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I have left-wing political convictions and have always believed in the system which saved our lives. After 9th September I became a member of UYW [The Union of Young Workers] while I was still studying at the Fifth Girls’ High School. This union later transformed into Dimitrov’s Communist Youth Union [Bulgarian Komsomol] [24]. Right after that I was offered a memebership in the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) but I refused because I considered myself to be too young for this responsibility. I didn’t manage to become a member of the Party anyway but I was always very active in the organizations of the Fatherland Front [25] like my mother who was very active as well. She used to give lectures, took part in gathering aids and membership fees, we organized programs and celebrations.
After finishing my highschool education I decided to take the entrance exams for Sofia University [26], I wanted to study Russian Philology despite the fact that this was in contrast with my mother’s exopectations. She wanted me to study medicine. I have made my choice because of the memory I have retained of our meeting with the Soviet forces in Vidin during the internment. Something more, some of them stayed in uncle Izidor’s house and their presence was unforgettable for me. I remember that, being a fifteen-year-old girl at the time, I fancied one Russian soldier very much. He was tall, fair-haired, with blue eyes. His name was Mihail Sarancha. He had luminous eyes and there was this feeling of warmth about him. I remember asking my mom to let him stay for one night in our room in uncle Izidor’s house because he didn’t have where to sleep. Mum was against it at the beginning but I was begging her so persistently that in the end she gave in. On the next morning we found out that he had brought lice into the room. I was deeply moved by the spirit of selflessness of the Russian soldiers and their will to achieve victory.
During the four years of study and because of my membership in the Youth Union (UYW) I was chosen for a courier of the faculty. I was delivering the correspondence of the Youth Union, and then, you know, of the Komsomol, as we used to call it. I would invariably sit at the first desk and, as we didn’t have textbooks, I was taking notes in all subjects. Of course, I liked studying Russian most of all. I was better prepared than the rest of my colleagues because I had practised the language, of course not very correctly, with the Russian soldiers who were in Izidor Lidgi’s house, and because I had taken some private lessons when I prepared for the high school exams in Vidin, I also studied French at Sofia University, which I developed and perfected later in language courses.
After finishing my highschool education I decided to take the entrance exams for Sofia University [26], I wanted to study Russian Philology despite the fact that this was in contrast with my mother’s exopectations. She wanted me to study medicine. I have made my choice because of the memory I have retained of our meeting with the Soviet forces in Vidin during the internment. Something more, some of them stayed in uncle Izidor’s house and their presence was unforgettable for me. I remember that, being a fifteen-year-old girl at the time, I fancied one Russian soldier very much. He was tall, fair-haired, with blue eyes. His name was Mihail Sarancha. He had luminous eyes and there was this feeling of warmth about him. I remember asking my mom to let him stay for one night in our room in uncle Izidor’s house because he didn’t have where to sleep. Mum was against it at the beginning but I was begging her so persistently that in the end she gave in. On the next morning we found out that he had brought lice into the room. I was deeply moved by the spirit of selflessness of the Russian soldiers and their will to achieve victory.
During the four years of study and because of my membership in the Youth Union (UYW) I was chosen for a courier of the faculty. I was delivering the correspondence of the Youth Union, and then, you know, of the Komsomol, as we used to call it. I would invariably sit at the first desk and, as we didn’t have textbooks, I was taking notes in all subjects. Of course, I liked studying Russian most of all. I was better prepared than the rest of my colleagues because I had practised the language, of course not very correctly, with the Russian soldiers who were in Izidor Lidgi’s house, and because I had taken some private lessons when I prepared for the high school exams in Vidin, I also studied French at Sofia University, which I developed and perfected later in language courses.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi