Tag #127869 - Interview #98363 (Aron Ishakh)

I have a similar memory from the ‘Sveti Vrach’ camp. We were a group of progressive young men there: Ariko Haimov, Yako Yakov, Miko Yulzari, Pepo from Haskovo [town in South Bulgaria], and we kept in contact with partisan supporters. On 6th March 1943 we received a telegram - we were allowed to receive telegrams - from our parents in Ruse that they had been ordered to collect luggage of no more than 20 kg and within three days gather at the port centers for deportation to the death camps; of course, it is only now that we know of the death camps, they had no idea where they were to be sent at the time. We, the progressive youths, decided that if this deportation took place, we would kill all the guards, including a captain, sergeant major and four NCOs and  go into hiding. But we didn't have to do that because we received a second telegram on 8th March from our parents saying that the evacuation [that is, the deportation] had been canceled.