third Girls’ High School because my mother wanted me to study medicine. Half of my classmates were Jews. There were already Branniks [19] in the class. They were easily distinguishable from us because they had grey uniforms and silk stockings. They put on those uniforms when there were demonstrative processions and celebrations. I don’t know who had given them that right as it may have been in discrepancy with the school regulations, and we used to wear black uniforms (aprons), badges and thick stockings. We envied them to a certain extent. We, the Jews, even when we wore badges, were not allowed at manifestations and other official, open celebrations. We were not supposed to be shown and seen. Before the first year had ended, before finishing the school term, we had to leave Sofia.
When I was in primary school I was a member of a Jewish society. It was called ‘Akeva’. I don’t remember how I had decided to join ‘Akeva’; I only remember that it was on the last floor of Bet Am [17]. At one point, it was run by Rebeka Arsenieva, [Rebeka Arsenieva was a radio director for many years at the radio theater in the Bulgarian National Radio] Ani Mayler’s mother. There we used to sing songs, play, dance Israeli, Palestinian, called Jewish dances at the time, we learned the basics of Hebrew, we used to have meetings. Moreover, we had a uniform and an emblem – a piece of cardboard with three stars. This organization was Zionistic by nature. We used to talk often about the remote country of our ancestors – Palestine. I was sent to a youth camp in Tserovo through this organization. My memroies of the stay there are vague. In June 1942 I finished my primary education with excellent marks, and then we put the badges [yellow stars] [18].
I was enroled at the Third Girls’ High School because my mother wanted me to study medicine. Half of my classmates were Jews. There were already Branniks [19] in the class. They were easily distinguishable from us because they had grey uniforms and silk stockings. They put on those uniforms when there were demonstrative processions and celebrations. I don’t know who had given them that right as it may have been in discrepancy with the school regulations, and we used to wear black uniforms (aprons), badges and thick stockings. We envied them to a certain extent. We, the Jews, even when we wore badges, were not allowed at manifestations and other official, open celebrations. We were not supposed to be shown and seen. Before the first year had ended, before finishing the school term, we had to leave Sofia.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi