This photo was taken when my mother, Victoria Angelova, nee Elazar, and my father, Jordan Angelov, visited my aunt Zelma Avramova, nee Elazar, in Kyustendil in the 1930s. My father is on the left and holding me in his arms, my mother Victoria is next us. Aunt Zelma and Uncle Mois had a girl, who you can see here, before my cousin Eti was born. The little girl in the picture died later.
My mother was the only one of the sisters in the family that got married to a Bulgarian, my father Jordan Todorov Angelov. The fact that she didn't marry a Jew wasn't a problem for the family. They separated very soon after I was born, at the beginning of the 1930s - I don't know why. I respected my father very much. He was left-wing. He was born in Svishtov and he used to organize the military actions of the resistance movement in Svishtov and that's why he was sentenced to 20 years of penal servitude in the town of Veliko Turnovo. My father had troubles with the authorities all the time, before and during World War II, because of his left-wing convictions and his anti-fascist activities. Inevitably, that influenced his relationship with my mother.
In 1932 my father was sentenced to twelve years of penal servitude in the town of Veliko Turnovo. He was released under an amnesty before 9th September 1944. He had a bad record and couldn't find work anywhere. He was requited after 9th September 1944 and he became an active fighter against fascism and capitalism. I kept in touch with my father all the time.
Aunt Zelma married a textile merchant and went back to live in Kiustendil - their house was in the center of town. I remember that when I was a little child my mother used to take me to Kyustendil every summer to visit my aunt.
