Victoria Behar's friend Neli

This is Neli, a Jewish classmate of mine from the French College in Sofia, photographed during the war. We studied in a Bulgarian school in Sofia. Afterwards, I entered the 1st grade of the French College. My favorite subject was chemistry. I didn't have a favorite among the teachers because they were all very considerate and exceptionally tolerant. I only visited the religious classes in the Old Testament. All Jewish students in the college were exempt from the New Testament classes. If someone wanted to, they could go to those classes, but we didn't. We were friends with everybody, regardless of nationality. As for my spare time and friends, the times then were more patriarchal and my father was a strict man, so I mainly stayed at home. I didn't take part in the events of the Jewish youth organizations of the time.