Tag #147693 - Interview #98803 (Reyna Lidgi)

My last academic year was over in 1950 and we were the first Russian Philology trainees in Bulgaria. After leaving university I had to find a job. And the first job in my life was as a teacher at the school of technology ‘ORT’ [27] – a Jewish school of technology. It used to be opposite the nowadays hospital of the Ministry of the Interior, in the building of the Jewish orphanage. There I taught Russian to all classes. The education in the school was five years. The purpose was to prepare the speacialists for the future work in Israel.. There were all kind of specialities with weak currents. Not only Jews studied in it but some Bulgarians as well. [‘ORT’ leave Bulgaria most probably in 1948 and they open a similar school in Israel. The first teachers were the ones who were teaching in Bulgaria. Until the present day in the office of the international ORT there is a carpet which was made by the students in Sofia. It is one of the best schools in Israel. The organization returned to Bulgraia a few years ago and is now working together with school No134. The official closing of the school took place in 1951. The school took part in two international exhibitions – in Switzerland and Great Britain – with the above-mentioned carpet.] One of my famous students was the singer Sabin Marcov, and professor Mento Menteshev, Aaron Abramovich and others, as well as the Bulgarians Lyubcho Mitsev and Mitko Gulubov. But the fact that I have finished my studies at university didn’t mean that I had graduated. For a year I was preparing for my last exams in Russian and Soviet Literature. And in 1951 I graduated, with excellent marks. Then the marking system was based on five grades and I had 5.54. But then the problem with finding a job appeared again. My mother had problems with her kidneys, she had acute pains in her kidneys. I started looking for a job. I was offered a place at the Air Force Headquarters. I took a difficult exam, passed it but I was told that there was a protégé of the general of the headquarter. They told me they were ready to give me references but that they couldn’t hire me. The shock was extremely strong. I started wondering what to do, I was twenty-one and applied for a job in ‘Himimport’ [a state company]. There was such an organization then – ‘Himimport’. At the oral interview they asked me whether I had any relatives in Israel. I, of cousre, didn’t have intentions to hide anything. I said, ‘Yes, my mother’s sisters.’ ‘Thank you, we will let you know.’ And I realized that this was the reason for rejecting my application at ‘Himimport’; instead of me they hired a woman from the whiteguards who even lived in my quarter. Then I met accidentally an acquaintance of mine, a colleague so to say. And she asked me ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I’m looking for a job.’ ‘They are looking for a translator at the Union of the Bulgarian-Soviet Societies, go there. Tell them I have sent you.’. So I went there, introduced myself, showed them my excellent diploma. They asked me about what I could do and told me they would call me. And surprisingly, one morning, at seven o’clock, the doorbell rang. It was my colleague Todor Minchev with whom we had studied Russian Philology. I didn’t know he was working at the union. They asked him about me and told him to invite me to start work. And, on 26th July 1951, I started work as a translator at the Union of Bulgarian-Soviet Societies. I worked in the Cultural Relations Department where we translated current materials on the activities of the Union, apart from that we prepared materials for exhibitions, we carried out contacts with creative unions and once a year we accompanied Soviet delegations that came for the month of Bulgarian-Soviet friendship. When I worked for the Union of Bulgarian-Soviet Societies, I would accompany different delegations from the socialist countries. Once I had to accompany a Polish delegation. I listened to them talking to each other and understood most of the things they said. I decided to attend two-year courses so that I could learn and use the Polish language.

I worked for the Union of Bulgarian-Soviet Societies from 26th July 1951 until 1st September 1955. In August or at the end of July 1955 the then prime minister Vulko Chervenkov [28] took the decision to disband the Union of the Bulgarian-Soviet Societies because, in his opinion, the movement had spread throughout Bulgaria and there was no need for a separate organization. And we were left to look for a job, wherever it was.