Matilda Ninyo’s son Zhak Ninyo

Matilda Ninyo’s son Zhak Ninyo

This is a photo of my son Zhak Ninyo. The picture was taken in Varna in the 1950s.

We had hard times while both of us were at the university. But soon after that we graduated and started working - then we could afford to go on holydays twice a year - in the summer and in the winter. We used to go on excursions with our friends. I may not have had the opportunity to travel wherever I wanted like today's young people, but still my husband and I had a beautiful and interesting life.

We even succeed in buying apartments for our children where they could live independently. For me and my generation those were good times, especially having in mind how we started. That was very important. Nowadays there are many young people who cannot cope with the problems and they are afraid of having a family.

We have had a good life and good career realization. My husband had a group of friends that he got on very well with. He was a man of reason. His friendship with some of these guys dated back to the kindergarten. They were all born in 1924 and they were all classmates at the Jewish school. They must have turned 80 now. He regarded them as his family. The last time I was together with my friends was at our wedding, afterwards we didn't keep in touch. I used to see only my husband's friends. They were inseparable. They were away from each other only during the internment. However, I am grateful to my husband because he introduced me to such honorable people. The same was the case with his friends' wives.

We were stricter in keeping the Jewish traditions while my husband's parents were still alive. Before the changes in 1989 I liked to go to the synagogue on the New Year's day. On this day a rabbi from Israel used to come. This man had a marvelous voice. Prayers dedicated to Rosh Hashanah contain very nice religious songs.

In the meantime, my children became grown-ups. They both graduated from the University of Economics. My son Zhak Ninyo got a degree in foreign trade. He finished a course in marketing organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade. He graduated from the English language school in the years when this high school was newly founded. All his teachers were British. Presently he works with a French company here in Bulgaria. My daughter, Silvia Ninyo, also graduated from the University of Economics. Her professional choice was determined by a chance. She wanted very much to study journalism and Bulgarian literature. One day I met a relative who worked for the national radio. I met him in the street right in front of the place where we lived. He came with me upstairs and told my daughter that she should go for a degree at the University of Economics. That was how she got a diploma in political economy with a profile of sociology.

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