Mary L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2235) interviewed by Brana Gurewitsch,

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.