Isak Levi with friends near Vratsa

This photo was taken in 1952 near Vratsa together with some Vratsa high school classmates of mine; we recalled our common memories. In 1932 I met Zhivko Oshavkov, who came from Lom in order to organize a teachers' and students' strike. He confided in me and I connected him with the teachers who were willing to support him. To the left is Konstantin Buzov, who became a lawyer in Vratsa. He led the meeting at the water-mill near Vratsa, where the organizing committee was appointed. At the age of 18 I was involved in some kind of conspiracy. A strike was organized by the northwestern schools in Bulgaria. Its leader was Zhivko Trapkov Oshavkov, who was the first teacher of social sciences in Bulgaria. For example, Zhelyo Zhelev and Petko Simeonov are students of his. The strike was directed at improving the conditions at school. Oshavkov made a big mistake as he invited also representatives from Pernik, Vidin and Lom. All school representatives came and we gathered in the water-mill of Vratsa. The representative from Pleven said that he had to leave the meeting earlier because his mother was sick. So he left the meeting and in half an hour the police came. It turned out that he was an agent and had betrayed us. We were moved to Sofia together with him, we were arrested and investigated. We were interrogated by Nikola Geshev. He was a former communist, who later turned on them and knew all their secrets as a result of which many people became his victims. He was a very clever and talented cop. When he saw that I was only 18 years old, very young and with no connections, he released me under the condition to let him know in case of future activities of that kind. He wanted us to become his agents but it didn’t happen.