Second national brigade on the Pernik-Voluyak path

This is the second national brigade on the Pernik-Voluyak path. The photo was taken in 1947. My fate after 9th September 1944 was interesting. In 1944-46 I worked as an organizer in the District Committee of the UYW in Ruse. In 1946 I led the first permanent brigade of Samuil-Silistra. At that time young people came to work for free on the Samuil-Silistra road for 20 days and I was their leader. Next year I became a commander, after I finished a course for brigade commanders in Beli Briag. Then my team became national champion of Pernik-Voluyak. Afterwards I was asked to go to Sofia where I was appointed at first as an inspector and then as head of the ?Competitions and Awards? department in the headquarters of the brigadiers. Around 400 000 youths took part in the brigades only in 1947. Our team was a national champion again, competing with five national sites. Our prize was a red flag with the words ?national champion? and a manifestation in front of the National Assembly in Sofia. In 1947, the chazzan of Ruse also took part as a brigadier. Our camp was in Beli Briag. Our team was a national champion. The Plovdiv team also had a spiritual person, but he was a Christian. He and our chazzan decided to compete on behalf of their brigades, which brigade would do most. There were also interesting caricatures in 'Starshel,' a popular humoristic newspaper, at that time. By the way, Avramiko, the chazzan of Ruse was an orphan from World War I. At the beginning of the last century there were three synagogues in Ruse. I remember them very well ? the small Ashkenazi one, the big Sephardi one and the small Sephardi one. We didn't have a rabbi, because he was from Sofia. But we had a chazzan, who was also a shochet. His name was Avram, but we all called him Avramiko. Near the municipality there was a special slaughterhouse, where we brought him hens for slaughtering. Avramiko also went to the town's slaughterhouse, where he slaughtered the other animals, which according to Jewish tradition had to be kosher. In 1942 during the flood in Vidin, Avramiko saved many people who were drowning in the Danube. So he received a special medal for citizen's valor.