Adela Levi's family at the house in Ferdinand

This is my family at the house in Ferdinand (now Montana). From left to right are: in the first row - Ester, Sofka, Raina and Jan, my nephew and son of Ester. My mother Viza Nissim Cohen (nee Moshe Alvas) is in the center. Above her are Mazal (Mimi) and I. The picture was taken in 1943. I know nothing about my parents? lives before they got married. My father died at the age of 43 in 1931. I remember very well the year he died because my youngest sister was only one year and six days old. She was born on 1st May and he died on 6th May. I think he died of lung cancer, although he never smoked. My mother was a housewife but when my father died she started sewing. I don't know how my parents met, but I guess their wedding was arranged, as was the practice at those times. There were only religious weddings then. I remember that my mother dressed according to the times. I was born in 1927 in Sofia in the Iuchbunar housing estate: a Jewish neighborhood in Sofia. We were a large family: I have five sisters. Between me and my elder sister my mother had a boy, but he died when he was one year old. It seems that my parents really wanted a boy, so they kept trying. As a result, I and my younger sister were born. I am number five. I don't have any brothers, I have only sisters: Ester, Raina, Sofka, Rashel, and Mazal. I don't remember the house where we lived because I was very young, but I remember that there were some stairs leading to one of the rooms. I don't know how many rooms there were, but we all lived together. The water tank was outside as it was like that in the whole neighborhood. The eldest of my sisters was Ester. She was born in 1915 and separated from us before the internment after she married. Before, she helped my mother and they both worked from dawn till dusk. My mother even bought another sewing machine for her. My second sister is Raina. She was born in 1918 in Sofia and is now 86 year old. My other sister is Sofka. She was born in Sofia in 1921. Before the internment in 1943 she also worked at the book-binding company 'Sam Patak'. Then came Rashel. She was born in 1924. Her husband's name was Izi Levi, who was a doctor. Rashel graduated in Bulgaria and then left with her husband in 1948 to Israel where she finished her education. She is a nurse. After her, my brother was born, then I and my younger sister, who also moved to Israel in 1948. Her name is Mazal or Mimi, as we called her.