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My ancestors came to Bulgaria from Spain in the 15th century when they were expelled by Queen Isabella – and were accepted by the Ottoman Empire. All Jews who originate from Spain are called Sephardi. The language we speak is Old Spanish – Ladino, which is very precious, because it is spoken almost nowhere else. As far as I know, this language is maintained only in Toledo and fewer and fewer people speak it now – mainly people of my generation. The young ones don’t know Ladino, because we couldn’t pass it on to them, and therefore it is becoming extinct. Until 1944 [9th September 1944] [1] we used to speak that language, and I also spoke it as a child. It has been passed on from generation to generation, but after 1944, an assimilation of the Jewish population began in Bulgaria and that language ‘declined’. I myself feel guilty for not having taught that language to my children. They don’t understand it, and on some occasions, when my husband and I wanted to communicate something confidential to each other, we spoke Ladino.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Raina Blumenfeld