Here you can see me with friends in Hashomer Hatzair. The photo was taken in 1933 in Ruse.
The eldest one, in the middle is Iko Konorti. He is leaning on me, I am on his right side. He is one of the long-time leaders of Hashomer Hatzair. At that time he was our Rosh Kvutza [group leader]. He went to study agriculture as a chalutz [pioneer] in the so-called Obraztsov Chiflik [Model Farm] in Ruse. The chalutzim came to study there and also at a farm near Plovdiv.
Iko Konorti is still alive. Later he became one of the distinguished poets of Israel. He loved studying. He was born in 1916 in Ruse and immigrated to Israel before the Germans came to Bulgaria, before 1941. In 1939 he left with a group from Hashomer Hatzair.
Yako Yakov with friends in Hashomer Hatzair
The Centropa Collection at 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 (collection[at]centropa[dot]org).