Leon Madzhar, awarded with a Golden Order of Labor

This is the ceremony when I was awarded with a Golden Order of Labor in front of the building of the National Assembly in Sofia in the 1950s. When I finished my military service, I came back to Sofia and started work in the Ministry of Agriculture. At first I was an ordinary accountant. After a number of years I acquired more qualifications and knowledge and became head of department, then deputy chief accountant, chief accountant and then economic director of a co-operative which was repairing agricultural machines. In 1980 I started work as deputy director in chief of another co-operative, in poultry breeding, again at the Ministry of Agriculture. I retired in 1989. I was much respected, climbed up the career ladder and was valued by my colleagues. I could have retired when I was 55 years old, because my involvement in the UYW and my participation in the anti-fascist movement in Dupnitsa were taken into account. I was an Active Soldier, but I continued to work until I was 65 years old. I remember a case where there was an anti-Semitic attitude towards me at my workplace. There was one man who was about to retire. He started writing some things about me which were lies. In one of his writings he said that I was a Jew and that I defended Israel. He also made very spiteful remarks about my financial state, how many apartments I had and things like that. The head of that department, Kanev, who was a deputy minister, defended me and said that the words of that man had no value. There were people like him, too. Most of the people were very nice and admired our way of working. After I retired I continued to work in a company, ?Balkan Chicken" where I was executive director.