This is my husband Pepo Menahem Kohen (first from the right). He was born in 1911 in Skopje, Macedonia, and died 1995 in Sofia. This photo was taken in one of the numerous labor camps he was sent to.
I started studying law in Sofia University. My husband and I lived in a rented one-bedroom flat. But then, from 1939-1941, anti-Jewish laws and the Law for the Protection of the Nation were passed in Bulgaria, which led to many Jews being laid off of work and the men were sent to labor camps. I studied only two years, because I had to start work in 1941 - as a spinner in a factory. My husband was sent to a labor camp, and my father was laid off. I don’t remember very well the camps Pepo went to.
Pepo Kohen in a labor camp
Centropa Collection acquired by USHMM
The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.
Academics please note: USHMM can provide you with original language word-for-word transcripts and high resolution photographs. All publications should be credited: "From the Centropa Collection at the United States Memorial Museum in Washington, DC". Please contact collection [at] centropa.org.