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My mother has told me that he used to be a very soft chap who loved her very much. It seems that their financial situation was very good, judging by the fact that they had the means to send my father to study in Vienna and Switzerland and by the golden jewels, which the family gave to their daughter-in-law, my mother. I have seen and I know that there existed a golden ring with a diamond, a golden watch and a golden wristwatch, two tiepins, as well as golden earrings, a golden shedai. I don’t know where they are as they disappeared as time passed. [Reyna is afraid to state that they still exist.] My paternal grandmother, Reyna Lidgi (nee Kohen) was born in 1868 in Vidin. She died in 1937 in Sofia. With my grandfather Aaron they had two children – my father Buko and his sister Rashel Lidgi (Pinkas by marriage). The family used to live in a house with a garden in Bregovo village (it was sold much later). I can’t say when exactly the move took place. I can’t say why but her daughter Rashel also moved to Sofia. Granny Reyna lived with us in our house for some time (in Pavlovo quarter at the time). [A special report of the Ministry of Finance connected to the repeal of the anti-Jew laws (1945) shows that 300 Jews owned plots and houses on the territory of Sofia Municipality – in Knyazhevo, Pavlovo, Dragalevtsi, Boyana, Moderno Predgradie. There is no information about the other details.] I remember granny Reyna. She didn’t know Bulgarian and spoke to me in Ladino. I owe my initial knowledge of this language to her as my mother and father spoke mainly in Bulgarian. They used Ladino only when they had to share something secret so that the others would not understand them.
My grandmother was a plump woman; she wasn’t pretty. I remember her with her knitting work in hand. She used to be strict, domineering, always pressing her views, she required corresponding attitude and my mother, who was very shy, always conformed with her, was even afraid of her. This was partly due to the fact that my granny Reyna didn’t like my mother because she didn’t have dowry. My mother had told me that when she went to live in my father’s house in the town of Vidin, before my birth, granny Reyna wanted her to do the cooking in the house but my mother couldn’t cook and she was shaking with fear so much that when she was told to prepare her fisrt rice granny kept quiet and didn’t give her a hand in order to see what her daughter-in-law was capable of. My mother then asked my father what to do and he said, ‘Well, put in rice, pour in water’ and the result was something repulsive. But my father thought highly of my mother’s prestige and when she served the rice, he said, ‘It’s very tasty! It’s very tasty!’ Granny was looking on that scene and said, ‘Why! I prepare dishes for you which are twice as better and you don’t like them and now you say you like this’. This makes me think that she was a domineering woman. After some time my mother tried to prepare French beans but out of fear that something would go wrong, she dropped the pot with the dish inside and soiled some mat in front of the cooker. She ran into her room and was hiding there until my father came back from work. Those were difficult months as a whole.
My grandmother was a plump woman; she wasn’t pretty. I remember her with her knitting work in hand. She used to be strict, domineering, always pressing her views, she required corresponding attitude and my mother, who was very shy, always conformed with her, was even afraid of her. This was partly due to the fact that my granny Reyna didn’t like my mother because she didn’t have dowry. My mother had told me that when she went to live in my father’s house in the town of Vidin, before my birth, granny Reyna wanted her to do the cooking in the house but my mother couldn’t cook and she was shaking with fear so much that when she was told to prepare her fisrt rice granny kept quiet and didn’t give her a hand in order to see what her daughter-in-law was capable of. My mother then asked my father what to do and he said, ‘Well, put in rice, pour in water’ and the result was something repulsive. But my father thought highly of my mother’s prestige and when she served the rice, he said, ‘It’s very tasty! It’s very tasty!’ Granny was looking on that scene and said, ‘Why! I prepare dishes for you which are twice as better and you don’t like them and now you say you like this’. This makes me think that she was a domineering woman. After some time my mother tried to prepare French beans but out of fear that something would go wrong, she dropped the pot with the dish inside and soiled some mat in front of the cooker. She ran into her room and was hiding there until my father came back from work. Those were difficult months as a whole.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi