Haim Molhov

This is me after graduating from the practical commercial high school in Plovdiv. The photo was taken in the 1930s in Plovdiv. 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. My father didn't want me to remain poor like him and he did all he could so that I could be an accountant like my uncles. I graduated with excellent marks in 1931 and I really started to work as an accountant in a Jewish credit co-operative, Malka Kassa, which gave loans mostly to craftsmen. I worked there for two years. Then, by competition, since there was much unemployment and the economic crisis of the 1930s, I got a job as a bank clerk in the Jewish bank Atikva. It gave loans to Jewish merchants.