Haim Molhov

This is me in the 1920s. The photo was taken in Plovdiv. I studied in the commercial high school then. When I graduated from the Jewish school, I needed money to continue with my education. My father wanted me to study in the commercial high school, but he had no money to support me. Uncle Mois Molho, one of my father's brothers, had noticed that I did very well at school. He found out that I had graduated from the Jewish school with excellent marks and that I had received an award for that. He suggested that each of my father's brothers give 500 levs so that we could pay the fee for the high school. All my father's brothers managed to raise the fee and I enrolled for the commercial high school. My education lasted three years and each year a fee had to be paid. This practical commercial high school wasn't recognized officially as a complete secondary high school education. Its graduates could work as accountants, economists or bank clerks, but couldn't apply to study at a university. We studied economics in school and the subjects weren't very different from those in the secondary business school. I think that we studied the same things, and the only difference was that we covered the material in three years, instead of five. Most of the students in the school were Bulgarians. There was no negative attitude towards the Jewish students. I became a member of the youth organization Hashomer Hatzair. There we had the tradition to organize a performance of a play every year. The performances took place in the municipal theatre and once I played the lead in "The Lower Depths? by Gorky. The play had three acts. I played the role of a 50-year-old father, although I was only 17 years old. A special guest from the Plovdiv Theatre, Mihail Tanev, taught us how to act. All the Plovdiv Jews came to watch that play. My son inherited my love for the theater and after he graduated from the State Conservatory, he became a theater composer.