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I know both my grandfathers. My maternal grandmother died very early and I didn’t know her. My grandfather married a second time.
My mother, Lora Baruh is from Kiustendil. My maternal grandfather, Moshe Baruh, was a very religious man and assisted with the services at the synagogue. He had become a widower with two children – girls -fairly early and married a second time to a woman who didn’t have any children. My two uncles were born afterwards. His second wife Ventura hadn’t been married before. Honestly, I found out very late that my grandma wasn’t my mother’s real mother. When I grew up Mum told me the story about her mother who had died having a miscarriage. Their stepmother Lili’s grandpa’s second wife raised all the kids in fact.
My mother wanted to continue her studies after she finished school, but her stepmother Ventura told her that it was not necessary for a woman to study anymore and that she had already been educated enough. She had a great desire to become an obstetrician, but she never managed to. My Mum got married very young. On the day when they [the in-laws] had to take her from Kiustendil, they my Mum and her relatives got to a certain place on the road, somewhere in the middle and my father and his relatives took my mother from that place with carriages to Dupnitza. Weddings used to take place in the synagogues according the Jewish tradition then.
How did my parents meet each other? There used to be traditional meetings between the Jews from Kiustendil and Dupnitza on various occasions. There was a Jewish chitalishte community center in both towns. “Suznanie” the word means Consciousness in Bulgarian –was the name of it in Dupnitsa, and “Dobro budeshte” Nice Future in Kiustendil. Amateur artists from each of the two centers made regular tours from one town to the other. That is how my parents met each other.
My mother, Lora Baruh is from Kiustendil. My maternal grandfather, Moshe Baruh, was a very religious man and assisted with the services at the synagogue. He had become a widower with two children – girls -fairly early and married a second time to a woman who didn’t have any children. My two uncles were born afterwards. His second wife Ventura hadn’t been married before. Honestly, I found out very late that my grandma wasn’t my mother’s real mother. When I grew up Mum told me the story about her mother who had died having a miscarriage. Their stepmother Lili’s grandpa’s second wife raised all the kids in fact.
My mother wanted to continue her studies after she finished school, but her stepmother Ventura told her that it was not necessary for a woman to study anymore and that she had already been educated enough. She had a great desire to become an obstetrician, but she never managed to. My Mum got married very young. On the day when they [the in-laws] had to take her from Kiustendil, they my Mum and her relatives got to a certain place on the road, somewhere in the middle and my father and his relatives took my mother from that place with carriages to Dupnitza. Weddings used to take place in the synagogues according the Jewish tradition then.
How did my parents meet each other? There used to be traditional meetings between the Jews from Kiustendil and Dupnitza on various occasions. There was a Jewish chitalishte community center in both towns. “Suznanie” the word means Consciousness in Bulgarian –was the name of it in Dupnitsa, and “Dobro budeshte” Nice Future in Kiustendil. Amateur artists from each of the two centers made regular tours from one town to the other. That is how my parents met each other.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Lilia Levi