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I could say that until 1940 there weren’t anti-Semitic activities. No. My first memory of that dates back to after my father’s death. Mum sent me to buy cheese, yellow cheese, from that shop, which was on St. Nikola square. Coming back from the shopping I found myself in ‘Maria Luiza’ boulevard during the breaking of the window shops – for me personally this was the first manifestation of anti-Semitism in Bulgaria, the year must have been 1942. It was a very scary experience for me. I ran home, I was very young and said, ‘Mama, they are breaking the window shops!’, and this was my first clash with such manifestations. The second difficult moment was when we were made to wear badges; I was twelve at the time. I still keep the badges. After that I finish the third grade and as usual with excellent marks in everything but my teacher in Bulgarian, Dragneva, who liked me very much, said, ‘We can’t give you the big award because you are an individual of Jewish origin.’ And I was awarded a Bulgarian book – ‘Notes on the Bulgraian Uprisings’ [by Zahari Stoyanov] and a book about the tzar in which it was written – ‘Given to Reyna Buko Lidgi for her excellent marks – an individual of Jewish origin.’ I still keep that book.
The year was 1941. My father was fired from ‘Fayon’ tannery. According to the Law for the Protection of the Nation [20], the owner Jew couldn’t hire clerks who were Jews. [According to the Law for the Protection of the Nation the Jews cannot own field. The Jews cannot take state, municipal or other positions of the public authority and private-legal organizations, cannot practise freelance jobs, trade, industry and crafts.] They told him, it must have been on 19th January 1941, ‘You don’t have a job from tomorrow.’ He exclaimed, ‘But I have a family, how will I support them?’ And because of the stress my father got an apoplectic stroke. He had problems with the heart, had suffered from severe pneumonia. Before leaving for work that day, the right part of his face paralyzed. It was a real agony the next three weeks. I witnessed it because I was in the same room. During these three weeks my mother and my aunt Rebeka, Mois Beniesh’s wife, looked after him. He died on 18th February, in the room where I was sleeping too. It seemed to me that my mother screamed when he died.
The year was 1941. My father was fired from ‘Fayon’ tannery. According to the Law for the Protection of the Nation [20], the owner Jew couldn’t hire clerks who were Jews. [According to the Law for the Protection of the Nation the Jews cannot own field. The Jews cannot take state, municipal or other positions of the public authority and private-legal organizations, cannot practise freelance jobs, trade, industry and crafts.] They told him, it must have been on 19th January 1941, ‘You don’t have a job from tomorrow.’ He exclaimed, ‘But I have a family, how will I support them?’ And because of the stress my father got an apoplectic stroke. He had problems with the heart, had suffered from severe pneumonia. Before leaving for work that day, the right part of his face paralyzed. It was a real agony the next three weeks. I witnessed it because I was in the same room. During these three weeks my mother and my aunt Rebeka, Mois Beniesh’s wife, looked after him. He died on 18th February, in the room where I was sleeping too. It seemed to me that my mother screamed when he died.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi