Overview
- Interview Summary
- Israel Ben-Nun, 73 at time of interview and born in Russe, Bulgaria, discusses his childhood; attending a Jewish school; his father’s leading role in the Jewish community; immigrating to Israel via the Maccabia games in 1935; the Zionist movement in Bulgaria; and helping to found the Bulgarian Trade Bank to help new immigrants create businesses.
- Interviewee
- Israel Ben-Nun
- Date
-
interview:
1990 March 04
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, acquired from Jacky and Lisa Comforty
Physical Details
- Language
- Hebrew
- Genre/Form
- Oral histories.
- Extent
-
2 videocassettes (Betacam SP) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
- Copyright Holder
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Bankers. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Jewish athletes. Jews--Bulgaria--Ruse. Jews--Education--Bulgaria. Jews--Societies, etc. World War, 1939-1945. Zionists--Bulgaria. Men--Personal narratives.
- Personal Name
- Ben-Nun, Israel.
- Corporate Name
- Maccabi World Union
- Meeting Name
- Makabiyah.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired this interview from Comforty Media Concepts on March 27, 1996.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:31:44
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn513507
Download & Licensing
- Request Copy
- See Rights and Restrictions
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
Contact Us
Also in Jacky and Lisa Comforty oral histories
The Jacky and Lisa Comforty oral histories consist of interview Jacob (Jacky) Comforty conducted with Holocaust survivors in Israel, Bulgaria, the St. Louis area, the Chicago area, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Spain between 1990 and 2012. The collection also contains some interviews with witnesses and rescuers as well as ethnographic recordings of the Ladino language. The collection further includes B-roll footage and outtakes from the Comforty documentary films "The Optimists" and "In the Shadow of Memory," as well as a project called "Crossroads Lisbon.” Topics include growing up in Bulgaria and other pre war European communities, local Zionist movements, antisemitism, forced labor, the Lidice massacre, Sugihara, and immigration to Israel and the United States. Jacky (Jacob) Comforty and Lisa Comforty are the owner of and writer/editor for Comforty Media Concepts, a production company that specializes in educational media and documentation on subjects including early childhood education, inclusive philosophy and practices, social and ethical issues, history, art, and sciences. Jacky Comforty’s parents were Bulgarian Holocaust survivors, and three of Comforty’s documentary films focus on the Holocaust in Bulgaria: "In the Shadow of Memory," "The Optimists," and “Monument to Love.”
Date: 1990-2012
Oral history interview with Emanuel Margolis
Oral History
Oral history interview with Miriam Steiner-Aviezer
Oral History
Miriam Steiner-Aviezer talks about her work in Yad Vashem and importance of commemoration of victims' names. She works in Hall of Names and currently feeling Pages of Testimonies for Macedonian Jews. She shows the lists of 7320 Macedonian Jews who were deported on March 11, 1943 by Bulgarians to Treblinka. The lists were discoverd and sent to Yad Vashem in 1990 by Macedonian scholar and Holocaust survivor Zamila Kolonomos.
Oral history interview with Zizi Avtalion
Oral History
Zizi Avtalyon, born in Sofia, Bulgaria and age 65 at the time of the interview, discusses her religious father; the customs of Bulgaria; living in exile due to anti-Jewish laws; being a teenager at the American School in Sofia; the lack of antisemitism in her life; and wearing her yellow Star of David during the war.
Oral history interview with Doti Ben Aroyo
Oral History
Rudolph (Dotti) Ben Arroyo (Aroyo), born in Bulgaria and age 77 at the time of the interview, discusses publishing his books about his childhood and life in a labor camp during WWII from 1941-1944.
Oral history interview with Albert Cohen
Oral History
Oral history interview with Jacob Confino
Oral History
Oral history interview with Nisim Zion
Oral History
Oral history interview with Chaim Asher
Oral History
Chaim Asher, born in Ruse, Bulgaria and age 83 at the time of the interview, discusses the Jewish school in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; the local Zionist movement; the Balfour Declaration 1917; immigrating to Israel in 1935; working in trade with Bulgaria and Israel; the Bulgarian Israeli community; work within the Union of Bulgarian Immigrants; and his research on Bulgarian Jews.
Oral history interview with Rina Hason
Oral History
Oral history interview with David Eskin
Oral History
David Eskin, born in Sofia, Bulgaria and age 75 at the time of the interview, discusses growing up in the poor Jewish neighborhood in Sofia; his grandparents going to Israel in the 1920s; his work in Maccabi; staying in Israel after the Maccabia games of 1932; being drafted into the forced labor camps on a business trip home; building roads for three years; escaping in 1943 and living in Sofia illegally; joining a Bulgarian army band after the Russians liberated Bulgaria on September 9, 1944; being a part of The Optimists band; and establishing his life in Israel and New York City after 1948.
Oral history interview with Victor Shem-tov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Doti Ben Aroyo
Oral History
Oral history interview with Rephael Ben Aroya
Oral History
Rephael Ben Arroya (Aroya), born in Hartouv, Israel and age 76 at the time of the interview, discusses being a third generation descendant of Bulgarian Jews that settled in Israel in 1894; the Ladino culture and language; surviving during Turkish rule and WWI; his relationship with Bulgarians in Europe; and the Judea hills near Jerusalem being abandoned because of poor agricultural conditions.
Oral history interview with Matilda Bachar
Oral History
Oral history interview with Sara Torgeman
Oral History
Oral history interview with Ada Levi
Oral History
Oral history interview with Robert Rubenoff
Oral History
Oral history interview with Itzhak Pardo
Oral History
Oral history interview with Yoram Aharoni
Oral History
Yoram Aharoni, born in Pazardjik, Bulgaria and age 65 at the time of the interview, discusses being part of a Zionist youth movement and attending a Jewish day school in Bulgaria; antisemitism in the Bulgarian paramilitary; his illegal immigration to Israel; working on the ship to get to Israel; being caught by the British and placed into internment camps in Atlit; joining the Jewish underground movement Fighters for the Freedom of Israel; opening a store in Jaffa; and the local Bulgarian immigrant population.
Oral history interview with Ezra Shaprut
Oral History
Oral history interview with Chaim Yulzari
Oral History
Oral history interview with Moshe Cohen
Oral History
Oral history interview with David Bachar
Oral History
Oral history interview with Leon Peretz
Oral History
Oral history interview with Itzhak Tanchum
Oral History
Oral history interview with Marco Aroyo
Oral History
Marko Aroyo, born in Burgas, Bulgaria and age 82 at the time of the interview, discusses his childhood in Burgas; the Bulgarian Jews that came in the 1930s; the Kfar Hitim settlement; the common moshav idea of community; the holidays and traditions of Bulgaria; living there in the 1930s-1950s; and conflict with Arab neighbors.
Oral history interview with Shosh Dagan
Oral History
Oral history interview with Rubin Dimitrov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Jacque Varsano
Oral History
Oral history interview with Venezia Alcalai
Oral History
Venezia Alcalai (Alkalai), born in Sofia, Bulgaria and age 75 at time of interview, discusses her home and family life in Sofia as a homemaker.
Oral history interview with Lucia Al-Said
Oral History
Lucia Al-Said, born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and age 73 at the time of the interview, discusses her home and family life in Plovdiv, and her astrological interpretation of the rescue of the Jews.
Oral history interview with Juliette Aladjem
Oral History
Juliette Aladjem, born in Ruse, Bulgaria and age 82 at the time of the interview, discusses her husband’s toy store in Ruse during the anti-Jewish laws; the threat of being deported to Poland; and the local traditions and customs in Russe.
Oral history interview with Buko Beracha
Oral History
Oral history interview with Flora Alshaich
Oral History
Oral history interview with Berta Levi
Oral History
Oral history interview with Niko Nissimov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Rabbi Avraham Bechar
Oral History
Rabbi Avraham Bechar, born in Odrine, Bulgaria (now Edirne, Turkey) and age 76 at the time of the interview, discusses being raised as an orphan; serving as a rabbi in Bulgaria; saving lives in the flood of Danube in 1942; drafting priests to help rebuild Bulgaria; Bulgarian Jewish customs and culture; his work as the rabbi of Jaffa; the growing secular Bulgarian Jewish community; and the accomplishments of the Bulgarian community in Israel.
Oral history interview with David Levi
Oral History
Oral history interview with Mordechai Arbel
Oral History
Mordechai Arbel, born in Sofia, Bulgaria and age 60 at the time of the interview, discusses his childhood in Sofia; customs and everyday life in Bulgaria before the war; the slow increase in Germans in the area; how his school life was free from antisemitism; antisemitism from American teachers and administrators in the school (The American School of Sofia); his father helping Jews to immigrate to Israel; the Germans entering formally on March 1, 1941; the emigration visas issued by the British in Palestine; immigrating by train to Palestine via Turkey; the economic life in Bulgaria; Sephardic traditional life; his employment after entering Israel as a diplomat, businessmen, ambassador, manager, and historical researcher; and his overall feelings about Bulgaria and his experiences there.
Oral history interview with Nir Baruch
Oral History
Nir Baruch, born in Kyustendil, Bulgaria and age 68 at the time of the interview, discusses his work as an Israeli diplomat in Bulgaria from 1951-1957; his research on the Bulgarian Jews; the testimony of others he has interviewed; historical and political events, documents, diplomats, intelligence services, and resources; and his book “Hakofer” about the Bulgarian Jews.
Oral history interview with Suzie Cohen
Oral History
Oral history interview with Ika Comforty Ovadia
Oral History
Bulgarian Lawyers Organization in Sofia
Oral History
Oral history interview with Joseph Hillel
Oral History
Oral history interview with Nansen Behar
Oral History
Oral history interview with Nikola Kiyosev
Oral History
Oral history interview with Harry Nissimov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Valery Petrov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Jenny Lebel
Oral History
Oral history interview with Antonina Jeliazkova
Oral History
Oral history interview with Jacky Wagenstein
Oral History
Oral history interview with unidentified interviewee
Oral History
Oral history interview with Miriam Or
Oral History
Oral history interview with Baruch Meshulam
Oral History
Oral history interview with the child of a rescuer
Oral History
Oral history interview with Israel Behar
Oral History
Oral history interview with Nir Baruch
Oral History
Oral history interview with Mladen Ivanov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Betty Alfasa Yulzari
Oral History
Oral history interview with Zvi Keren
Oral History
Oral history interview with Henry Loren
Oral History
Oral history interview with Maxim Molhov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Victor Baruch
Oral History
Oral history interview with Robert Djerassi
Oral History
Oral history interview with Sofie Danon
Oral History
Oral history interview with Tsetana Belleva
Oral History
Oral history interview with Annie Roskova
Oral History
Oral history interview with Yvette Anavi-Calev
Oral History
Oral history interview with Ben Stoltzfus
Oral History
Oral history interview with Moritz Yomtov
Oral History
Oral history interview with King Simeon II
Oral History
Oral history interview with Jeno Lorenz
Oral History
Oral history interview with David Grünstein
Oral History
Group discussion at Mrs. Shamir's house
Oral History
Oral history interview with Fred Cheri
Oral History
Oral history interview with Vicky Tamir
Oral History
Oral history interview with Albert Cohen
Oral History
Oral history interview with Aharon Cohen
Oral History
Oral history interview with Maya Sandler
Oral History
Oral history interview with Vladimir Kaufman
Oral History
Oral history interview with Lili Avdala Aharoni
Oral History
Oral history interview with Julie Mory
Oral History
Oral history interview concerning Yoseph Baruch
Oral History
Oral history interview with Harri Aharoni
Oral History
Oral history interview with Izhak Bachar
Oral History
Oral history interview with Kemalov Shmuel
Oral History
Oral history interview with Susana Baruch Noyman
Oral History
Oral history interview with Yaakov Pilosof
Oral History
Oral history interview with Baruch Baruch
Oral History
Oral history interview with Shoshana Ramati
Oral History
Jewish Star
Oral History
Oral history interview with Bina Philosof
Oral History
Oral history interview with Yaakov Bashan
Oral History
Oral history interview with Nissim Bar Yaacov
Oral History
Oral history interview with Nelly Komras
Oral History
Oral history interview with Harry Burger
Oral History
Oral history interview with Leslie Ilies
Oral History
Oral history interview with Hedy Epstein
Oral History
Ethnographic recordings of Ladino language
Oral History
Interviews discussing Chiune Sugihara
Oral History
Prague
Oral History