Our relations with our neighbors and landlords during the internment in Kjustendil were fine, but trouble was awaiting us on the street. I remember that one night my younger sister and I were waiting on the street for our father to come back from the synagogue. He was wearing a yellow star, which he managed to hide discretely. Suddenly two youth stopped us on the street, one of them was the son of the well-known Bulgarian army general Zhekov. They were Branniks [9] and acted in a hostile manner. They stopped us to check if we were wearing the yellow star. One of them even took liberties with my sister. Then my father got angry, caught his jacket lapels and shook him. He explained to them that he had fought in the wars for them and that they didn't have the right to behave that way. My father was very proud of his war medals and put one of them next to the yellow star. He showed them the yellow star and the medal and told general Zhekov's son that he had fought side by side with his father in the war. When we went home my father felt really bad because of the humiliation he had had to experience.
- Traditions 11756
- Language spoken 3019
- Identity 7808
- Description of town 2440
- Education, school 8506
- Economics 8772
- Work 11672
- Love & romance 4929
- Leisure/Social life 4159
- Antisemitism 4822
-
Major events (political and historical)
4256
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 178
- Soviet invasion of Poland 31
- Siege of Leningrad 86
- The Six Day War 4
- Yom Kippur War 2
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 83
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 65
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 216
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 127
- 151 Hospital 1
- Fire of Thessaloniki (1917) 9
- Greek Civil War (1946-49) 12
- Thessaloniki International Trade Fair 5
- Annexation of Bukovina to Romania (1918) 7
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 19
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 94
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 25
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 43
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 59
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 2
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 147
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 9
- Anschluss (1938) 71
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 131
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 56
- Russian Revolution 351
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 283
- Perestroika 233
- 22nd June 1941 468
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 147
- Stalin's death 365
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 148
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 45
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 84
- Prague Spring (1968) 73
- 1989 change of regime 174
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
-
Holocaust
9685
- Holocaust (in general) 2789
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1235
- Mass shooting operations 337
- Ghetto 1183
- Death / extermination camp 647
- Deportation 1063
- Forced labor 791
- Flight 1410
- Hiding 594
- Resistance 121
- 1941 evacuations 866
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 34
- Eleftherias Square 10
- Kasztner group 1
- Pogrom in Iasi and the Death Train 21
- Sammelwohnungen 9
- Strohmann system 11
- Struma ship 17
- Life under occupation 803
- Yellow star house 72
- Protected house 15
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 42
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 26
- Schutzpass / false papers 95
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 24
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 521
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1090
- Holocaust compensation 112
- Restitution 109
- Property (loss of property) 595
- Loss of loved ones 1724
- Trauma 1029
- Talking about what happened 1807
- Liberation 558
- Military 3322
- Politics 2640
-
Communism
4468
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2592
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 221
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 930
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 349
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 449
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 493
- Israel / Palestine 2190
- Zionism 847
- Jewish Organizations 1200
Displaying 2161 - 2190 of 50826 results
ester josifova
Our landlords during the internment in Kjustendil were Sabbatarians [8]. They got along very well with my father, who was a very well-educated man and had many common topics to talk about. These people were very polite and friendly to us. They got up early in the morning to bring us a newspaper and a loaf of bread. We were forbidden to go out ourselves before 9 o'clock. We were only allowed to leave home for two hours - between 9 and 11 in the morning. There were days when we couldn't go out at all - we were in a terrible situation, but our landlords did their best to help us. I became friends with the neighbors' children. My mother made tasty pastry as a sign of her gratefulness, and I sewed clothes for them.
There was a great demonstration in Sofia on 24th May 1943 [7] against the politics of repressions against Jews and, most of all, against the decision according to which Jews were interned from their homes. A large group of Bulgarians - workers, students, doctors and lawyers - went out to demonstrate their support for Bulgarian Jews. The Jewish youth also took part in that demonstration. I recall that mounted police came from Sofronii Vrachanski and Tzar Simeon Streets and chased the demonstrators away using force. It was very scary and many people were arrested.
Our family had to leave the house in the center of Sofia after the Law for the Protection of the Nation [6] was accepted in 1939. We had to move to the Jewish neighborhood of Iuchbunar. The law said that Jews didn't have the right to live in the center of Sofia. Boulevard Hristo Botev marked the border. I didn't know the district of Iuchbunar before then. We rented a house on Nishka and Sofronii Vrachanski Street. That's how we became neighbors with my future husband Menahem Josifov's parents. My mother found a relatively big house, and we lived with Uncle Josif and his two children. We were interned in the town of Kjustendil in 1943 from where we were to be sent to concentration camps.
Most of my father's and brother's friends were Bulgarians. My brother Moshe played in the royal orchestra and lived a Bohemian life with his Bulgarian friends. Moshe and the popular Bulgarian singers Lea Ivanova, Zdravko Radoev and some other musicians founded the first jazz band in Bulgaria in 1933. Our house was bigger than those of the other musicians so they used to come to us for rehearsals. Another famous musician who first played his repertoire at our home was Asparuh Leshnikov [5]. Moshe was a universal musician and he used to play saxophone in the orchestra. His band was very popular in Sofia in the 1930s.
There were matinees in the Royal Cinema-Theater in Sofia every Sunday, and the symphonic orchestra and my brother's jazz orchestra used to play there. Those matinees were very successful, and there was always a big audience. The owners of the cinema-theater were Jews from a rich tobacco business family. There were three Jews in the jazz band. The drummer's name was Eshkenazi and he was the best drummer around at that time. His rhythm drove people crazy. Lea Ivanova was the singer. Those matinees existed for many years, I remember them as early as of 1931, and they ended in the 1940s during World War II.
There were matinees in the Royal Cinema-Theater in Sofia every Sunday, and the symphonic orchestra and my brother's jazz orchestra used to play there. Those matinees were very successful, and there was always a big audience. The owners of the cinema-theater were Jews from a rich tobacco business family. There were three Jews in the jazz band. The drummer's name was Eshkenazi and he was the best drummer around at that time. His rhythm drove people crazy. Lea Ivanova was the singer. Those matinees existed for many years, I remember them as early as of 1931, and they ended in the 1940s during World War II.
My father believed that we had to have secular education and sent us - my two sisters, my brother and me - to study in a Bulgarian school. He wanted his children to speak Bulgarian well. Many Jewish children went to Bulgarian schools. I had friends who went to Bulgarian schools just like me.
I graduated from the economics high-school in Sofia. That school was the closest to our house. After that the Jewish choir sent me to a private music school because I had a nice voice and they thought that I should develop my singing talent. My favorite subjects at school were history and singing. I even went to an opera singing competition at the Sofia Opera before our internment in Kjustendil. I won it but my brother advised my father to make me give up my career in singing because he thought that I might enter an 'unsuitable' surrounding. I dealt with the household until our internment and did some dressmaking - I sewed clothes and designed models. My older sister, Lika, graduated from a classical studies high- school.
I graduated from the economics high-school in Sofia. That school was the closest to our house. After that the Jewish choir sent me to a private music school because I had a nice voice and they thought that I should develop my singing talent. My favorite subjects at school were history and singing. I even went to an opera singing competition at the Sofia Opera before our internment in Kjustendil. I won it but my brother advised my father to make me give up my career in singing because he thought that I might enter an 'unsuitable' surrounding. I dealt with the household until our internment and did some dressmaking - I sewed clothes and designed models. My older sister, Lika, graduated from a classical studies high- school.
When I was a child we spoke both Ladino and Bulgarian in the family. I think that my parents didn't have the best pronunciation of Ladino. I learned a lot from my mother-in-law after I got married. She spoke Ladino perfectly. Sofia Jews have a special pronunciation of Ladino. The pronunciation of some consonants resembles Portuguese. You can hear the best-spoken Ladino in Plovdiv and in South-Eastern Bulgaria. Jews in Russe also speak very clear Ladino. Sometimes the difference in the pronunciation in Sofia and in some other towns is so big that we hardly understand each other. For example the Jews in Sofia pronounce the word for woman 'mojer' and Jews in Plovdiv 'moher'. I find the Sofia Ladino a little rougher.
I remember a tradition in Sofia which started in the early decades of the 20th century: the Jewish sports organization Maccabi organized parades on the great Jewish holidays. It was a festive procession and the strongest youth led it holding a torch in his hand. The youth passed on the streets and people stopped to watch them and show their respect.
The first thing to be served on the table after the fasting is a sweet called tespishtil. It's made of thin pastry and a lot of walnuts and almonds and soaked in sugar syrup. There should be apple with honey on the table and the oldest child gives a piece to everyone. This is done in order to make sure that the forthcoming year would be as sweet as honey, nice as an apple and peaceful. On Sukkot adults went to the synagogue every morning before sunrise for the whole week and there was a special tent, the sukkah, in the yard of the synagogue. There were a lot of delicacies in that sukkah. We celebrated the holiday of fruits, Fruitas, in February and Purim, the day of the masks, in March.
We observed all other Jewish holidays as well. We had dinner at six o'clock on Yom Kippur and went to the synagogue. We stayed there until eight o'clock in the evening. The next morning we went to the synagogue again and either spent the whole day there or went several times a day. We didn't eat anything the whole day. We sang and after that we went home. The song was about the hardship of the Jewish people.
We used to gather at my father's stepmother's for our greatest holiday, Pesach, to show her our respect. My maternal grandmother, who was a widow, used to come with aunt Tamara's, Miranda's and Uncle Moshe's families. Around 40 people used to gather. We arranged long tables with white tablecloths, left the doors open and put a lit candle on the window sill. This meant that if a hungry man passed by he was welcome to come in and join our table. The oldest in the family, my father, read the prayer in Hebrew. [Editor's note: Ester probably means the Haggadah.] He also translated the texts into Ladino. The oldest child in the family, my brother Moshe, was given a clean white bag into which the matzah was put. He had to hold it the whole night so that he would always remember how the Jews had saved themselves in the desert. That's how the story of the 40- year wandering of Moses in the desert and the exodus from Egypt was reconstituted.
Unfortunately my father couldn't cope with both jobs - being a merchant and a cantor at the synagogue - simultaneously. He went bankrupt in the 1920s. I was in elementary school then, my older sister was in high school and my brother was a first-year-student at the Music College. I remember that my father closed himself in one of the rooms and solely devoted himself to books and prayers. My mother was more pragmatic and managed to convince him that they had to take certain steps. Thanks to my mother we found a small shop and a new lodging. My father went on trading with fine glass, crystal and porcelain.
We had housemaids. They were Bulgarians and came from some nearby village. We had housemaids from Vakarel and even from Kovachevtsi, my father's birthplace. Their duties were to clean the house. Cooking wasn't their job, my mother cooked herself. We considered our housemaids members of the family. We ate at one table and slept in one and the same room. My father even introduced the maid from Vakarel to one of his shop attendants and found a lodging for them. They got married later. My older sister, Lika, also helped in the household. She went to school, played the piano and took care of our upbringing. My mother left home early to work at the shop.
Moshe expressed his musical talent from his early childhood on. My mother told me that while my father was in the war in the 1910s, my brother often used to visit my grandmother's house. Some Gypsy [Roma] families had settled there, who were very musical and sang and danced a lot. My brother was very interested in them and used to spend the whole day listening to them. When my father came back from the front my mother told him about Moshe's passion for Gypsy music, and he immediately sent him to take music lessons. He developed his musical talent very fast and enrolled to study violin with the well-known Czech professor Koh, who introduced violin education in Bulgaria.
Our house was big: my father had the first floor for himself and there was a signboard on the door which read Pinkas. Bank Alkalai was situated on the second floor. Our family lived on the third floor. My sisters and I lived in one room; our parents in another one, and my brother Moshe had the biggest room. He had a piano and an easel for his violin there. He had portraits of great composers, such as Beethoven and Mozart, on the walls.
My father had a shop for glass and crystal goods. The shop was very big and we had three branches. There were two laborers and an accountant, and my mother worked at the cash-desk. My father's clients were rich people because fine glass and porcelain were expensive. He didn't produce things, he only traded with fine glass, crystal and porcelain. He imported it from Austria and the Czech Republic. He always closed the shop on Sabbath and Fridays. I remember that on Fridays in winter he used to close at 4.30pm so that he could go to the synagogue.
More than 30,000 Jews lived in Sofia in the first half of the 20th century. The richer Jews lived in the city center and the poorer ones in Iuchbunar [4]. There were many people in Iuchbunar who needed help to survive. There were many refugees from Aegean Trace and Macedonia who were forced to emigrate after the Balkan wars. This district looked like a ghetto compared to the center of the city. The richer Jews had an interesting way to support the needy ones. They had small boxes at home into which they put as much money as they could afford during the week. A sexton used to come every Friday to take the boxes to the synagogue and returned them empty later. Our family also had such a box at home. The funds were mostly collected for the education of the children of poorer families. This way these children could be sent to study abroad.
My father and some other men sent the future conductor of the Jewish choir in Sofia to study in Vienna and provided for his education. He was the son of a humble washerwoman. My mother-in-law's brother from Pleven studied commerce in Vienna with the financial support of the local Jewish community. Many of the poor Jewish girls couldn't get married because their families couldn't put together dowry for them. They received money from these voluntary donations. When a great Jewish holiday was forthcoming, for example Pesach or Yom Kippur, the rich Jews used to send hens or other poultry to the synagogue, and they even bought matzah. The chocolate factory 'Beraha' also made matzah. Some people didn't have white tablecloths for Pesach and all the poor Jews used to receive a white tablecloth with at least twelve table-napkins.
My father and some other men sent the future conductor of the Jewish choir in Sofia to study in Vienna and provided for his education. He was the son of a humble washerwoman. My mother-in-law's brother from Pleven studied commerce in Vienna with the financial support of the local Jewish community. Many of the poor Jewish girls couldn't get married because their families couldn't put together dowry for them. They received money from these voluntary donations. When a great Jewish holiday was forthcoming, for example Pesach or Yom Kippur, the rich Jews used to send hens or other poultry to the synagogue, and they even bought matzah. The chocolate factory 'Beraha' also made matzah. Some people didn't have white tablecloths for Pesach and all the poor Jews used to receive a white tablecloth with at least twelve table-napkins.
My mother and my father met each other on the great Jewish holiday of Purim. My father lived in the village of Kovachevtsi at the time and came to Sofia especially for the holiday. He saw my mother in the carnival - she was dressed as Queen Ester. He fell in love with her at first sight. My father was tall and well built and my mother was very short but very beautiful. He was very impulsive and he introduced himself immediately. I remember my mother telling me about what my father looked like at their first meeting. He was dressed in typical Bulgarian village clothes. He wore poturi, traditional loose trousers worn by villagers, and socks with beads on them. He spoke the local Kovachevtsi dialect fluently and also sang the local folk songs very well. My father eliminated another candidate for my mother's hand. They got married in 1907 in Sofia. They had a religious wedding with a rabbi in the synagogue. All my father's relatives from Kovachevtsi attended the wedding.
My father took part in both Balkan wars from 1912-1913 and in World War I from 1916-1918. He was awarded several medals for his military exploits. He sang very well and he used to lead the soldiers into battles with a song. He had always been devoted to Bulgaria and when he got a notice that he would be interned from Sofia in 1943, he and a group of ex-Bulgarian army soldiers, who had taken part in the wars, took their medals and went to the palace of King Boris III to return them. That was how they wanted to express their disappointment in the policy the king and the government pursued towards Jews, and especially the people who had defended Bulgaria in the long hard wars. In my father's opinion King Boris III respected the Jews deeply, but he didn't have the courage to oppose the German policy during World War II. When the Jewish delegation arrived at the gates of the palace they were told that the king was absent and they couldn't meet him. The truth was that the government didn't allow the king to have this meeting.
My father was born in Kovachevtsi in 1885 and moved to Sofia as a young man to study to be a hakham - that is what we call the rabbi's assistant in our synagogue, who can also read prayers and perform religious rituals. A hakham has a lower position in the hierarchy than the rabbi. There was a special Jewish religious school in Sofia that existed before the Central Synagogue was built in 1913.
My father married straight after graduating from the hakham school, stayed in Sofia and started trading. My father wasn't a chazzan at the synagogue, but he often went there to recite prayers because he had a lovely voice and knew a lot of prayers in Hebrew. He translated several books from ancient Hebrew to Ladino, including one book of the Talmud. This way my father contributed a lot to Jewish culture in Bulgaria. I donated his religious books to the synagogue after his death.
My father married straight after graduating from the hakham school, stayed in Sofia and started trading. My father wasn't a chazzan at the synagogue, but he often went there to recite prayers because he had a lovely voice and knew a lot of prayers in Hebrew. He translated several books from ancient Hebrew to Ladino, including one book of the Talmud. This way my father contributed a lot to Jewish culture in Bulgaria. I donated his religious books to the synagogue after his death.
My father had three stepbrothers and two stepsisters. Josif was born in 1897 in Kovachevtsi. He graduated from the commercial school in Sofia and became a merchant. He lived in Sofia with his wife Estrea and their children: Mati, who became a famous singer later, and Klara, who became a philosophy professor. Josif died in 1937.
My father's second stepbrother, Nisim, died very young, in 1933. My father's third stepbrother, Leon, was born in Sofia in 1906. He was a merchant and a musician - he sang in the Sofia choir called Gusla, founded by Uncle David. My father's stepsisters were named Rebeca and Victoria. Rebeca was also born in Sofia. She got married and had a son who became a famous opera singer. Victoria married a woodworker and they had two children. In the 1940s they went to Israel and settled in Jaffa.
My father's second stepbrother, Nisim, died very young, in 1933. My father's third stepbrother, Leon, was born in Sofia in 1906. He was a merchant and a musician - he sang in the Sofia choir called Gusla, founded by Uncle David. My father's stepsisters were named Rebeca and Victoria. Rebeca was also born in Sofia. She got married and had a son who became a famous opera singer. Victoria married a woodworker and they had two children. In the 1940s they went to Israel and settled in Jaffa.
Bulgaria
Liana Degtiar
In June the war began. There were bombings of Kishinev. A bomb killed my parent's friend Marelskiy in the central square at 6am. I think my parents and I evacuated in early July. Nobody expected this war to last long. My grandparents stayed home: they were too old to travel. We took a folder with documents, silver spoons, forks, my grandmother's gold rings, necklace and a chain and locket. We also had a few suitcases with winter clothes. We had to cross the Dnestr on a boat. My father also helped other people to sail to the opposite bank. At this moment an air raid began. Germans were shooting their machine guns. It was a squall of lead. There were many victims, but my father continued helping people to cross the river. He finally picked us to take us to the other side, but we had to leave some of our luggage behind. We couldn't take the luggage while so many people were still waiting to cross the river. I think after we crossed the river, the crossing was closed. We moved to the railroad station in Vapnyarka [today Ukraine]. We walked across the fields, I also had to carry some luggage, and I kept moaning, but I didn't drop it. We seemed to be walking endlessly before we took a train to Vinnitsa.
In Vinnitsa we boarded a train heading east. I don't remember anything about this trip. We arrived at Shakhty in Rostov region [today Russia]. My father went to work as a teacher in a Mining College as he knew Russian well. He and his students descended into a shaft to study electrical equipment. It was time for me to go to school. I had my birth certificate issued in Romanian. Who would have known Romanian in Shakhty? My name was also indicated in my father's Soviet passport. Right before 1st September my father was mobilized to the army. My mother and I went to the recruitment office with my father, when it occurred to me that I had no documents whatsoever mentioning my name or any information about me. We went to the military commandant to convey this problem to him and request for some kind of a certificate with my name included in it. He looked at my father's passport and said, 'Ah, you are a Bessarabian. We don't recruit Bessarabians' [Soviet power didn't trust the former Romanian citizens]. He sent my father home.
In Vinnitsa we boarded a train heading east. I don't remember anything about this trip. We arrived at Shakhty in Rostov region [today Russia]. My father went to work as a teacher in a Mining College as he knew Russian well. He and his students descended into a shaft to study electrical equipment. It was time for me to go to school. I had my birth certificate issued in Romanian. Who would have known Romanian in Shakhty? My name was also indicated in my father's Soviet passport. Right before 1st September my father was mobilized to the army. My mother and I went to the recruitment office with my father, when it occurred to me that I had no documents whatsoever mentioning my name or any information about me. We went to the military commandant to convey this problem to him and request for some kind of a certificate with my name included in it. He looked at my father's passport and said, 'Ah, you are a Bessarabian. We don't recruit Bessarabians' [Soviet power didn't trust the former Romanian citizens]. He sent my father home.
In summer I was sent to Grandmother Beila in Soroki. My cousins Carl, Yuzik, Dina and Lyonia, were there too. We played in the yard. We spoke Romanian to one another. My grandparents spoke Yiddish. I picked up some Yiddish, but I didn't mention it to anybody that I began to understand the language. Many wealthy families, including a number of Jews, were deported to Siberia from Soroki in summer. My future classmate Asia's father, a doctor, accompanied the train. Grandfather Borukh didn't suffer any persecution. He wasn't wealthy by that time, and besides, his children sympathized with the communist ideas. I went back to Beltsy. Soon Grandfather Solomon fell ill with pneumonia. He died in January 1941. My mother didn't want to stay in Beltsy. We moved to Grandfather Borukh's house in Soroki. My father went to work as an engineer in the town executive committee.
In 1939 World War II began. There were rumors spreading about how fascists persecuted Jews taking them to ghettos and concentration camps. When Bessarabia was annexed to the USSR, the residents were given one week to return to Moldova. My parents had no doubts about returning, and I understood from what the adults discussed that we were to go to Moldova because it was too dangerous to stay in Romania. My parents believed that we would only be safe in the USSR. Besides, they wanted to be close to their parents. My father's sisters Rachil and Gita and their families also returned to Bessarabia. We could only take our most necessary belongings with us. My parents had to borrow some money for the trip from their acquaintances. They also borrowed some money for my mother's colleague, my friend Lialia Burliy's father and his family, who were to go with us.
We arrived in Beltsy, where Grandfather Solomon lived, but we didn't stay there for long. I don't know where my parents worked, but I stayed at home with my grandfather and his new wife, a nice and kind woman. I don't know her name.
We arrived in Beltsy, where Grandfather Solomon lived, but we didn't stay there for long. I don't know where my parents worked, but I stayed at home with my grandfather and his new wife, a nice and kind woman. I don't know her name.
I have vague memories of our apartment in Bucharest. My nanny and I stayed in the biggest room. There was a dining room with a radio and a big table in it. My parents rearranged the fore-room for a bedroom. They had one big double bed in it. My parents must have spoken Russian at home since I started talking in this language. My parents didn't observe Jewish traditions or celebrate Jewish holidays at home. Perhaps, my mother baked something on Purim or Chanukkah. My mother was a typist at the railroad office. My nanny was Polish I think. She was a devoted Catholic and took me to the Roman Catholic Church regularly. At first I listened to the priest when he pronounced his prayers. Once, I started singing myself, when everybody else was quiet. After that my nanny stopped taking me with her. Later she left us. My mother was desperate as she had to go to work and needed a baby sitter. She told me, as she was wondering what to do about the situation, she saw a young nice-looking girl walking towards her. My mother asked her, 'Where can I find a nanny?' And the girl replied, 'But I can work for you!'
This was how Mariora came into our family. Mariora was an illegitimate daughter of a beautiful gipsy woman and a Romanian landlord. She grew up in his mansion. She could read and write in Romanian, but this was all the education she had. When she came to our house, she was already married. Her husband was a private in the Romanian army. Mariora took care of me and took me out to walk in the park.
This was how Mariora came into our family. Mariora was an illegitimate daughter of a beautiful gipsy woman and a Romanian landlord. She grew up in his mansion. She could read and write in Romanian, but this was all the education she had. When she came to our house, she was already married. Her husband was a private in the Romanian army. Mariora took care of me and took me out to walk in the park.
I don't think they had a wedding party. They didn't have a marriage certificate issued by the synagogue [ketubbah], but they had one issued by a civil registry office. They rented an apartment in Bucharest. My father was an engineer in a company. I was born in 1933. Soon after, my father was arrested. He wasn't a communist, but he must have sympathized with communists and probably supported them somehow. He stayed in jail for about a year. My mother hired an attorney. There was a trial, but my father was finally released. In jail he contracted tuberculosis. He couldn't go to work for a while. Since I had never seen my father before I turned one year old, and when he came home, I didn't recognize him, and pointed my finger at a photo, 'This is my father.' Later, my father went to work as an engineer in an electric engineering company.
My maternal grandfather, Solomon Tsavaler, lived in Beltsy. He must have been born there since his relatives lived there. Solomon was a railroad freight forwarder. He had a house in Beltsy. My grandmother Leya actually had two names, but I only remember one, and I don't know her maiden name. She was Solomon's second wife. His first wife died. My mother had a half- brother from my grandfather's first marriage. His name was Mosia: this must have been an affectionate of Moisey. Mosia Tsavaler lived in Istanbul, Turkey. He and his family perished during World War II. Grandmother Leya died in 1926.
My mother, Sophia Tsavaler, was born in Beltsy in 1908. She finished a gymnasium. She was 18 when her mother died. My mother lived with her brother and worked in Istanbul for a year. She also studied in an English college. Then she didn't like it there for some reason and returned to her father. She worked as a typist in a bank and then became a document operator. My mother was of average height and very pretty. She met my father and after his service was over, they moved to Bucharest where they got married in 1930.
My mother, Sophia Tsavaler, was born in Beltsy in 1908. She finished a gymnasium. She was 18 when her mother died. My mother lived with her brother and worked in Istanbul for a year. She also studied in an English college. Then she didn't like it there for some reason and returned to her father. She worked as a typist in a bank and then became a document operator. My mother was of average height and very pretty. She met my father and after his service was over, they moved to Bucharest where they got married in 1930.
My father, Elih Degtiar, was born in Soroki in 1903. He was called El' Borisovich in the Russian manner [Russians use to call people with the second name - patronymic also, but they used the Russian name Boris instead of the Jewish one Boruch in this case], and at home he was called Elik. His sisters loved him dearly and his wish was their command: 'Whatever Elik says.' My father must have studied in a cheder. He also learned to play the violin for a short time. After finishing elementary school he entered a Realschule in Soroki. There was a five percent quota [10] in tsarist Realschule. My father passed the entrance exams with excellent marks and won the competition. His group mate Yakov Shtivelman from Rashkov later married his sister Gita. After finishing the Realschule, which happened when Bessarabia was annexed to the USSR, my father went to study in Iasi. One year later, he went to study at the Electromechanical Faculty of the university in Cannes, France. On summer vacations my father worked in France. In 1927, he graduated from the university and worked in France for some time. Since he was a Romanian citizen he went back home to serve his mandatory term in the army. He was a sergeant and served at the headquarters in Beltsy. He and his fellow comrade were lodged with the family of the Tsavalers, my mother's family.
My father's younger sister Riva was born in 1923. She finished a secondary school in Soroki. When the war began in 1941, Riva and my grandparents stayed in Soroki. They were taken to Pechora Camp [9] in Vinnitsa region [today Ukraine]. My grandparents died in the camp. Riva survived. When the Soviet forces liberated the camp, she returned to Grandfather Borukh's house in Soroki. Riva had two rooms in the house. We also returned to this house from evacuation. Riva got married and went to serve in the Soviet army. After the war she and her husband were demobilized and lived in the village of Kotyuzhany. Riva divorced her husband and moved to Uzbekistan in 1947 to live with Aunt Gita. Later, she and my aunt's family moved to Chernovtsy. Riva finished medical school and went to work as a medical nurse. She married a widower who had a twelve-year-old daughter. Her name was Rosa. Riva couldn't have children. Riva raised the girl, whose two children became her grandchildren. When her second husband died, Riva got married for the third time. Her third husband's name was Ox and Riva adopted another daughter. Her name was Ella. They moved to Israel. Riva lives in Lod. She is a great-grandmother now and is well cared for.
My father's sister Fenia was born in 1920. She was believed to be the prettiest and most talented one in the family. She loved music, sang and danced well. Fenia entered a college in Bucharest. When Soviet forces entered Bessarabia in 1940, she returned to Soroki. There was a military unit lodged in Soroki. Fenia met a young handsome officer. His name was Anatoliy Beliayev. He was a Russian from Moscow. They fell in love with each other. This caused a mess in the family: a traditional patriarchal Jewish family member and this Russian guy! They decided to get married and move to Moscow. Grandmother Beila locked Fenia in the house, but her children had more progressive views: they were in love. How could she oppose to their getting married? They convinced my grandmother to let her go, and they left for Moscow. Fenia spoke fluent Russian and Romanian. She worked at a radio station in Moscow. The war began in 1941. Tolia [Anatoliy] went to the front on the first days of the war and perished. Fenia lived with his parents and sister. In early 1941 she gave birth to a girl. Fenia got peritonitis in hospital. She died. Her daughter also died. Anatoliy's sister told me this story after the war.