- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Mary L., who was born in I︠a︡mbol, Bulgaria in 1929. She recalls her comfortable, traditional childhood; her family's deep roots in Bulgaria; learning Ladino; attending Hebrew, then Bulgarian, schools; membership in Maccabi; expulsion in 1939 of foreign Jews, among them an uncle and cousins; antisemitic laws, including confiscation of the family business; the atmosphere of fear when visiting her aunt in Sofia; involvement in underground activities through her cousin (she later discovered they were communist directed); close friendship with other Jewish youth; their socialist beliefs; attending school; writing a school composition on the injustice of the Jewish situation; sympathy from her classmates and teacher; fear of deportation; her aunt and uncle moving in after confiscation of their house; repeal of antisemitic laws in 1944; arrival of Soviet troops in September; establishment of a communist government; postwar trials and execution of pro-Germans; attending medical school; emigration to Israel with her parents in 1949; marriage; and emigration to the United States. Mrs. L. discusses the importance of the Orthodox Church in saving Bulgarian Jews, and her daughter's strong religious identification. She shows family photographs.
- Author/Creator
- L.,Mary, 1929-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1992
- Interview Date
- December 17, 1992.
- Locale
- Bulgaria
I︠A︡mbol (Bulgaria)
Sofia (Bulgaria)
Israel
- Cite As
- Mary L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2235). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Gurewitsch, Brana, interviewer.
