Tag #128265 - Interview #96751 (Klara Kohen)

I never met my paternal grandfather Avram Solomonov, because he died young. Most likely he did some kind of trade – peddling, because his family wasn’t rich. They spoke Ladino. I don’t have any photos and I don’t know how they dressed. But I remember some clothes my mother kept. They used to belong to her mother Buka Avram Almalech, who was from a very rich family from Svishtov. She married Avram Almalech, who was from a well-known family. My mother used to say that a whole caravan of chests and packing cases was used to transport her mother’s dowry through the Balkan Mountain. She was very rich. Her father in Svishtov dealt with wheat. He was well off and therefore my mother had this rich dowry. When she came to Stara Zagora, she used to help everyone there. Unfortunately my grandfather Avram Almalech, who was a very intelligent man, took to drinking. I’ve always felt sorry that my grandfather couldn’t give my mother the education she really deserved, as she was very intelligent, well read, musical, very talented and skilful... My grandfather became a habitual drunkard – and they say Jews don’t drink! He fell on the streets. And so he died of bronchopneumonia young, before he turned 50. He was quite different from his brother Aron.