This is the wedding of my younger daughter Sheli Mayer Vladeva (nee Alhalel) in 1976 in Sofia. Her husband's name is Vladimir Vladev, a colleague of hers from the university, construction worker like her. They are in the center of the photo. Behind them are their sponsors Ester and Jak Fintsi (my sister and her husband). The two men in the foreground on the left and on the right, holding glasses and a bottle of champagne are the waiters in the restaurant where we celebrated the wedding.
My younger daughter Sheli was born in 1954 in Vidin [port city on the right bank of the Danube in Bulgaria, 220 km. away from Sofia] and is a construction engineer. Unfortunately, she does not have children. I have grandchildren from Streya, who also worked in the municipality in Vidin. My granddaughter Yanita lives in a kibbutz now. She has a family in northern Israel (I do not know the name of the kibbutz). My grandson Lyubomir, who is director of Bulbank in Sofia, also has children. Their names are Konstantin and Mihaela. Besides Sheli my husband and I have one more child - Streya Mayer Puncheva (nee Alhalel). Streya is older than Sheli. She was born in 1949 in Vidin. She graduated from the chemical technical school in Vidin. She has been working as a chemist in the local meat processing plant for some years.
After 9th September 1944 [The day of the communist takeover in Bulgaria. In September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. On 9th September 1944 the Fatherland Front, a broad left-wing coalition, deposed the government.] my family continued to celebrate the high Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, Tu bi-Shevat (called mostly Frutas in Ladino), [Yom] Kippur, Pesach, Sukkot etc., although the general approach of the party was against all religions. The Communist Party forbade people of Jewish origin to gather on their holidays. Yet, we found ways to celebrate. Most often, we visited other families. We did not always go to the synagogue, because my husband and I were active party members, so our activities were observed and at that time visits to the synagogue were not approved.
